for sure brother I loves me some tech I'm rocking a 60 inch sharp aquos tv and I've built up a nice home theater surround using a denon 1913 and a 5.1 aperion mix waiting to grab my rear surround once I make my next move to a new place. I've flashed my wdtv with a custom firmware and theme and played around with moviesheets and it looks pretty cool but when all is said and done I think nothing will compare with a full on HTPC the media player was just my gateway drug lol. I'm also debating if I should active bi-amp off my denon but can't seem to find any solid info saying it will make any kind of a difference everyone seems to downplay it. But a solid router makes all the difference I have no need to VPN but I've done it just to keep old skills from getting rusty if you want some links to get it running ill post but its a pretty basic process.
All and all the fun in geeking it out in a home setting theater/network/gaming is awesome you'll never run out of awesome things to do and you'll always be learning it's the coolest hobby there is!! :)