Windows Media Center - Is it still just for geeks?

I was impressed with Windows Media Center from the very first time I tried it. However when we got our first Media Center PC a number of years ago, it was quite a trying experience getting it all set up. Getting the PC to talk to the cable set top box through the "IR Blaster", getting a decent quality picture from the US-bought PC into the Australian-bought TV via a PAL SCART connector, arguing with the zoom settings to get a 16:9 picture with no letterboxing, getting the sound card to output D