LATEST ADDITIONS

The world is full of millions of DVDs, so <I>SGHT</I>'s editors have sorted through the piles and come up with <A HREF="http://www.guidetohometheater.com/showarchives.cgi?35">2001: A DVD Odyssey</A>. Over 80 DVD reviews in one place, with ratings for sound, picture, and content.

<I>Victor Sj&#246;str&#246;m, Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Gunnar Bj&#246;rnstrand, Gertrud Fridh, Max Von Sydow. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Aspect ratio: 4:3. Dolby Digital mono. 91 minutes. 1957. The Criterion Collection 139. NR. $39.95.</I>

A bigger hard drive, a little time, and you're halfway there. I'm a lucky guy. My wife and I have had only one major squabble since the beginning of the year, and it was about sharing the space on our personal video recorder's rapidly filling hard drive. My problem: I've fallen behind in archiving and deleting my keeper episodes. Hers: She waits too long to watch her recorded Ally McBeal, Buffy, and Friends, and the PVR automatically purges them. Although many possible solutions exist (Ally was cancelled, thankfully), the simplest would be to add a larger hard drive. Compared with the purchase of a newer, higher-capacity PVR, this approach is quite economical, and it's a project that a home theater buff with some electronics/computer expertise can tackle.

With the LC-30HV2U LCD TV, the king of LCD brings the skinny to the medium-sized market.

Thin is definitely the wave of the future. Just look at most Hollywood actresses. Their faces get more gaunt with each passing season. Television displays are the same way. People are tired of the little black box. Consumers have clamored for skinny plasmas and liquid crystal displays (LCDs) since their introduction a few years back. The only problem's been that plasmas have come in large screen sizes (42 to 60 inches diagonally) while LCDs have been relegated mostly to computer-monitor service. Sharp, longtime master of the LCD panel, has now brought forth a midsized panel for midsized environments.