Atom, Via Nano, or something else for low-power media PC?

Question

I'm looking to build a media PC attached to the big screen (65"), primarily for Boxee, playing movies, music, and photos, and for occasional web serving / email. Having it act as a DVR for over-the-air HDTV would be a big plus as well.

I'm pretty tempted by the Atom based MSI Wind PC as used in this hackintosh. Seems a nice little PC, and mostly capable of good video playback. I'm sensitive to noise so I'm attracted to CF card option. Apparently it doesn't do well with 1080 video, however.

The alternative to the Atom seems to be the Via Nano. Every review I've read has it beating the Atom handily in benchmarks, although I don't think the Nano handles 1080 video either.

There are lots of pre-packaged Atom based systems including the Asus EEE Box and the MS Wind at a nice low price. I can't find similar packages based on the Via Nano.

Not sure if either supports an HDTV receiver card.

Budget is ~$400.

Anybody have experience with either as a platform for a media PC, any alternatives, or any other words of wisdom?

Answer 1

For a HTPC and 1080 content, you actually need to look at the graphics chip. Most of the video processing should be off-loaded onto the graphics chip. The good thing is that most modern integrated graphics processors are good enough to handle it. However, the Atom doesn't seem to be available with anything other than the 945GC. You may want to wait for the Nvidia Ion platform, which couples an Atom with 9400 graphics. Ditto with the VIA Nano. Rumour has it that Nvidia is building their next Ion on that too.