My After the Superbowl Tech Project

I've decided to make a valiant attempt to streamline my home theater/gaming setup after the Superbowl.  The release of Vista has added another option that may be user friendly for my wife and myself, leading to more use of the system.  If you are interested in following my trials and tribulations with a X-box 360 and a HTPC, read on.  I'd also like to hear any comments suggestions as I go along.

Here is the background along with some challenges:

• Television - Samsung HLN-507 DLP.  This was one of the first DLP sets, so unfortunately it has two major limitations.  It only has DVI, not HDMI, and there is only one of those. It has 3 sets of component inputs, s-video, and some composite also.  The X-box 360 is hooked up to one of the component inputs and the HTPC is usually hooked up to the DVI.  Right now the HTPC is unplugged and a PS3 is hooked up while I decide on my solution.  If you are familiar with this TV you know it is a 720P native resolution machine (1280x720 DLP chip).  The difference between DVI and Component when watching TV is night and day.  It really likes to be driven digitally.  More on this to follow.  Also, one more big limitation: these early sets didn't have a ATSC tuner, so to receive HD OTA you need some sort of external tuner.
  
• The HTPC - The introduction of Vista will allow me to turn this into a multimedia machine with the MS frontend.  It will be used as my OTA HDTV tuner and DVR, my DVD player (the upscaled DVD's through DVI are amazing on this machine), slideshow viewer and movie server.  My wife is not a techno-phobe, but she wants the system to be fairly easy to use.  I think the frontend will work.  Plus, the ability to run the front-end through the 360 is a bonus, and may actually get more day-to-day use. 
  
• Number of inputs. I would like to keep the PS3 hooked up (nothing like 50" HD gaming!), so I will need some sort of HDMI or DVI switch.  The HDMI switches are a lot less money, plus they are HDCP compliant, so I am leaning that way.  The unknown is how the HTPC will handle going from DVI to HDMI and then back to DVI after the switch.  I will also need enough inputs for the possible addition of a DirecTV HD PVR (we have DirectTV now).  If DTV ever has a worthwhile HD package, I will probably move to this solution, and instead of selling my HTPC for pennies, I'll continue to use it as a slideshow viewer, upscaling DVD player, and music server.
  

Well there you have it.  I'm waiting until after the Superbowl for obvious reasons and to give myself a few more days to think this over. Working with Windows and computers reminds me of working on a car - no matter how small the job, it seems like some little thing always crops up to make the job take longer.  I can't miss the Superbowl in HD!

Stay tuned...