LATEST ADDITIONS

<I>Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony LoBianco, Marcel Bozzuffi. Directed by William Friedkin. Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 (widescreen anamorphic). Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital 2.0. Two discs. 104 minutes. 1971. Fox 2002065. R. $26.98.</I>

Only home theater Neanderthals watch movies with a two-channel audio system, the standard wisdom has it. 5.1, 6.1, 7.1&mdash;will surround sound formats ever stop expanding?

We continue to roam the Alexis Park complex, our antennae tuned for innovative home theater products. Among the most interesting: Legacy Audio's "Harmony" loudspeaker, perhaps the first truly high-performance in-wall we've ever heard. This unique design features a rigid back plate that's screwed into place in a sheetrock cutout between two studs on standard 16" centers. The fully assembled front baffle then slides into place and is secured by two screws. Unlike other in-wall designs that attempt to disappear, the Harmony actually protrudes about two inches from the surface of the wall. Its craftsmanship matched its sonic appeal&mdash;it was surprisingly deep and dynamic, but very natural sounding through the midrange and highs.

Samsung is making a major push on several fronts, including DVD, hard disk, and flat screen technologies. One of the more intriguing prototypes on display at the LV Convention Center is the company's DVD player/hard-disk recorder combo, whose 50GB drive can accommodate up to 20 movies. The films can be saved in a compressed video format directly off DVD and watched as often as you like. There is no digital output on the machine (it does have analog component video out) so there is no easy way to make digital copies. Like TiVo's PVR, the Samsung recorder will require deleting some recordings when the disk is full. The fact that the recordings are not transportable helps Samsung skirt copyright issues, according to a representative.