I am planning on building an all out media center for my TV to replace TiVO, DVD player, and DTS receiver.

What are the best 7.1 speakers (bang for buck) to get for a home theater system? I live in an apartment so it isn't necessary to blast them so the east coast can hear me.

If I get the 9800 PRO AIW, will it be able to record and broadcast HDTV if I have the Comcast HDTV cable box and a HDTV?

Does the 9800 PRO AIW more or less act like a pass through cable to pipe out the signal to the TV? I was thinking as long as the cable box is able to decode the signal then my card should be able to receive/display it, and record it since my HDTV could handle 1080i. Is that correct?

ATI makes a DVI-component adapter for their 9800PRO card and I was planning on doing that combo instead of forking out $$$ for the top of the line x800L AIW card.

Trying to keep this thread alive.

for one thing your tv should be of a DLP or LCD kind or have DVI or VGA inputs otherwise most CRT rear projection sets wont really cut it for useing as a monitor, only to watch DVDs is practical. otherwise normal computer use is highly impeaded by the display unless it will do a true 1080i or 720p or is digital like DLP LCD or plasma.
you will still need the DTS reciver unless you just want to step down and use computer speakers.
the AIW and current computer video stuff at a consumer level wont really let you do much with HD except for an integrated tuner and firewire.

ATI has a new HDTV Pci tuner card thats pretty sweet.