How you finding XBMC? I honestly haven't used it once, but one of those things I have always figured I should check out.
I'm actually really loving it.
When I finally got it to work it was pretty amazing scrolling through my tv shows and films. Instead of being little icons with silly names (.h264.1080p.IMMERSION.PROPER.lol.mkv) you have posters and custom art that get downloaded automatically as you browse through.
Plus there are a tonne of customisation options with the default skin, or you can go and find tonnes of community made ones.
My main issue at the moment is that for some reason when I have my PC plugged in to my receiver it doesn't connect. I have about 25M of HDMI cable, 2 of them hooked together with a double female plug, and my receiver doesn't seem to like it.
Plugging it in to the TV directly works perfectly, but then I only get stereo so I've mainly been watching TV shows or movies that don't really need 5.1.
I'm going to try plugging it in with another single 2M HDMI cable tonight to see if I can get it working at all through the receiver.
It doesn't really matter though as I have a Raspberry Pi on the way and I'm planning on installing an XMBC build on it and having it permanently out the back.