Let me start by saying THANK YOU for this guide! I've been reading it over and over for a month and drooling. I started my project with a WD Live Streaming Media Player and that sucked. Today I got a Boxee Box. It isn't exactly an HTPC or XBMC, but so far I'm loving it. I did go with Astraweb/Sabnzbd/SickBeard/CouchPotato, though. I'm just using my main PC's slave drive (2 TB) to store media and NFO. Boxee can do it's own metadata but I'm using SickBeard's XBMC database.
So on to my question... it's about storage size. Currently I'm just using a 2 TB drive as I said. In your guide, you said you always prefer 720/1080p... and I do as well. However, up until now I've just been downloading DVD Rips and normal "HD" televised versions which run anywhere from 350mb to 750mb for a 1 hour television show. After downloading my first 720p BluRay episode of The Walking Dead with this new setup, I noticed it's about 2.3 GIG! Just one episode! Obviously, the quality is much better, but now I'm concerned about how much I'm going to be able to store if I keep with this quality preference...
How much storage space are you 720/1080p guys typically using for this purpose? How much storage space does Windows 7 support? I can add another 2 TB drive I suppose...
This setup is so slick.. I know I don't have an HTPC but even using SickBeard/CP/Sab etc. on my own Windows 7 Box and using Boxee as the streaming device.. it's freakin awesome. Now I'm half tempted to rip all of my BluRays and sell the discs! Yeah right... like I can afford to lose that HD space