I have made some progress on building my HTPC since my last post (for freeview (DVB-T & S).
I am looking at the following PC
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=WKSPB3455
But I will sub the EVGA GTS250 HDMI Ready 1GB GDDR3 graphics cardas as another poster pointed out, they don't carry the full sound on the HDMI output (http://www.missingremote.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4993&Itemid=232 was given as a nice link)
Instead I will go for the Sapphire Ultimate HD5670 1GB GDDR5 Silent cooled graphics card (http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=VGASAP5672). The ATI specs look good http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/ati-radeon-hd-5670-overview/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5670-specifications.aspx
-Support for H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, and Adobe Flash
-DirectX® 11 support
This leads to the first question, will this card work? I have heard tales of ATI cards having problems streaming the freeview tv etc.
mattyboy2 pointed out that I will ened a USB extender for a mouse etc (thanks for that). Any sugestions? I have to go about 15 metres from the CPU to where I will want to control everything in the lounge, which goes through 3 walls.
HDMI cable length is about 12 m, which means a 15 metre cable as I can't make on up to suit (unlike say netwrok cables. Has anyone done one this long before? I think I will need a Catergory 2 High Speed HDMI cable but these look to be the standard for now.
I am looking at the "Hauppauge WinTV-HVR4000 HD TV RECEIVER built-in DVB-S2, DVB-S. DVB-T PAL QUAD-MODE HYBRID 4000-HD" (http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?item=TVNHGR1047) tunner card. Anyone had eny experience with these / think it willl work?
Thanks for all your help