PVRs/DMPs: Dazed and Confused!! Any advice?

[encece]

I went to browse around today to get some ideas on what I want.

I currently have a Toshiba 17" Notebook PC.
Unfortunately, it is not a Media Edition PC. :(

It's bad to go into stores when you dont really know what you are looking for.

On one hand...I want Digital Media Access from my PC to my TV so I was thinking of getting a Digital Media Player or modifying an xbox.

On the other hand, I would like to use my PC as a PVR. But since there is no Audio/Video inputs I would need an external USB (or firewire) solution.

By the time I get done buying all of that hardware...a better solution would be to just get a Shuttle PC or similar and make a mini MediaCenter PC that I could wirelessly access via my laptop.

Am I correct in that conclusion?

[mcsouth]

I am currently struggling with the same kind of issues.

A lot has been written lately about hacking the xbox to turn it into a multimedia device, adding a bigger hard drive, etc. With the latest price drop to $149US, this seems very attractive, except........there is still some risk from the hacking process.

I currently have a small tower system that I built myself, and I have contemplated buying a bigger HD and AIW vid card to add PVR capabilities, but it is a noisy beast, and is in the office, not the living room where the big tv is.

That leaves building my own SFF PC as a media center, based on a Shuttle or similar SFF system. However, that is not necessarily a cheap proposition when you are looking at buying all the components.

So..........I am also stuck on what to do. Someone (Alienware?) built a WinXP Media Center PC based on the Shuttle back a year or so ago, when the MCE units first started coming out, so I've wondered how hard it would be to find one of those for a reasonable price - no luck yet, though. I'm also curious about some of the new stereo system manufacturers who are starting to introduce DVD burners/PVR's/media server devices, some with built-in networking, etc, but I haven't found a lot of info on these devices yet, other than launch information.

So let's hear it, folks, what is your preferred solution, and why?