I took another step towards dropping cable today.  Two steps, really.

I ordered a PCI card with an HDMI slot (to get high quality video from the computer to our HDTV).  This card is also a pretty decent graphics card, has a TV tuner built into it and includes DVR software.  (I read that the latest Windows Media Center includes a pretty good DVR, but the computer I’m using has Windows XP on it, and I’d need Windows 7 for that.)

I also ordered a small remote keyboard with a touchpad on it.  It had high reviews and wasn’t very expensive.  Out of the options for controlling the computer that will be the hub of our home theater, I thought it looked like the best.

Everything should be here by the 17th, so I’m really looking forward to seeing if it all works together like I think it will.