This is almost uninteresting enough to avoid reading it. We've known for years that Windows Media Center has supported extenders. For the uninitiated, an extender is a device that you attach to your TV (and network) that connects to your HTPC running WMC. Actually it could be any PC (or laptop). I always preferred to connect my HTPC to my TV, because I have only 1 TV. Also because Netflix on the Xbox 360 required Live Gold, inexplicably. So it was out.
But something very important happened recently: MS removed the requirement for having Live Gold to access media features, such as Netflix. That sort of changes everything. Here are the benefits of running an extender, even on a single TV solution:
1. No more HDMI handshake issues. Some have solved this, some put up with it, and some don't have the issue at all. With an Xbox 360 connected, this problem disappears.
2. Supposedly the Netflix app on the 360 is better than the app in WMC, and you no longer need Gold.
3. Extenders are superior to multi-HTPC solutions because you get a centralized guide/recording target. Also cheaper than multi-HTPC solutions.
4. You don't need a fancy HTPC case, as it can be anywhere on your LAN rather than next to the TV.
There may be more. I'm not sure if the Xbox 360 can wake the HTPC or how that works.