[gaming_mouse]

[ QUOTE ]
I have not done an exhaustive search, however I have been unable to find anything that will play images directly.

Anyway, 1TB may sound like alot but it isn't when you consider 1 DVD ~ 5 GB and most commercial disks are dual layer so double that. It gets worse if you buy alot of tv series (like I do) as a show like Stargate SG-1 is 50 disks (500GB)! In order to alleviate this using an encoder like divx/xvid/x264 is a must. x264 or any other h.264 encoder will give you the best compression btw.

I believe Windows Media Center will do what you want with the remote. I personally use (whenever I get a computer hooked up to the TV) MythTV running on linux. Both options will also act as a DVR.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bremen, Thanks for the reply.

If I was going to use Windows Media Center, would I just keep a cheap old laptap in the livingroom, and that would be used to play the images on the external hd? And would there be a USB attachment that works with a remote control? Let me know if I understood you correctly.... Also, what kind of cables/connections are required to get the output going to your TV?


Thanks again,
gm