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@Emyr
You can use a HDMI to DVI cable to plug it into a normal TFT monitor.
The downloads page at RaspberryPi.org has ready-to-go image files you can write onto an SD card, then it should boot first time. Like a LiveCD, but not read only (and faster because they know what hardware you're using).
As you've been using Ubuntu, Raspbian is probably going to be the easiest distro to use, but if you want it to be more like a set-top-box, raspbmc is Debian-based and intended to rub XBMC as its default interface.
You might need to buy the MPEG licensed firmware if you want to take advantage of the video-decoding hardware, then re-endcode any media you already have to H264 using FFMPEG.
Also, make a wooden case for it, it'll stop you damaging any parts and teh interwebs will love you for it when you blog about it.