Ok, time for me to bring the thread down with a couple of dumb questions
I've been following it with interest, but not because of cabling issues, more because of available expansion slots.
The (recycled) device I intend to use as an MD in my living room has limited slots(2). It also doesn't have suitable on-board graphics. One slot will be requitred for my PVR-150 card to connect to my Sky STB. I only have one more slot, so will if this works, will I be able to get away with one card doing both graphics and audio, or will I require a USB sound "card"? I don't want surround sound and will be using the TV's built-in speakers. Assuming audio over HDMI works and a single card will do both, which cards are suitable candidates?
Just to be clear here (before anyone tells me to go and buy another MD or whatever!
) I am still at the proof of concept / WAF stage. Once I have it all working and the family have decided they can't live without it, I intend to move my STB to my core (so the PVR-150 will move) and replace the MD with one of the tiny ION-based boards that Andrew has been raving about. At the moment, though, I need the least (zero?) cost solution.