HTPC build for my folks

[bartre]

so our local cable company decided that they wanted to go all digital.
what this means for the little guy is that they want to rent us a little box that converts the signal for an extra $10/month per box.
as you might imagine, that's not really anything my parents want to deal with.
so I was thinking about doing a home theater pc build for my folks, and set it up to run Kodi (what XBMC is going by nowadays)
I really don't think they need anything crazy, but it would be nice to have something set up that can handle a 1080p video without trouble.

has anyone here done a build recently, or have any input on something prebuilt that would be worth the time/money to set up?

[MNKyDeth]

Well.... I have a computer I call an HTPC.

It is running Linux mint. All I really use it for is streaming movies from my server, watching netflix or playing music through the receiver. I have not really messed with XBMC, Kodi so not sure what the requirements are.

The specs of my machine are:

Intel I3-4160
8gig ram ddr3 @ 2133Mhz
GTX 650 1gig ram
gigabyte motherboard - I forget what one, but it is a microATX. I could look it up if interested.
550w SeaSonic PSU Bronze

The graphics card I have has a full HDMI plug on it so I can just plug it directly into the TV. I also have some wireless controllers and most every emulator on it, like Kega and such. I can then play any steam games that use a controller and any games via an emulator.

I usually bust out my Duo for TurboGames though as I have a XRGB-mini and it looks amazing.

But... I don't think you need anything crazy, but you may want to future proof just a little. The stuff I got was cheap a couple hundred bucks to build it and the OS was free so....
I don't do any real TV as it's a waste imo. If I wanna watch something and I don't have it I rent it, slap it on my server then return it and then I can watch it whenever I want no commercials.

[BigusSchmuck]

Barte, I might have something to fit the bill, PM me.

[esadajr]

You may be able to get by with a dual core and 4 gb ram (one of those mini itx boards for example) , just get a decent video card (eg GTX 750 DDR5) and power supply (600W).