HTPC

I’ve been considering building an HTPC again (I used to have one for the TV downstairs, but I swapped it for a PS3 which I use a lot more often). The reason for this is because since I have a TV in my bedroom now, I want a way to play DVDs and downloaded TV shows on it. I am considering getting a BluRay player, but I think I would use the HTPC a lot more, and I can always use my PS3 downstairs for BluRay, or get a BluRay player at a later date for my room.

Anyway, I’ve poked around a few forums and so on, and I think this would form an ideal one – I can put it in the corner of my bedroom, it’s small yet powerful, has an HDMI output, and should be able to handle 1080p video playback perfectly, on Vista Home Premium (which I’d need another £75 for an OEM copy).

Shuttle XPC SG33G5B (£246.74)
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E5200 @ 2.50GHz (£68.14)
Samsung SpinPoint F1 250GB HDD (£37.59)
OCZ 2GB (2×1GB) Dual Channel DDR2 800MHz PC2-6400 RAM (£25.84)
Pioneer 20x DVD±RW SATA DVD Writer (£19.96)
Total cost: £408.83 (£399.84 if I pick the components up from OcUK)

I think this would make a very solid HTPC, as it’s both powerful and small, and, while it is a tad pricey, it shouldn’t need upgrading for at least another year, if not more. I could maybe bring the price down a bit if I used a cheaper HDD, less RAM, or a DVD-ROM drive, but the price difference would be about £20-30 total anyway so it’s not really worth it. Also, if I added a mid-range graphics card at a later date it could probably handle a few games, too, such as Half Life 2, and maybe Call of Duty 4 at a low resolution.

I did consider an Apple TV instead, but the lack of format support put me off it – most of my movies and TV shows are HD, but they’re mkv files, which, as of now, I don’t think any stand-alone device can play without modification, plus you can add software at any time to a PC to make it even better.

So, anyway, I’m hoping to maybe ask for that for Christmas. I think it would make a pretty good HTPC. Comments?