Oh and some feature creep on top of that... it would help if i could work a daylight readable pedestal mounted weatherproof touchscreen monitor into the deal 
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liveaboard home theater
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Indeed, but a PC that is capable of playing most of the current crop of games is also going to be a fairly big, heavy, noisy and hot beast.
Ultimately, get what can do what you want it to, but also remember where it has to live
Audio-wise, you aren't going to need a lot of volume and a home theatre amp is going to be waaay overkill I'd have thought. If you go down the PC route then why not get one with built in support for HD audio (i.e. a 5.1 or better still a 7.1) with the appropriate number of audio outs. You could then feed these to small self-powered speakers. OK it's never going to be great but then it's stuck in a boat, hardly the pinnacle of audio chambers!
Ultimately, get what can do what you want it to, but also remember where it has to live
Audio-wise, you aren't going to need a lot of volume and a home theatre amp is going to be waaay overkill I'd have thought. If you go down the PC route then why not get one with built in support for HD audio (i.e. a 5.1 or better still a 7.1) with the appropriate number of audio outs. You could then feed these to small self-powered speakers. OK it's never going to be great but then it's stuck in a boat, hardly the pinnacle of audio chambers!
If you already have a home theater setup mouldering away in a box, I'd say go with the cheap CPU approach. Although, I think the question really is whether you intend to use the theater while you're out cruising, or whether it's more a dock-side attraction. If it's the latter, I wouldn't worry about the amperage or dc vs. inverter question, since it sounds like any of your CPU or PS3 based solutions would draw a substantial amount of power anyway and you might as well just plug them into the dock.
If you intend to watch/play while out on the water though: 1) Are you nuts? You're in the wild blue yonder! ; and 2) I'd take the laptop route since it solves the DC problem for you and you could still game on it if you get one with a dedicated graphics card. Plus it's easier to stow.
For my 30'er, I actually got rid of an AC/DC tv/dvd player since it seemed too old fashioned for my purposes. Now I'm rocking an older dual-booted Imac with the stand cut off and mounted in the v-berth, so that I may blow my enemies into tiny bits (TF2 ftw) or curl up with Hulu while at the dock or via inverter in a pinch. I also picked up a netbook to do my casual work and surfing from the salon table, or to act as my chart plotter when I hook it up to the GPS. It works for me, but you may have grander ambitions. Good luck either way and let us know if you devise the perfect setup.
If you intend to watch/play while out on the water though: 1) Are you nuts? You're in the wild blue yonder!
; and 2) I'd take the laptop route since it solves the DC problem for you and you could still game on it if you get one with a dedicated graphics card. Plus it's easier to stow.For my 30'er, I actually got rid of an AC/DC tv/dvd player since it seemed too old fashioned for my purposes. Now I'm rocking an older dual-booted Imac with the stand cut off and mounted in the v-berth, so that I may blow my enemies into tiny bits (TF2 ftw) or curl up with Hulu while at the dock or via inverter in a pinch. I also picked up a netbook to do my casual work and surfing from the salon table, or to act as my chart plotter when I hook it up to the GPS. It works for me, but you may have grander ambitions. Good luck either way and let us know if you devise the perfect setup.
Thanks! It took up valuable real estate on my table for far too long (plus it was a PitA to stow for sailing) before I decided to hell with it and pulled out the hack saw. You gotta work with what you got though.
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