Newer Pies works at 1GHz without overvoltage if somebody needs more horse power give it a try.
Also add passive heatsink for longer life of Pi if you overclock it.
I also use a RPi as a home entertainment center running raspbmc, and never had a problem with that one either. Just make sure you get good class 10 SD cards.
Did you try openelec? In new version library is working almost smooth.
Best remote for me is some mini bluetooth keyboard with touch-pad.