It's probably too late by now, but... For video playback, you really can't beat the Matrox line, especially for TV output. ATI and nVidia, even the expensive ones are just not in the same league. Matrox video cards deserve their reputation as the best 2D graphics around. You do not want one, however, if you want to play games. The P650 is under £100 and is a true dual-head card (two DVI outputs supplied with adapters for analog, TV adapter cable available separately.) For audio, go for a professional solution. M-Audio and TerraTec offer cards in the same price range as Audigy, but don't bend the truth about their specifications. You will need to be clear about what kind of interfaces you need, as you will find that 2 or 3 models of the same basic card will be available for around the same price, but will have different inputs and outputs. This is a Good Thing, because you don't pay for circuits you won't need and that means that their is more room on the card for better circuits for the interfaces you do need. For home theatre, I'd probably go for the TerraTec DMX 6-Fire. For listening to music, though, I'm in love with StereoLink... it's a USB device, the digital-to-audio conversion is done outside the computer and the USB connector is optically isolated from the DAC, so there is absolutely no connection to the PC's circuitry at the point where the analog audio signal is produced. The difference between this and any soundcard I've ever had are remarkable. There is no input, only stereo analog output and a headphone jack with no volume control, the housing is plastic... all the cost of building it goes into the DAC and the gold-plated connections... and the oxygen-free copper lead they give you for connecting it your hi-fi. You can have BOTH, you know...
