Wanted to mention something called Geexbox - http://www.videohelp.com/tools/GeeXboX
Basically a Linux LiveCD ISO already set up with Media Center or Home Theater type apps -- it does look nice when you start it, & thought some might like to try it out. It can be burned to a CD you boot from, but it's really set up to store persistent data on a USB stick. If you have VIrtualBox, either installed or using the portable start [launcher], you can also attach the ISO to a VM & keep the default boot order where the CD comes before any hard drives... don't need a real VM with an OS installed.
