If you only use proven supported equipment, then sure, no problem,
This hardware lists in wiki are not very usable.
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Tested_good_hardwareMost of this hardware could be found on dump, and with todays prices of hardware
I do not want my smart home to be based on old, used, almost death ... hardware
(ASUS A7V600, ASUS A7N8X Deluxe I have them but they do not work any more).
Most of my problems with lmce was with graphic card driver.
Abit Fatal1ty F-I90HD is on list of tested good hardware, and it have same integrated graphic card rx1250.
I did not expected in this list to find hardware that need 12 page instruction manual to install driver.
My dvb cards (skystar 2 and HD) are not supported
?? I am sure that they work, there is no reason why
wouldn't work (compatible whit mythtv, vdr/xine, kaffeine ...)
The video is made by Paul using some Fiire equipment, and some other stuff. But it was also the hardware LMCE is written for, so it should of course work.
Fiire equipment is way
overpriced, and some of the hardware used in their equipment, not now, but in 2-3 years, would be very hard to replace, for example main board and agp graphic card, and this is from their website:
CPU, memory and hard drive are never a problem to change, however, we will stick to motherboards and video/audio/network chipsets that are known-compatible with LinuxMCE.
It's not like VistaMCE works on all hardware either, not even supported hardware at times, then again, this is not a simple Media center either.
Its against my religious, political and moral beliefs to see my future with microsoft.
And like you said, vista/xp mce is just simple media center, and any linux distro + mythtv is way much better solution.