What System to buy (NOOB)

[Xenos]

Hello

I have decided to join up today, because as of late i have been planning a home media project with a file server and media players etc.

Now part of this project is to put media players using openELEC in the living room and bedrooms.

So far i had my mind set on a few ASrock 330HT systems, but cant help wonder if this machine is now abit outdated and i can get better for my money?

NEED :-

1. Energy Efficiant
   
2. Gigabit Ethernet
   
3. Infrared (To use a Remote)
   
4. BD drive (would be nice but not essential, depends on the price difference)
   
5. 3D - HDMI 1.4 (Now this would be ideal as i plan on upgrading to a 3D TV at the end of my project, but will there be a silly price difference?)
   

I also used to have a HTPC case where i could boot the PC from a complete shutdown using just the remote, now this would be a nice feature also, Rather than having to get up and press the button

I read that some people were booting openELEC from SD cards, how will this compare with installing direct on the internal sata HDD?

Thanks

[newphreak]

http://openelec.tv/find-help/documentati...on-3d-156b
This box comes to mind, zotac has one with bluray as well, not sure if it has built in infared however.
http://www.zotac.com/index.php?option=co...mid=100172

[Xenos]

as nice as that looks, its abit over my price range.

i should of noted in first post i plan to spend 200-250 GBP

Since writing that i have discovered the Shuttle XS35GT-V2.
Now i know its barebone but i could add RAM, infra-red receiver.

will openELEC be better booted from a good Sd card? or a internal sata HDD?

also i was wondering if its possible to swap out the dvd drive for a LG BD drive that i have sat here doing nothing?

if so then i think i will aim for that device as i read its got ION2 so supports 3D?

[newphreak]

Both options work, we have users using both sd-cards and normal hdd's.

Don't know what drive you have, so can't say if that will fit.
Another thing to think about, do you need bluray? the support for that under linux is not to good due to the protection on the discs. This is how it works now:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=67420

As for 3D, ION2 should support that. However, XBMC does not support it (yet).
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?t=85932
Bino is one option, but not well tested, nor implemented yet.
http://openelec.tv/forum/19-feature-sugg...lec-distro