If you think that FrontRow is too restrictive because not supported on older Mac models; that CenterStage is too complicated and bugged to be used; then you share the same point of view with the author of
MediaCentral, a new MediaCenter able to play DVD, HD-stored movies in QT or DivX format, and even stream it to your TV if you have an Eye TV. In addition, this application supports natively the ATI remote control.
iTunes playlists support will probably be the next feature added to this new MediaCenter.

The design is quite similar to FrontRow, but it lacks the animation.
A project to follow...