Well I had just fired off my long winded pros/cons of this so maybe post it here for the class to learn from too.

BTW on those cablecard ready HTPC's, be warned... most cable companies are moving to "switched video" in order to bring more HD/digital TV in a cheaper (for them) manor. CableCard 1.0 does NOT work with it. So all these new Tivo3's and HTPC's will be S.O.L. because they won't work with CableCard 2.0 (if it ever actually comes out).