Michael Fremer

"The world's most advanced Home Theater Receiver" is Denon's claim for the AVR-5800, and, now that I've spent a few months with it, they'll get no arguments from me. It's the world's first 7.1-channel receiver with DTS-ES Discrete 6.1, DTS-ES Matrix 6.1, DTS Neo:6, THX surround EX, Dolby Digital 5.1, and Dolby Pro Logic. It's like one of those new cruise ships that more closely resembles a floating city. What Denon has managed to pack into its large, sleek, heavy black hull (at 62 lbs, it's the most massive I've seen) is remarkable in terms of both versatility and performance. Denon's marketing manager, David Birch-Jones, proclaims the AVR-5800 to be "Without question the finest A/V receiver ever created." But are "most advanced" and "finest" necessarily the same thing? We'll have to dig deeper to find out.

Because of manufacturing and publishing lead times, Christmas-season products are shown in June. That's when I had my first encounter with the Philips 55PP9701—at a line show, a press event at which a company shows its entire line of new products. There the 55PP9701 was, along with Philips' new light bulbs, shavers, blood-pressure monitors, and budget-priced A/V receivers.

K<I>eir Dullea, William Sylvester, Gary Lockwood, Daniel Richter, Daniel Rain as the voice of HAL. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Aspect ratio: N/A widescreen. 5.1-channel Dolby Digital. Two layers. 139 minutes. 1968. MGM Home Entertainment 906309. Not rated. $29.95.</I>

J<I>ames Taylor. Directed by Beth McCarthy. Aspect ratio: 4:3. Dolby Digital 5.1 and 24-bit/48 kHz, two-track PCM. 109 minutes. 1998. Columbia Music Video CVD 50171. NR. $24.95.</I>