I expect those boxes use more power when actively playing HD content. That 1-2W figure has to be the standby or idle power.. still pretty good, though.

The Zotac box apparently idles at a whopping 21W -- I'll verify that later on. Picked one up today at the $210 price, and will send in the form to someday get $15 back (rebate).

I need a box that can RECORD content as well as play it back, so all of those nifty locked products just won't cut it. Nor will XBMC, as it too is a playback-only system.

I already have lots of leftover 1GB RAM sticks, and tons of SSDs and hard disks.. so for me this is a nicely versatile platform at a good price. My spare USB tuner will mate nicely into this system, with MythTV installed as a combined FE/BE.

Cheers