Question

Hi

If, for some reason, I don't want to built my own HTPC (as here) are there any good pre-built HTPC's out there? Reqs: Windows Vista/7, 2 tv-cards, blu-ray, HDMI, quiet, small form factor.

I'll be running XMBC for my daily viewing needs.

[EDIT] I'm in the Netherlands so looking for international solutions.

Answer 1

Shuttle is a well known provider for HTPC cases but it produces also many different complete systems.

You can have a look to all models they have at this page.

Regarding your requirements they should have all Windows Vista pre-installed, HDMI output, quiet and small factor.

For example Media Center M 2000M has also 2 TV tuners. Take a look, there are many and all are configurable.

Of course it will probable cost a bit more that doing it alone, and you have to accept some technical compromises, but in general they are considered good systems.

Answer 2

I'm using a Dell Studio Hybrid:

It's tiny, quiet, very low power, and looks good. I bought it on Dell Outlet for cheap.

Add USB tuners and put storage on a server.

Answer 3

You don't mention where you live so I'm gonna guess that it's the US. It looks like Velocity Micro has some very good prebuilt HTPCs and come highly recommended in the overclocker community.

Answer 4

Since you have some answers already which provide links to system builders I'm going to offer an alternative.

In the question you linked to I provided an answer which reflects my current leanings on the subject: a centralized, powerful server provides content to less powerful units at the TVs.

In your case I would suggest buying as powerful a central machine as you can for around $600 (which gets a lot these days, particularly on AMD's platform) and an XBox(for running XBMC at the TV) or XBox 360. In the end you'll have spent roughly $1000 (USD) and have the foundation for an expandable system and a gaming console. That is assuming you don't already have an XBox at which point you'd be your leveraging existing hardware and can put more power, additional tuners and more drives into your central server.

This method has several advantages:

1. The central server does not need to be in an HTPC case which can be expensive if you value quality and

2. The noise of a powerful system (spinning drives, fans, etc.) is moved away from the viewing room without the added cost of higher quality parts and sound deadening.

3. You can increase the number of TVs which can access the central machine's content very cheaply as the client machines do not need the beefy harddrives, tuner cards or excesive amounts of RAM (see for example, an MSI Wind which can be configured with built in wifi, HDMI and can run WinXP Media Center Edition or Windows 7 for around $300, or an AppleTV which ranges from $230 to $330, has wireless N support and HDMI)

*A Playstation3 can be used out of the box as a Media Center and even has a Blu Ray player in it, but it cannot run XBMC which is a much nicer and more versatile interface. And forget web surfing from a PS3. Its a terrible user experience.