Sony's Vaio TP1 is sort of the opposite of pretty much every other fancy media center PC on the market right now. It doesn't include CableCard or high definition optical discs.

The Vaio TP1 also doesn't look like anything else that sits by your television set. But that's okay, it doesn't really look like a computer either.

This little box was first unveiled by Sony at CES in January. Recently CNet noticed that it was shipping, even though there hadn't been any major announcement from the company.

Under the tiny hood lies a Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 300GB hard drive. There's also a DVD burner, an ATSC/NTSC tuner, and HDMI/DVI/VGA outputs. It runs Windows Vista Home Premium and runs about $1600.

Ever since I moved our tower PC from the office to the living room to serve as the home media center, I've been struck by just how loud the spinning fans are in your typical desktop. And that's one of the reasons the Moneaul 301B looks so attractive to me right now.

While most home theater PCs that come in a stylish case with a a quite cooling system will set you back thousands of dollars, the 301B starts at just $995. It sports:

• An AMD Athlon 64x2 Dual Core 4400+ processor
• Windows Vista Home Premium
• 2GB RAM
• 250GB hard drive
• Dual layer DVD/CD Burner
• HDMI out
• A wireless keyboard and remote
• Liquid cooling
• Your usual USB 2.0/Ethernet/Firewire/audio/VGA and other inputs and outputs

Curiously absent is the mention of any TV tuners, but you can pick up a standard or ATSC tuner for under $100 these days. Adding CableCard functionality, on the other hand will set you back over $1000 and probably several days/weeks of your life that you'll never get back.

Like sands through the hourglass, media center PC makers are starting to release home theater PCs that are capable of handling CableCards. In layman's terms, that means you'll be able to get high definition television from your cable company without ordering a separate cable box.

S1Digital is the latest company to enter the game. It ProLine and Home Series media center PCs will be able to support up to two digital cable tuners. Other options include HD-DVD and/or Blu-Ray playback, 1080p HDMI output, and 7.1 channel sound.

Keep in mind, these are high end units that will make an $800 HD-capable Series3 TiVo look cheap.

CE Pro reports that HP is exiting the digital entertainment center business. What does that mean? Basically that one of the first companies to offer a Windows Media Center PC that looked good in your living room is going to stop packing computers into A/V style cases.

Sure, you'll still be able to buy an HP machine that will work as a media center. After all, any computer running Vista is a media center, and if you throw a TV tuner into it, it's a PVR.

But the company's going to focus its living room strategy on its MediaSmart LCD televisions with digital media adapters. These are sort of like a proprietary version of Microsoft's Windows Media extenders, allowing users to access videos, music, photos, and web-based content on their TV set.

Let the early adopter wars begin. First, Velocity Micro announced that they're ready to ship the company's first CableCard ready home theater PC. Now Niveus says their CableCard PCs are ready to move.

That means consumers can now choose between high end media center PCs capable of recording high definition digital cable signals. Niveus is adding CableCard to several models, including the Rainier and Denali editions, as well as the Pro Series n9 and n7.

But lest you think Niveus just threw a couple of CableCard slots into its existing computers, the company actually requires you to purchase a separate set-top-box. The Niveus Digital Cable Receiver supports two CableCards and basically replaces your cable company box with a new box that's probably just as big and clunky looking. You can then pair it with a Niveus HTPC to record that sweet overpriced HD content.

Exceptional Innovation is demonstrating CableCard support in Windows Vista at the Electronic Home Expo. CE Pro reports that Exceptional Innovation has a demo unit consisting of a Sony XL3 Media Center PC and 1080p Sony Bravia TV.

Up until now, the only way to get high definition programming on a PC running Windows Media Center was with a HDTV card that can pick up over-the-air broadcasts.

Niveus will also be showing off the ability to stream CableCard content to multiple Xbox 360s serving as Media Center Extenders at the Electronic Home Expo. Of course, all the demos in the world aren't going to help your local cable guy better understand how to install CableCards in your PC. TiVo Series3 owners are full of stories of cable installers trying to put CableCards in the TV rather than the TiVo.

While most of the news out of last week's 3GSM conference was understandably mobile phone-related. But i-mate took the opportunity to show off their upcoming X-Stream Digital media Hub.

The unfortunately named X-Stream is basically an LCD TV sporting 720p and 1080i support with a built in Media Center PC running Windows Vista Ultimate. There's also a 500GB hard drive and a wireless router hiding in there. No word on pricing or availability yet.

i-mate also announced the X-Stream Dock, a small box running Windows CE that connects to your TV, allowing you to stream media from your PC to your TV set, and the Momento digital picture frame sporting 802.11b/g and supporting RSS feeds (think Flickr feeds).