Is there room on your shelf for a home theater PC? There’s a trend rolling here. One by one, the PC manufacturers are rolling out home entertainment PCs. The market is starting to heat up, with snappy entries from HP, Hush, Alienware, and Voodoo. Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 is the common thread that runs through most home theater PCs, with the exception being the new iMac Mini, of course …

Can’t stand the idea of a noisy PC in your home theater environment? Fear not! The Voodoo Vibe f:50 is one big aluminum heat sink. An array of 6mm heat pipes and convection cool the unit and eliminate the needs for fans. Voodoo bills (or should I say billed?) the beast as the world’s only silent and fanless personal computer. You’ll need a good bit of floor space and a hefty wallet for this dual tuner monster. (It’s so big it rolls on casters.)

The name of the Hush MCE Fanless Media Center Edition 2005 says it all. This little beauty fits on your media center shelf, with dimensions of 17.3″ (width) x 15″ (depth) x 3.9″ (height). A Hauppage TV/FM Tuner card provides analog, cable, or “digital terrestrial” reception.

Alienware flies into your entertainment center with the entry-level DHS 2 and bad boy DHS 5. With an AMD Athlon 64 and up to three TV Tuners, the ominous black DHS 5 promises “whisper-quiet operation.” Alienware is forthright about noise levels and specific configurations, stating that “The ATI X800Pro … may increase system noise.”

With all of those big screen LCD and plasma TVs landing in living rooms across the land, can new home theater PCs be far behind?