HDTV Media Center for under a grand?

We recently posted a story on building the ultimate home theater personal computer
(HTPC) and I got to thinking about the many folks that don't have a Windows Media Center Edition PC. It wasn't that long ago when we polled you on your Xbox 360 plans and a good portion of you said that you don't have a WMCE PC.
I'm sure we've got plenty of tech-savvy readers, but I'm guessing that a good portion of you aren't into building a WMCE machine from the ground up.

So what do you say we "mash-up" a WMCE
machine with HDTV capability? By "mash-up", I mean let's get the base system off the shelf and add a few components to provide high-definition television. The time seems right since we have the big Xbox 360 launch tomorrow, no? You're not really buying a 360 for gaming, you're getting it for the HDTV and Media Center Extender capability, right??? (Just nod your heads; we know the truth.)

Whatever your reason is, it's time for us to take the WMCE plunge here at HD Beat. Just to make it really interesting, we're aiming to do this for under $1,000
so you can spend your dough on a nice HDTV set to go with that and your 360. Once we're up and and running we'll marry the WMCE and a 360 as well (if we can get our hands on one!) Sound like a plan? Watch for updates throughout the week on our "HD Beat WMCE project on a budget"!

First up will be the system we bought as our base for $650. Stay tuned!