having trouble picking an os for a dated media center

yo, I have built a dell dimension (old one from 2001, can't remember model number and I'm at college) equipped with a pentium 4 2.4 ghz, 512 mb ram, 2 x 40 gb hard drives and an ati all-in-wonder 8500. Windows doesn't support using the tv tuner in media center, so I was wondering if maybe linux or... some flavor of linux would support it's tv tuner for a full standard def cheap dvr.

that, or is there any 3rd party ati drivers that will let the old all-in-wonder play standard def tv in a full media suite? (note: I don't like the media center ati provides, it has no slick interface or anything)

thank you,
-Tyler

 

here's a list of media center type software used in different linux distros.
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/using-your-linux-computer-as-a-media-center-part-1/
as for which one to choose, i have seen mythtv, and it's probably one of the ones that have been around the longest. and according to the link, it's bundled with mythbuntu