HTPC - how low (cost) can you go?

[MrWhippy]

my father in law is talking about buying a hard disk based tv recorder and is saying the ones he's seen are around the 200 quid mark.

i'm just wondering how cheap can a full HTPC be built for?

though if it's way over the £200 mark then i guess it wont be an option.

 

[daz]

Trouble with that budget is that HTPC style cases tend to be pretty expensive, so if you want it to look nice and be a good HTPC on that budget, it's going to be impossible.

 

[MrWhippy]

no, i'm not saying can a HTPC be built for £200.

more a question of how far over £200 will it cost to build a cheap but usable HTPC.

assuming that the HTPC can replace a freeview box and a dvd player and maybe even parts of the hi-fi, it might still be viable.

but what realistically is the baseline price and what do you get for it?