When I first "upgraded" *cough* from XP to Vista last year, I was excited about the possibility of streaming HD TV through my house and the unlimited storage space I could harness with my PC. I'm generally fairly satisfied with how that vision turned out. But in the process, I've discovered that I actually dislike most TV programming.
Looking at all the programs I've recorded over the last year, I have some operas recorded off PBS, nature shows, a few documentaries about historical figures, and a crapload of "Family Guy." It's actually an embarassing amount of Family Guy. I can't help myself.
Aaaaanyway, the end result of my discovery is that although I'm using the Media Center the way I meant to, I don't actually value it that much. Add in some technical and execution faults (response time to commands is SLOW, menus are pretty-looking but often useless to me, I don't have the high speed "n" wireless so I've got wires criss-crossing my living room, etc. etc.), and the overall palate has a bittersweet finish.
But!! If I could stream movies from Netflix through my computer and Xbox 360, that would be another happy use. A closer examination of the Netflix FAQ area shows that not all Netflix movies would be available, but rather a "separate, smaller library of 10,000 movies and TV episodes." I suppose it's possible that all 10,000 could be crappy, given the amount of dreck on TV nowadays, but I'm definitely intrigued by the possibilities. I suppose I'll give Netflix a try when they start that service.
