Thomas J. Norton

<I>Voices of Daveigh Chase, Tia Carrere, Ving Rhames, David Ogden Stiers, Jason Scott Lee, Zoe Caldwell, Kevin McDonald, Kevin Michael Richardson. Directed by Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois. Aspect ratio: 1.66:1. Dolby Digital 5.1 (English), Dolby Surround 2.0 (French, Spanish). 85 minutes. 2002. Walt Disney Home Video 00596. PG. $29.99.</I>

<I>F. Murray Abraham, Tom Hulce, Elizabeth Berridge, Simon Callow, Roy Dotrice, Christine Ebersole, Jeffrey Jones, Charles Kay, Kenneth McMillan. Directed by Milos Forman. Aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround 2.0. Two discs. 180 minutes. 1984. Warner Home Video 37464. R. $26.99.</I>

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.