Ok I want to get myself an HTPC, but to be perfectly honest I've got no idea where to start. I don't know whether I want to build one or just go for the cop out and buy a pre-built thing. I am currently using a desktop that I have kind of turned in to an HTPC however it's too big too loud and definately not integrated enough. All I want is something that is piss easy to use and damn quite (very important), that will let me watch my movies, dvds, tv and listen to music. If you guys haven't got any excelent recomendations is there somewhere I can go that has lots of product reviews and comparisons to give me some idea what I'm getting myself into.
An xbox with XBMC will do all that except for the TV for free. HTPC and "easy" don't always go together. Before you spend a bunch of money try out a few of the PVR software that is out there on your current one. If you like them then work on building a nice quiet HTPC. I use GBPVR which is free and easy, you can also get free trials of SageTV and Snapstream's BeyondTV. MCE2K5 would come on a prebuilt. HTPC's are generally easy to set up but very difficult to fine tune. Your video capture card will be the most important part of the pc. I recommend a dual tuner card. If you're getting a small form factor pc make sure you get plenty of power. The newer video cards require 350+ Watts.
