Hagrin.com

Games First has a review of the Xbox 360 as a cost effective media hub. From the article:

The Xbox 360 is also limited in its capabilities when connecting to a PC using Windows Media Connect. Other media hubs that work with Windows Media Connect allow you to view video streamed from your computer's hard drive on the television. The Xbox 360 does not let you stream video from a computer on your home network unless the computer is using Windows Media Center Edition 2005.

So if you do not have a computer running Windows Media Center Edition 2005 on your home network, then you will get better service from another media hub (such as the D-Link or Philips models). But if you're fortunate enough to live in a household with a Windows Media Center Edition 2005 PC, then the Xbox 360 becomes a very attractive option.

This is a great review for talking yourself out of getting an Xbox 360 Core system. The dependency needed to bring out the media hub features just isn't worth the 100 dollar savings and not getting the full blown gaming rig and the media hub.