Looking for solution for dad

[preCRT]

Dad set up a exercycle in his finished basement & wants to watch TV while he rides. We put a small digital TV in there but it gets zero OTA reception, he does not have cable nor roof antenna. I was thinking about putting in a cheap computer so he can watch his shows online instead, as there will be no reception problems and the house wifi signal is very strong down there.

I haven't built a new computer in the last few years, so I'm just now looking around at options. He does NOT game, ever. He'd only need something to minimally surf and watch stuff on hulu or justintv.

What are my cheapest options?
Build from scratch [have a few extra parts laying around: PS, HDD, lcd monitor, & some old crappy ram]?
Buy used or refurb?

The OS is no problem as I have an extra never used win XP pro disk set.

Any & all suggestions appreciated.

Thanks

 

[DaveSimmons]

Does he have Netflix? If so you could attach a blu-ray player with Netflix streaming to the TV for $150 or less. Then he can stream and watch disks, with minimal effort and cost.

Otherwise, one of those $100-200 media player appliances (Roku, WD etc.) might be better than a PC, but I don't know which if any support hulu.

 

[preCRT]

No Netflix.

I attached a DVD player to the TV for now, but he prefers not watching DVDs. He also liked the idea of having another PC just for printing extra grocery coupons [he likes to bargain shop].

 

[MisterDonut]

Best solution I can see is shopping Dell outlet or finding some other cheap pre-built without a GPU. Or an Eee Box.

 

[Reincus]

The cheapest option is to get a Media tank for $100. They can watch Hulu, or stream video from another PC. You can also just plug in a USB drive and play stored media.