Entertainment center box - recommendations?

[Lisa Winkler]

Hello again,

I would like to put together a box to hook up to my entertainment system for the
purpose of watching dvd's/avi's, playing mp3's, and just generally geeking from
the comfort of my sofa.  It will not be networked right away but I will probably
be able to put a drop in in the near future.  I figured a few of you are
probably experienced with this and can give me some recommendations.

Requirements (must-have):
- SVideo out used as the monitor
- Audio output that I can feed into my receiver
- Quiet

Wish list:
- Remote control/Wireless mouse/keyboard (preferably I don't even need to use a
keyboard to do something simple like play a DVD)
- Case that looks decent in my entertainment center
- Cheap

Some questions that come to mind:
- Do I want hardware or software DVD decoder?
- Are the onboard audio/video outputs that come on a lot of motherboards good
enough, or do I want separate cards?
- What software is available for linux to make my life easier here (i.e. support
for remote control)?  I am actually willing to consider <gasp> Windows if it
turns out that there is better software support for what I'm trying to do.  But
of course, I'm expecting that Linux will meet my needs.  :)  Distro
recommendations (i.e. smaller, nonstandard distros?) are also accepted as long
as you guys promise not to get into one of those distro wars!

I have an old P2-300 with case and 300W power supply lying about that I'd like
to make use of if possible (see "cheap") but I'm figuring that is probably not
feasible if I want to play avi's and definitely not feasible if I were to use
windows.

While we are at it, off topic - does anyone know of a good solution to hook up
speakers wirelessly?  So far all I found is something from X-10 so I'd like to
know if that is any good or if anyone can recommend other products.

Thanks for the info,
Lisa