1. iRecord. Why pay for downloadable TV and movie content from iTunes if you can record you favorite programming right onto your iPod? Thanks to the iRecord, you can record the latest episode of Lost and have it automatically formatted and transferred to your iPod for later viewing. At $1.99 a show, and even more for movies, the savings can add up quick. The iRecord is priced at $199.99 and can be purchased through www.irecord.com.2. Simplifi Digital AV Expander. One of the biggest problems that I ran into when I was building my Media Center Edition PC was the lack of options to connect video game systems to the computer. MCE inherently creates a two second buffer for all video input through a tuner card, but the Simplifi Digital AV Expander allows you to connect your systems to MCE and bypass the delay all together. If you want to pick up one of these for a friend or yourself, then check out Simplifi Digital's website, where you can get the card for $99.
3. ExpressVu HD PVR Plus System. ExpressVu has long been one of the larger satellite providers in Canada, and what would a TV provider be without a PVR? This PVR is can record up to 180 hours of SD TV as well as record HD TV, it features two tuners so you can record two programs at once, and it also sports picture-in-picture. The ExpressVu HD PVR Plus can be bought via Bell ExpressVu's site for as cheap as $325 CDN.4. Creating a Digital Home Entertainment System with Windows Media Center. You may be asking yourself what a book is doing on this list, but let me say that this book is great if you are looking at building a Media Center Edition PC. Although this book does not deal with Vista, a lot of the background information will still be valid. Topics include deciding on the purpose of you media center, recommendations for hardware, and of course using the Media Center interface. List price for the book is $29.99, but you should be able to find it cheaper on Amazon.com.
