This all gets into areas I brought up in another part of this board, and the basic conflict is... what should one do with the x264 files, whatever container they happen to be in (AVCHD, mkv, ts, you name it).
I broke down almost two months ago and bought a PCH (popcorn hour) box. One of the main reasons was, I was at my wits end a bit trying to get any of the PD (or shareware) display/movie programs to play all the types of files I was throwing at it; I might add that NONE of the commercial programs (from NERO to Cyberlink to ?) would play all of them either, without failing on one or the other. The PCH has a few failings, but has done a LOT better than me 'tinkering' around with all kinds of add-ons, fixes, etc,, to those programs (not to mention the hassles of the PC graphics boards, NVidia or ATI, I have BOTH).
File size, no matter what type container, is a 'problem'. If the file isn't specifically 'sized' to dvd5/dvd9 (or smaller), then you're stuck saving it either to multiple removable discs, or onto hard drives (you'll notice that lots of AVCHD stuff aimed at the PS3 market IS sized to those sizes).
As I'm sitting here trying to 'repair' a 'small' 2TB linux RAID1 array (don't know if I can 'recover' the discs, the array is grinding away at it though), saving things to HD is eventually problematic. Right now I'm trying to decide on either 'reclaiming' an older Athlon64 system that has a motherboard-based RAID5 system (limited to 6-SATA drives), or pony up for the unRAID box/system (bare sans-discs prices are around $1500).
Right now I'm leaning toward putting a x1/PCIexpress card to 'power' the boot drive on that Athlon64 system (luckily has several free PCIexpress slots, up to an x4), leaving all 6 SATA ports free for a 7.5TB array (with 1.5TB drives); that will be around $700+ to do.
Just since I got the PCH, I've filled up almost 3 1.5TB drives spread around my LAN. A couple things to keep your eye on, is what the resolution, audio (DTS is much preferred coming off the high resolution soundtracks of the BluRay discs), extra audio (dir. commentary and such), captioning, and most important, the bit rate.
Most movies have been done just about every which way one can think of, so you have a 'choice'. But just like recoding SD DVD's, it may be that doing it yourself may be the best option.
