PVR Wire

We've featured tips for building an inexpensive home theater PC in the past. But this is the first guide I've highlighted... from India. Okay, not really that special a distinction, but Techtree India's put together a pretty nifty guide on building a budget HTCP, so I thought I'd share their recommendations (and my thoughts).

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ because it's reasonably fast, and since it's a Socket AM2 chip, there's potential for upgrading.
Motherboard: The MSI K9GM2 has an onboard graphic accelerator, with support for TV-Out and NVIDIA's Pure Video Decoder. By getting a motherboard with onboard graphics and audio, you can save the money you would have spent on three separate devices.
RAM: Transcend 512MB DDR II 533MHz, because if you're going to blow a lot of money, you should blow it on the CPU, not the RAM in an HTPC. You can always get faster RAM or more memory later.
Case: The Zebronics Pluto is reasonably small, reasonably attractive, and looks good as a tower or on its side.
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 160GB. Basically, put in as large a hard drive as you're comfortable with. They're a lot cheaper than they used to be.
DVD: DVD burners are cheaper than they used to be, so it's a good idea to pick one up rather than just a DVD player. It may or may not be obsolete by next year when everyone does or doesn't switch to a hi-def optical format. Techtree went with an LG GSAH-10N 16X DVD Writer.
TV Tuner: Compro's VideoMate TV PVR/FM M200 is a budget tuner with all the usual functions plus an FM tuner, and it comes with a remote.
Input Device: Techtree went with a Logitech Cordless Desktop S510 Media Remote, which comes with a wireless remote control, mouse and keyboard. If you're setting the system up in your living room and plan to use it for more than watching TV, this might be nice. But if your needs are basic, or you'd rather just plug in a keyboard for the rare times you need one, this might be a waste of money.
Operating System: An OEM copy of Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005. If you're building a machine from scratch, the only cheaper solution is to go with Linux and MythTV, because you do need an operating system anyway, so why not get one with build in media center functions?

If I did my currency conversion correctly, Techtree's system would set you back about $711 US dollars. Not too bad for what you get. You could cut corners if you don't need a case that looks good in the living room, find a few items on sale, and skip the wireless mouse and remote.