small format PC - media centre

[Miles_stylus]

I am in the market for a new PC. I want a small format machine to go into the kitchen to act as a PVR, web machine, DVD player (and possibly recorder to archive video from the PVR?), skype (or similar) video phone etc

I want it to be quiet and look good. It will need to output to a small stereo (Cryus etc) which will handle the audio side of things. Ideally it would have a remote control for the PVR elements etc.

I will be using a blue tooth mouse and one of those projected keyboards.

Now the questions for the assembled experts:
1) is this possible?
2) Is it possible to run windows (Vista??) in RAM only and will this make it faster to powerup and quieter to run?
3) What are my options in terms of boxes
4) Who would you recommend to buy from? (I am not technically minded and would prefer to have some good quality support)

Many thanks

Miles

[rsvmilly]

I would opt for a Shuttle. They are nice little units and quiet, although not silent.

I have Windows Media Edition and the Microsoft remote. In common with other MS peripherals, it is very nicely put together. It works like a posh PVR.

[road2ruin]

Hello,
To answer all of your questions.

1, yes
2, yes, but you would still have to record to disk so whats the point.
3, loads of good looking cases for just that job.
4, Try scan.co.uk or kolpett.co.uk .

Best thing to do is build it yourself (not that hard really) see tomshardware.com for a good guide and advice on HTPC's. Also www.komplett.co.uk do a specific section for HTPC cases and some are really nice.

[ATG]

try www.mini-itx.com ... loads of stuff on mini and nano itx form factor kit

[Miles_stylus]

The words "build it yourself" fill me with some level of fear as
a) I imagine it is more than take this list of components and stuff them together
b) I'm guessing that these things do not come with some build manual (stuff A to B but not C)
c) Would I have to deal with odd sounding things like interupts or does modern kit sort all that sort of thing out?
d) How / where would I turn to for Tech support when it doesn't work?

I've not done anything like this before, how feasible is it?

Thanks

Miles

[ATG]

have a look on the mini-itx site. It includes loads of (usually mad) self-build projects.