It is true that most hd television sets are wide screen televisions. That is the most common model design for the hd televisions and this is because theaters use wide screen technology and have been using this technology for some time now. It is possible to find a square hdtv television but bars can be seen across the top and bottom when viewing hdtv television programming. The wide screen televisions do not overly distort the normal picture quality of non-hdtv programs. Often what little distortion that is present is not notable and does not affect the picture quality.