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IMO leave it as is minus the commercials. Add more HDDs and when I do want to keep something but do not want it taking up HDD space I burn it to DVD provided the file fits or can be logically and easily split. Dual layer DVDs are still too expensive IMO.

In certain situations with ts files I will convert to SD using HDTVtoDVD but I really try not to do this.

If I do burn to DVD I use TMPGenc DVD Author+Imgburn. But just burning as a data file will work provided you do not want to use it in a set top DVD player.

DVD storage can become a problem so I label them using a Sharpy and store them in the clear plastic sleeves and put them into boxes used for index cards. You can store a lot of DVDs in a relatively small amount of space.

Finally I have learned to be selective in what I keep, whether it is on the HDD or on DVD. Most of what you save you will never look at again...even if you really think you will...chances are real good you won't.

One other thought in regards to adding HDDs. I ran out of room and connections in my main PC for additional HDDs and starting adding USB drives. This works fairly well but can get clunky and may not be the best solution when streaming high bit rate HD video. About 3 months ago I put together a Linux based server made from an old Dell 2GHz and 512DRAM. Actually you could use something a lot older and less powerfull but that was what I had access to. There are numerous free and cost effective Linux solutions available. The first one I tried was NASLite2 USB. The Linux OS boots and runs from a USB jump drive and the DRAM. I populated the Dell case with 4 IDE drives and 2 SATA drives (purchased a PCI SATA controller card) and it works quite nicely. All of the drives are accessable to all of my windows machines and NMPs. Recently I went with Linspire/Freespire which can run from a CD or be installed to HDD. I did this because I wanted to run server software and NASLite does not have that capability. Freespire is free as is PC-BSD, Ubuntu, KnoppMyth and Knoppix.

Just a thought....