Shoutbox

well if your even considering Pro then you dont need media centre.
its quite different with its start up menu and the such like but if you really do want a pc next to your TV then there really is no other choice because you get a PC with all the other boxes under your tele intergrated into one.
ive heard many good thing about media centre and the compatibility is supposed to be really good.
this is mostly down to the fact that microsoft check every media centre pc to see if it correct to use the media centre OS
its a great deal really if you need it.
but from the sound of it you dont need it because youre considering Pro which simply isnt any substitute