So what is a good jump off point

[todpod]

Just a player actually to play the movies and other stuff I have. I have hooked up to my 52 Vizo a 1.1ghz celery with 256 meg of ram running XP. I use may main rig as a sever. I use vlc as a player.

At some point I would like to upgrade this, It works ok but could be better. Would also like to pull stuff like HULU of the internet. I was playing with it last night watching Buck Rodgers (thats really corny). Would prefer to run Ubuntu or similar OS. TV has both D-sub and HDMI ports.

So the big ?s are
Processor
Video, ATI-Nvida other and does ubuntu play nice with HDMI

Trying to do this on the cheap to a certain extent, you can get some nice little atom boxes cheap but I have doubts about if they the power to pull this off. It would be better then what I have but I also want to be able to use it for a few years too

 

[vonmises]

If you don't need all kinds of built in storage, or a TV tuner, you can get a Dell Studio Hybrid from the outlet for around $300. It will come with Vista on it, but if you run some cover like Boxee or just XBMC, there won't really be a huge difference. I haven't looked close enough to know what problems this system has with Ubuntu.The other common device is a Mac mini or an Apple TV. Both can run Boxee, though the Apple TV only does 720p. The knew MSI or ASUS Atom box, I forget which has HDMI built in and can supposedly do 1080p with the Nvidia chip set.

 

[mshan]

Apple TV with Boxee/XBMC installed?

You can unlock more potential by just copying what this company is selling: http://atvflash.com/

My 40 GB Apple TV is snappy with Apple software, but Boxee is slightly sluggish (I think a lot of that is because I have a very slow internet connection - 768 /128). Apple TV apparently contains a 1 Ghz Dothan cpu, 256 MB RAM, 4200 rpm hard drive, and Nvidia 7300 Go graphics. I think chipset is 945c. Video output seems a lot more crisp than Mac Mini, whose GMA950 seems kind of grainy to me on an hdtv.

 

[Falloutboy]

if your trying to do it on the cheap, get a cheap AMD dual core (whatever is the cheapest right now) 8200 series chipset motherboard (if your using linux this is better supported, and XBMC supports some basic GPU video decode on nvidia now on linux) should be able to get both of these for under 120 add 2gb of ram, and whatever drives you need and it should be pretty cheap.

 

[todpod]

Can't really see buying into Apple tv, its cheap enough, but its Apple, while not a total hater, I just can't see buying apple anything. Probably take a hard look at XBMC, and Boxee (free?). Did a quick build at newegg and came out to about $200 with no hard drives, but I have enough of them laying around. That would be a dual core Athlon, 2gb ram, Asrock M.b with hdmi, and an INwin case. so we will see thanks for the help.