Dmitri's HTPC Project

I've been a fair amount of research intto HTPCs in the past week or so. On the O/S front I mentioned below I'm considering going with Windows MCE 2005. I found the following review: http://htpcnews.com/main.php?id=mce2k5_1, which while giving me alot of great info, but hasn't shown MCE to be the slam dunk I had hoped it to be.

• PVR:
  • Time shifting - Supported.
  • TV schedule - Supported, 2 weeks ahead.
  • Record entire series - Supported.
  • Burning TV shows to DVD - Only their format, not real DVDs. (need 3rd party app to burn normal DVD formats. )

I'll add more features to this list as I continue review how 'plug-ins' work for MCE. Apparently other have created applications that can be used in concert with MCE in order to extend it's functionality to accomplish something new or better. Two other options for PVR are SageTV and BeyondTV. I'll need o read more about these and find some reviews.