Fred Manteghian reviewed the Krell Home Theater Standard 2 in our January 2002 issue, and while he raved about its performance, a few features were missing that any well-turned-out, high-end surround-sound preamplifier-processor should have to compete on even terms in today's hot home-theater market. Those features, as promised, are now available in the Home Theater Standard 7.1. But owners of the earlier model haven't been left out in the cold; the HTS 2 can be upgraded to the HTS 7.1, and while Krell charges $1500 for the upgrade, the HTS 2 originally cost $6500, so your total out-of-pocket costs will be comparable to the price of a new HTS 7.1. And just as the HTS 2 can be upgraded to the HTS 7.1, the basic flexibility of the design allows for possible future upgrades to the hardware and software of the HTS 7.1 as well.

While the cabinet of Hitachi's new 51SWX20B 51-inch TV isn't exceptionally large by widescreen rear-projection CRT standards, its weight of almost 250 lbs is still intimidating. But as the delivery men were about to schlep it into my den, we discovered the first of many welcome new features, one that's almost unheard of in RPTVs: convenient carrying handles. Well, not actual handles, but well-positioned handholds, two on each side, fore and aft. If they don't exactly make carrying the set a pleasure, they at least make it less of an ordeal than usual.

Plasma displays are a hot ticket in today's video market, generating a nearly universal "Wow!" reaction from first-time viewers. Fujitsu's new 61-inch-diagonal PDS-6101 has a picture nearly as big as the largest rear-projection sets, but weighs less than half as much. Even better, like all plasmas, it takes up no floor space when hung on a wall. That feature alone has probably accounted for much of the technology's appeal, despite the still high price of admission. Yes, prices are dropping rapidly, but while some of the smallest sets are getting close to the target sought by most manufacturers—$100 per diagonal inch—larger screens are still a long way from that goal.

When a video product is arguably the best of its kind, it's hard to find the right words to describe it without blubbering. "The Next Best Thing to Being There" sounds vaguely familiar. "The Real Thing" might perk up your thirst, but doesn't quite gel. And "Must See TV" is only two-thirds right. With the Reference Imaging CinePro 9x Elite CRT projector and Teranex HDX Cinema MX video processor, we're definitely not in TV-land anymore.