Real geeks build HTPC's on their own.  So if you do feel like making a personal video recorder, you will probably want a SFF case and board to start with.  Consider the Silverstone SUGO SG01, a comparitively spacious SFF system, with enough room you won't be shopping for add on cards that were made for laptops.  See what Think Computers thinks of it here.

'Small form factor (SFF) cases are becoming more and more popular these days, especially as LANS

and home theater PC's are becoming the 'IN' thing. Only a few companies have really pursued the

making of a quality SFF case. I recently reviewed one by Antec, today I have one from Silverstone,

both companies are known for their quality products. Silverstone has ventured into the HTPC market

with lots of quality entries, the SFF PC case I have today can be one of those entries or it can

be a nice LAN gaming rig as well. For review I have the Silverstone SG01 or SUGO series, it

utilizes a Micro ATX motherboard, but features space for a full sized ATX power supply and full

sized PCI cards."

Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:

SRC="http://www.pcper.com/site_gfx/icon-system2-small.gif" ALT="Click Here to go to Systems"

• TARGET="_blank">Biostar iDEQ 350G SFF PC @ HotHardware.Com

  
  
• IA EPIA MII 12000 @

CaseModGod.com

Small Formfactor PC Review @ PCstats.com