XP Media Center Edition 2005 (MCE) > all
If ur a tweaker you can buy it and build your own box. If you just want a system that works there are many pre-built MCE boxes out there that are just plug and play.
I've tried Sage, BeyondTV, MythTV and various other lil programs... none of them can touch MCE for ease and just plain coolness. Plus M$ just came out with
this very cool keyboard designed for it.
There is suppose to be a big patch for MCE this fall that will really upgrade its HDTV support and there are rumors flying about that we may even see HD cable-card tuners for PC's by the end of the year to support MCE.
Right now in my HT I have my TV (50" Mitz SDTV), my receiver (HK 630), and my MCE box that I built myself, thats it! I couldn't be happier.
Oh and MCE does use WMP10 and it does utilize HW support, all dependant on ur DVD decoder and video drivers. Currently I have a ATI 9600Pro and Nvidia's DVD decoder. Next year when I go HD I'll likely be rebuilding this current box. Basically for SDTV you can get by with minimal HW but full HDTV processing ups the requirements quite a bit.
Thats just my 2 cents. And I'd be happy to answer any other questions that anyone has.
