3 lounge room devices into 1

I had a look at the stack of equipment in my TV room. It really needs to be rationalised! Amp, MC500 network media player, VCR, DVD, STB etc My ideal would be the Australian Z500 network DVD player with on-board STB and hard drive…which really turns it into a Home Theatre PC (HTPC). Dream land.
A HTPC would enable me to rationalise the MC500, DVD and VCR into the one box. I would keep the current external STB as I don’t like the idea of having to boot a PC just to watch TV. The HTPC would have a tuner card too; hence I could watch one, record another.
A tech mate is about to build his MythTV box; enabling him to build a very high quality HTPC using free and open source software. I’m following his adventures with interest.