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R<I>obert Duvall, Tess Harper, Betty Buckley, Allan Hubbard, Wilford Brimley, Ellen Barkin. Directed by Bruce Beresford. Aspect ratios: 1.85:1 (widescreen), 16:9 (anamorphic). Dolby 2.0. 92 minutes. 1983. Republic Pictures/Artisan 11191. PG. $24.95.</I>

Bigger is better, according to <A HREF="http://www.hitachi.com/">Hitachi</A>. The Japanese manufacturing giant has announced a 65"-diagonal rear-projection HDTV, its display illuminated by a <A HREF="http://www.ti.com/">Texas Instruments</A> digital light processing (DLP) unit with 8" optics. DLP technology creates a high-definition image using almost one million micromirrors on a chip to switch red, green, and blue light to form an image. When incorporated into a television with an HDTV receiver, display of both HDTV and high-resolution computer graphics is possible without any of the normal compromises found in traditional display technology.

When the retransmission of local TV signals by direct satellite broadcasters became legal, analysts and industry insiders expected an increase in business. They did not expect the surge in new subscribers that came in the wake of the decision. <A HREF="http://www.echostar.com/">EchoStar</A>, the perpetual runner-up to dominant DBSer <A HREF="http://www.directv.com/">DirecTV</A>, added 455,000 new subscribers to its DISH network in the first quarter of this year, bringing its total customer base to more than 4 million as of the end of April.

Last week, <A HREF="http://www.panasonic.co.jp/">Matsushita Electric Industrial</A> and <A HREF="http://www.quantum.com">Quantum Corporation</A>'s Hard Disk Drive Group announced that they have developed what they describe as the world's first audio/video hard-drive subsystem that records and plays back digital content with random-access digital video recording (DVR) functionality over IEEE1394 (aka FireWire).