Vista for me? HTPC for Netflix and Slingbox

I'm looking to build an HTPC to meet the following needs:
- Streaming Netflix movies (Priority A1)
- Watching Slingbox content originating outside my home network (Priority A2)
- Watching the occasionally downloaded movie
- Internet radio and/or Sirius radio online
- No itunes
- No gaming
- Blu-Ray would be nice, as I currently have no BR Player (sounds like nothing really works well with BR yet on a computer).
- I'm not into hulu yet, but I could see myself getting there
- No DVR at this point, though I may add the tuner and necessary hard disk space

I've decided on a GA-MA78GPM for the motherboard and a 4850e CPU. I'm planning on using the onboard HDMI port for viewing pleasure.

I'd love to have this run open source software, but unless I'm mistaken, Netflix and Slingbox don't run on anything other than Windows. Is Vista (and therefore Vista Media Center), my only option?

I'm also considering a Slingcatcher and using it as an extender for my laptop that has Vista Home Premium. I'm not keen on purchasing something that can't be modded down the road.

It may end up being cheaper for me to buy a Roku box, a Blue Ray player, and kludge some way to hook up my laptop to the TV for when I need slingbox and other content. Thanks for any feedback!

Some of the new Samsung Blu players can stream Netflic content. If that is priority 1 it may not be a bad option for you.

Thanks Joe... I had not thought about that. The slingbox stuff is going to be pretty infrequent, so plan B is acceptable.

Netflix, HD-DVD's and watching x264 720P and xvids work great on Vista 64 and XP Pro.

over at the green button there is a netflix plugin in for VMC and it works great.....



i love VMC for its remote interface.... i dont know how it would work with slingbox.... but i use webguide to stream content from my HTPC and WHS remotely

http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/