Need Suggestion on a Home Build PC for Video

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I am thinking of building a PC. I need some input as of which
components to get:

What I need it for are:
- Mainly for watching TV (using either Beyond-TV-Link or MS Media
Center 2005).
- Secondly for editing video.
- From time to time, I would like to play games (such as Doom).
- Also need to use it for browsing internet, editing Words document,
Excel...etc. I have a feeling that any PC can do that.

What I want are:

- My current PC is P4 1.4GHz. I will move it to the basement for
recording TV shows 24/7, and replace it with the new PC. I want the
new PC to be faster than my current PC to a point that I can "feel"
that it is really faster. No need to be "WOW". But at least I want to
feel that I am really using a "new" PC -- just a way to justify the
expense. I want the window to pop up faster than before.

- After saying this, I don't want the PC to cost too much. I am not a
big time gamer. Therefore, I don't really need the top of the line
stuff. In fact, I am going to move some of the stuffs from my current
PC and from an old PC just to keep the cost down.

With these in mind, I want to know what should I get for the following
components:
- CPU
- Motherboard (need firewire and USB2)
- Video card (need TV out)

CPU:
I am under the impression that AMD CPU is cheaper than Intel and is
just as good. AMD has multiple models of CPU (Sempron, Athlon XP,
Athlon 64), and Sempron 2500 and Athlon XP 2200 costs only $100. Are
they fast enough over my P4 1.4GHz to let me "feel" the difference?

Thanks in advance for any info.

Jay Chan