media centre build

[bryn mitchell]

I am going to get / build a media centre. I could buy a MAC Mini which seems just about ready to go out of the box or I could go thru the project of a Linux equivalent.
I want to access the net, rip and play (thru a sound system) music, record and replay digital TV, play DVD's / Blue Ray, etc thru a Panasonic Viera wide screen plasma.
This is something I would be happy to spend a couple of weeks on and off to complete but not a couple of months to get right. It also needs to work right every time or it will fall flat with the missus and kids.
I have done some reading about Myth TV and it's variants and other applications such as Boxee and XBMC but my real sticking point is hardware. I got a quote from a local shop to build a box that would suit Win 7 and I assume that would also be adequate for a Linux equivalent but the cost was about $2500, about $1000 more expensive than a MAC Mini solution. For me, the real seller of a Linux system would be to do it on the cheap but as I said before I don't want to spend all my time (I am time poor) buying hardware and then buying more hardware because it doesn't work or endlessly trouble shooting a dodgy set up.
Ideally I think my best scenario would be to buy a used PC and just add appropriate hardware such as a tuner card, graphics card etc but I don't know what to buy (or for that matter where to buy). Also fan noise etc is any issue I believe.
Interested in any opinions,


Regards.
B. Mitchell


      
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