Combine it with a high-definition TV and you've got your own cinema

A home theater PC may sound oxymoronic, but a computer in the living room makes more sense than you might think.

A properly configured PC can serve as a TiVo-style recorder, Blu-ray and DVD player, digital video archive and, lest we forget, a PC — all in one box. Pair a big-screen high-definition TV with a home theater PC, and you have a monitor that puts even those monster 30” PC displays to shame.

In the United States, between 1.5 million and nearly 2 million households have home theater PCs, out of 83 million households owning at least one PC, according to Parks Associates, which researches digital lifestyles.

Parks defines a home theater PC household as one with a computer running Microsoft Windows Media Center (a special edition of the XP operating system, or included with Vista Premium and Ultimate) that is connected to a TV and used for recording TV programming. (Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and NBC Universal.)

Windows Media Center may be the most popular application powering home theater PCs, but there are other similar software packages, such as MythTV and SageTV, that work with computers that run Mac and Linux, as well as Windows.

All the programs provide similar services: TV guide listings, recording scheduling, video playlists and integration with video, music players and photo viewers. Windows Media Center continues to add services, such as movies and TV programs on-demand.

Home theater PCs aren’t for everyone, especially if your PC is usually relegated to e-mail and spreadsheet duties.

But this is one niche product that’s worth a careful look for anyone with a high-def TV.