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Here’s the thing. I have tons of digital video material stowed on my hard drive. While it’s acceptable to watch it all on my 20″ computer monitor, I’d rather do so on a proper television set.

Of course, that’s going to require some organization. First of all, the TV in my bedroom is ancient and tiny. So I surveyed the scene and decided that the Samsung LE40A656 would be a fine replacement.

Samsung LE40A656 LCD TV

A 40″ full HD high-contrast beast, the LE40A656 is considered a worthy adversary to Sony’s more expensive Bravia line. At just €954.69 plus €50 shipping, it looks to be excellent value for money. Obviously, I’m going to hit a store to take a closer look first. If the picture quality doesn’t put me off, the red glow and the huge bezel still might.

Anyway, presuming I’ve decided on a TV, for €6 a month, I can get a set-top box and go digital with cable. But then there’s still the matter of getting the video files from my desktop machine to the panel.

At first, I thought of having an HTPC custom-built. The Antec Fusion seemed like an excellent starting point, so I asked around a bit. I quickly decided that I wouldn’t be able to get a proper HTPC for under €400.

So I started looking at alternatives. The Netgear EVA8000 seemed to be as close as I was going to get, and I quickly wrote that off because of issues with full HD—just like the Apple TV, mind you.

Eventually, I came across the Popcorn Hour A-110 networked media tank, which was all over the gadget blogosphere a while ago.

Popcorn Hour A-110

Now, this one’s a doozy. From what I’ve read, you can throw just about any container format and codec at it, and it’ll play it back, even at full HD resolution, with full surround sound. Moreover, it supports every common network share protocol, and you can even stick a SATA hard drive in there. What’s even more interesting is that I can order it from Digimania for just €257 with free shipping. We have a winner.

The only downside to the A-110 is that it doesn’t do wireless networking, except with a separate USB dongle, which is somewhat hard to come by. Frankly, I don’t want that sticking out of the reasonably elegant machine to begin with, and throwing full HD content over wifi seems like a pain. While my prehistoric bedroom doesn’t have a UTP socket, luckily, there’s ethernet-over-power these days.

And finally, I’m going to need a simple piece of furniture to put it all on. That is to say, these cardboard walls will never support a 40″ TV. Like any aspiring home decorator, I turned to the Swedes.

IKEA Linnarp

Priced at €79.90, IKEA’s Linnarp can hardly get any simpler, but it’s exactly what I need. Apparently, they’ll even deliver for an additional €25. Hey, if it’ll save me the trip, I’m sold. With my aptitude for DIY projects, putting the thing together will be bad enough.

So, yeah, the whole thing will set me back about a month’s pay. But let’s be honest: this investment is long overdue, right?