You're most welcome. Happy to help
The HSU VTF-2 MK4 is currently the least expensive sub out there that can really "do it all", by which I mean that it can play right down to 20Hz, it can play with low distortion and tight transient response, it can play quite loud, and you can customize its low end response using its filter and port options. It's really a great "all around" sub for those reasons.
The Rythmik FV12 had almost as many adjustment options (no sealed mode option though), but as I said, it's sadly no longer available.
If you go up in price quite a bit, the SVSound "Plus" and "Ultra" models are absolutely stellar and offer even more filter, port and EQ options, as well as even deeper and louder output with even lower distortion and tighter control. But you're looking at over double and triple the price of the VTF-2 MK4 with those! So it isn't a fair fight in terms of the price bracket.
Similarly, Rythmik has more expensive models as well. And they have a lot of great sealed subs too. But they're all significantly more expensive. So in terms of just sheer value, nothing really beats or even matches the HSU VTF-2 MK4 right now.
With your living room being open to the kitchen and dining room, the VTF-2 MK4 might not be able to hit full 115dB peaks. But that is insanely loud and hardly anybody ever actually listens at full reference volume, especially for the LFE channel. The VTF-2 MK4 will have no trouble creating nice, strong, satisfying bass in your room. But if you're willing to save up for a much longer time and go for an SVSound Plus or Ultra model, I certainly wouldn't stop you!
But realistically, in terms of price, meeting your needs, and being ready for just about any sort of room in the future, I think the VTF-2 MK4 makes the most sense here.
Having a NAS server is a joy. It's basically your own, personal "cloud", but with the option to hold MUCH more data. I prefer Synology over any other brand. Their servers are reliable and easy to use. I have a pair of the DS411j, which are pretty much the least expensive 4-bay units out there. They aren't blazing fast or anything, but for simply storing and serving up audio, video and pictures, I think they're perfect. I went for maximum storage space, so I have them set for JBOD and a separate volume for each hard drive. I'm not worried about redundancy. I have the physical discs as my backup! So if a drive ever fails on me, it'll be a bit of a time suck to re-rip all the discs that were on that drive, but it's not the end of the world
I store straight up 1:1 ISO backups. I like special features, 3D, disc menus and the option to still use BD-Live if I want to. So for me, a direct, 1:1 ISO is perfect. Slysoft's AnyDVD HD makes 1:1 ISO backups of Blu-ray, HD DVD, and DVD all on its own, so that's what I use. I got the lifetime license back when it was cheap and still available though. It's not anymore. So the cost will be higher for AnyDVD HD these days.
At the moment, MakeMKV is still in beta and is free. MakeMKV is a great program for when you want to create MKV versions instead, and have the option to strip out certain unwanted parts of the disc, like previews or special features or alternate audio and subtitle tracks.
I use Arcsoft TotalMedia Theatre 5 for the simple reason that it is the only playback software that still supports HD DVDs! Since I use 1:1 ISO files, I have to mount those on a virtual drive for playback. Slysoft's Virtual CloneDrive is free and does that job nicely. TMT5 also seamlessly integrates into Windows 7 Media Center. I like the WMC interface, so that works well for me.
Once again, since I use 1:1 ISO backups of retail discs that I own, MyMovies is really perfect for me for getting all the disc metadata and giving me a nice interface within WMC. MyMovies is free, but there are several nice features that are locked out in the free version. You can pay to unlock the features that you want. MyMovies is all about retail discs, so it's nice when you have multiple versions of the same movie - like a Director's Cut, the 3D release, an Ultimate Edition, or what have you. MyMovies has a separate entry for each individual release, so you can have all of your versions with their own listing in your collection. Within MyMovies, you simply tell the program where the "disc" is located. In my case, I point it to the ISO file on my NAS
If you use MKV files or movie downloads or a streaming link though, MediaBrowser is probably the better metadata program. It's free. And a lot of people prefer it to MyMovies. It's more automatic. You just show it the folder where you have all of your movies stored and it automatically goes through based on the file names and imports the titles into the MediaBrowser program. You can manually correct any mistakes after. The automatic info is all based on tMDB though, which isn't always the most complete and only has one listing for each movie title. You can manually change stuff though, so MediaBrowser is a great alternative. I think MyMovies just makes more sense for retail discs though, because it's already set up that way, with a separate listing for each disc SKU
There are a number of ways that you can go about organizing your network and playback though. I think NAS units for storage is the only thing that makes sense. But you could opt to have a dedicated Windows Home Server, which makes importing titles into MyMovies a more automated and easier process, and the Home Server can automatically handle things like backups and organization better.
If you transcode you video backups, you can use DLNA or Windows Media Extenders as your playback devices. I love HD Audio too much to go this route, but a lot of people are just downloading MKV bittorrent files with standard DTS or DD audio that will work over DLNA or on Extenders.
There are also settop box devices like the Boxee Box or Popcorn Hour that can act as your playback device and even play ISO files natively. The Boxee Box doesn't handle DTS-HD Master Audio though (at least not yet) and the Popcorn Hour is fairly expensive and usually on back order.
So I decided that the easiest solution was to simply build a separate HTPC for each display. If you only ever use one display at a time, you certainly don't need multiple HTPCs! I just have multiples so that each display can be truly independent and two or three people can watch a different movie on each display if we want to!
WMC is also a great DVR for over-the-air HDTV content. You just install a tuner in you HTPC, hook up an HDTV antenna, and bam, you've got free, local HDTV channels and a great DVR experience.
And obviously, being a full PC, you can access any online content that you like! You've got a full browser, you can download and install any programs that you like. It's a full PC. And if you spend a bit more, you can make it a proper gaming PC too, if you like. So to me, a full HTPC is just more flexible and capable.
The Synology NAS units can also do a lot on their own. They have apps to make the NAS into an iTunes server, a DLNA server, FTP server, all kinds of stuff.
A simple Core i3 processor with an inexpensive H61 chipset Socket LGA1155 motherboard with HDMI out is all you need for full HD, 3D and HD-Audio playback. You don't even need a video card! The built in Intel HD graphics are totally fine for movie playback. I throw in 4 GB of RAM and an SSD to make it all snappy and quick. A nice, compact mATX case with a quiet power supply, or an ITX case if you want something even smaller makes the PC look right at home with all of your other gear. The Core i3 runs super cool and the stock CPU fan is silent and perfectly fine. You don't even really need a case fan with these low power units.
With MyMovies, you can have each PC be totally independent, or you can have one PC act as the "server" for the metadata while the other PCs act as "clients". I do it this way so that when I add a new disc to my collection, I only have to update the one "server" PC. Otherwise, I would have to add the title to each PC individually, or do it through backups, which take a long time when you have a large collection! So I just leave my main PC running all the time, which is fine. It doesn't use much power, and if it's acting as your OTA HDTV DVR, it pretty much needs to always be on anyway
So that's it! I use Harmony Remotes, which work fine with WMC (you just get a remote IR dongle for the PC). The whole experience and interface is slick, and it's super impressive when folks come over and they can just pull up my entire movie, music and photo collection on any display in my home
If I want to use other programs or use a full browser, I can just use a wireless keyboard and mouse, or use one of the apps for my iPhone or iPad that let it act as a touchpad and keyboard via the network or Bluetooth.
But it's by no means the only solution. A Boxee Box is cheaper and possibly easier. There are other settop box solutions as well. If you're ripping discs, you'll need a PC of some sort to get those files onto your NAS regardless. So I think having at least one HTPC makes total sense. For additional displays, you might opt for a different playback device or just an Extender, rather than a full HTPC for each display.
Hope that helps!
