Media machine for living room?

I'm moving to a new house and will no longer be able to use one computer for all my media needs. I need to buy a computer that will be dedicated solely for downloading and watching movies and TV shows in the living room.

It does NOT need:

A hard drive. I will be buying a TB drive for it.
An optical drive. No need for one.

It DOES need:

To have the ability to handle any variation of 1080i/p movies.
HDMI output.

Since it will be sitting in my living room, I don't want a big tower. No way. I'm thinking a Shuttle or something. I've priced the Shuttle systems on their website and they're way more than what I want to spend, but I like the idea of the small machine. Anyone have any experience with a Dell Zino?

What are my best options? Price is a factor this time around.

WD TV:

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=30

Quote:

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Play a world of HD media on your TV

HD video, photos and music - they're on your computer, on your USB drives, on the Internet, but how do you enjoy them on your TV? Now it's easy! Play a whole world of Full-HD, 1080p media on your big screen TV with the WD TV Live network-ready HD media player.

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hoi bud. Whay can't you use 1 computer? What are your current system specs. What is your current budget looking like?

The WDTV Live is great but it will not Download movies as Skizo said. It could be an option if you could DL movies on your computer and play them over Ethernet or even wirelessly. I have both the WDTV and the "Live" version get the Live one ;) the option is a wireless USB adapter will work with it well.

I have tried almost every option when it comes to watching movies on the TV and the WDTV Live is BY FAR the easiest,most reliable and cheapest. It plays EVERYTHING DUDE. The original was good but didn't play about 75% of the X264/MKV rips we get this one plays em all.

EDIT: looked up the price on New egg- $119.99 Free Shipping

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui30UGYagpo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7JLGACMBGs

Looks/Sounds like I would have to download data onto a portable drive with my PC and then take it into the living and plug it in to the WDTV machine. That is not something I am interested in doing at all.

I would like to have a machine like a Shuttle or something that I can put beside (or behind or whatever) the TV. Then put a wireless card in it and download the content directly via my home wifi.

EDIT:

I just updated my original post to be a tad more specific.

There isn't anything at all wrong with current computer but my new house is going to have the office on the other side of the house as my living room, thus the current PC will no longer work for that purpose.

My workmate just bought one of the new eee boxes, one with a dual core atom, and ion for graphics.

That's supposed to be able to handle full-hd.

EDit: Wait - he didn't buy one, he got an MSI DE200, instead. That's pretty much the same hardware, but with an ati chip for graphics and with a different casing, though.

It comes with a wireless card, hdmi and 7.1 sound, and it's pretty cheap.

Link

They also come with 320GB drives, if you need the space and are willing to pay a little more.

His came with Win 7 Home Premium as well, the one on newegg only shows XP home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Skiz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui30UGYagpo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7JLGACMBGs

Looks/Sounds like I would have to download data onto a portable drive with my PC and then take it into the living and plug it in to the WDTV machine. That is not something I am interested in doing at all.

I would like to have a machine like a Shuttle or something that I can put beside (or behind or whatever) the TV. Then put a wireless card in it and download the content directly via my home wifi.

EDIT:

I just updated my original post to be a tad more specific.

There isn't anything at all wrong with current computer but my new house is going to have the office on the other side of the house as my living room, thus the current PC will no longer work for that purpose.

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Thats why I recommend the WDTV Live (Live meaning WDTV v2) man. It can connect to your network via Ethernet or if you buy a wireless USB adapter you can read right from your computer hard drive. There is a list I'll find of recommended USB adapters out there but most people say you can use almost any one, even the cheapo models.

http://www.wdtvlive.com/tutorials/vi..._Live_Overview

EDIT:

From the WDTV Live page

Quote:

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Access media files on your home network - WD TV Live supports a direct Ethernet connection or a USB attached wireless connection to your home network. Click here to view compatible wireless-ready USB adaptors.

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Trust me on this one dude. I know what you want as I chased it for soo long trying different ways of not having to physically move media from the computer to play it on the TV and this is it.

Could tell me a bit more about setting it up wirelessly? I wouldn't think that it would be able to stream 1080 content through a wireless USB adapter. :unsure:

@Snee - I'll look at those MSI machines as well. Thanks.

Have a look at the new eee box as well. He originally planned for that, to use it like you're talking about. He just went for the MSI because he got that cheaper.

The WD Live is on sale this week at Best Buy (at least in my area), down from $149 to $119.

The more I think about it, the more I can't even see the point in WDTV. At least not for me.

If you still have to download the programs/movies with a computer, why not just use that computer to play them as well? :unsure: