I need advice on building a computer based mulitmedia center

[Siddhartha]

I am thinking about building a computer based multimedia center. What hardware and software do you recommend? I have a budget of $800 not including monitor and case.

Thanks

 

[Goi]

what exactly are you doing with it? I expect some or all of the following?
Gaming
Watching DVDs
Watching TV(analog of digital?)
Listening to music

Anything else? And what are the priorities of these tasks?

 

[RaiderJ]

Here's what I put together, and it should be around $800

Shuttle SV24
Celeron 766
256MB PC133
Pioneer 106S (slot load dvd drive)
Western Digital 60GB 7200rpm
ATI All-In-Wonder PCI 16MB
19" monitor
Wireless keyboard/trackball combo

With this setup, I can watch TV, record shows, play Playstation through it, games, movies, etc. I'm sure now you can buy better components, but with what I have, I've been more than pleased. It's been a stable setup, and it's nice and small.

If I were to suggest changes to this, I would say a faster processor (one preferably running at 133mhz FSB) would be a huge help in recording TV shows. Small cases like this one are also available with an AGP slot, but cost more.

As far as software, I mainly use Windows XP, Winamp, Power DVD (or WMP works fine too), and the proprietary software that comes with the ATI card, but stay FAR away from ATI's multimedia and DVD player.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: This is what I put together about a year ago for myself, and it was about $800, so I'm sure you can get much more now for the same price.

 

[Bovinicus]

A much better system could be put together for $800 than Raider is suggesting. However, you do need to be more specific than a "multimedia" computer before any of us can really helpy you.