Topic: Well I finally started the Build.

[m666]

Granted I don't have much, but I put in the order for my new Silverstone Grandia HTPC Case.
I'll let you guys know how it turns out and post pics as I go along... Due to my financial status at the moment, I'll be buying parts in 200 buck increments every two weeks.
I should have my package today or tomorrow, I hope.

[RossRoy]

Good luck with this project! Keep us posted, I'll be following it with great interest! 

[m666]

Well I have the case... and I'm currently saving to try and buy all the other components at once.  I didn't think I would hit a money snag so soon, but I'm not giving up yet.  I've had to revise my build some due to parts being out of stock or discontinued.
I need to hurry and buy my motherboard befre its gone.
I'll post pictures as soon as I start putting things together.

[m666]

Its been a while, but It's officially built..

I went out and bought a 57" Mitsu 1080p DLP TV
and got the HTPC all put together.

Final PC Specs:
Silverstone Grandia HTPC Case
Asus P5B Motherboard
Intel 2.33 Core 2 Duo
2 Gigs of Ram
1x 160Gig HDD for Operating System
1x 500Gig HDD for Video Storage
1x 250Gig External HDD MyBook for music Storage ( I like portability between machines)
Windows Vista Ultimage
WinTV-PVR-500 MCE Dual Tuner
500 Watt Modular Power Supply
Geforce 8500 256mb Video card, Silent Cooling
Sony DVD Burner (really quiet, using it for DVDs)
Lite-on DVD Burner (Noisy, using it for lightscribe feature)
Using nvidia's purvideo decoder for dvds, its amazing!

Final thoughts I was originally going to use Theatertek to watch dvds, but found that Vista's media player, in Media Center was much much crisper and clear.  With purevideo it looks even more amazing, I have a hard time telling the difference between dvds and HD.  Even analog Cable looks amazing with purevideo running.
I found out that my motherboard has built in optical audio, so I ditched my pci soundcard, I was going to bump to 4 gigs, but Vista ultimate 32-bit doesn't like that much ram, so 2 is plenty. 
With everything outputting to 1080p, its just a dream home theater.

I've learned a lot from it all, its a little different than making a regular old PC, but much more fun.
I have pictures, just not at work, will post some later.