comparison

1, 2 seem OK.

With past tense:

Three times as many people as I expected [as I had been expecting] went to the church.
Three times more people than I hoped [as I had hoped] went to the church.

IMO, the past perfect versions are better, as they establish the correct time sequence.

or with present tense:

Three times as many people as I've been expecting go [are going/coming these days] to the church.
Three times more people than I've hoped go to the church.

"new-release" should have a hyphen because it is modifying the DVD. And I think that DVD is still capitalized in current usage. When you want to name a book, movie, magazine name, etc. you should use italics if you can, or at least quotation marks.

The sentence "three times more people than I hoped go to the church" is okay, but your meaning is not clear. Did you hope for a minimum or a maximum?

I don't think that present perfect is needed in either "I've been expecting" or "I've hoped." Simply "as I expected" or "I hoped" would be fine, I believe.