I have been playing with some of the new “Windows XP Media” PC’s recently, one by Sony, another by HP. All the software you need to use can be driven intuitively by remote control and was very easy to use, loading video, music, or pictures took only seconds, similarly to record TV, or to watch recordings. This allayed my fears about going the PC in the living room route. I really didn’t want to have to reach for the keyboard whenever I wanted to do anything.

I have also seen a nice PC case (full size), which wouldn’t look out of place amongst the Hi-Fi, as well as a half decent radio remote plus associated controller. Just need to source a decent twin tuner TV card now and I will do the necessary. If you haven’t seen one of these things in action, I recommend you take a look.