[Barnzy]

I am a newbie to HTPC's and XBMC. I finally got the wife on-board with the idea of building an HTPC, and digitizing our entire, extensive movie collection. I've been reading through everything I can find on the subject, and I think that has created more questions than answers. So, perhaps it would just be best for me to tell you what my requirements are, then you guys can tell me the best route to go?

It needs to be in a Wesena E5-V3 Black case (That's the only one the Wife likes)
It needs to be simple to use with My Logitech Harmony Ultimate remote (The wife just found out how much I paid for it, so it really needs to work with this)
It needs to stream 1080 Blu-Ray Rips from a NAS perfectly smooth. No hiccups
It needs to play audio through my 7.1 surround sound system. HDMI input into the receiver is fine.
It needs to be able to play Blu-Ray disks.
I'd like to be able to be power it on and off with the remote.

I think that's pretty much it. No gaming or any other PC functions are required.

In the past few days I have read conflicting opinions on whether AMD proc's or Intel proc's handle video better. I've always been an Intel guy, but in this case, I want whatever is best.

I don't have any particular budget that I need to stick to.

Thank you in advance! I appreciate any information you can offer.

[zxz0O0]

Your requirements are:
- SSD for OS (Minimum size depending on OS you choose, 40GB is enough for Linux, for Windows better 60GB)
- 4GB of RAM
- Blu-Ray slim drive
- MicroATX / MiniITX mainboard (compatible with CPU)
- CPU: I personally use Intel CPU and never had any problems. The current gen CPUs with integrated GPU are definitely enough to play 1080p, not sure if you need something additional for 7.1 sound as I don't have any experience with it.
- Special dongle to let you command and poweroff via remote (no experience here, might want to check http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=111310 )
- Power supply (included with the case?)