Home Theatre PC
I need some advice and would welcome all contributions. I would like what I think is called a Home Theatre PC. I want to play (&maybe rip) DVDs (& maybe Blu Ray,) to record freeview and to play BBC iplayer downloads, it would also be the access point for my digital music collection. I have a Panasonic 42" plasma with both a PC and HDMI input. I also have quite a reasonable stereo audio amp to connect to. Download speeds out here in the UK sticks are slow, so streaming TV/Films doesn't really come as a viable option. I would be happy to build/order or buy a PC. Whilst I read good things about W7 I would also be happy to use some iteration of Linux. She wants it to be aesthetic too! Oh and budget of £500 ish.
Any thoughts?