I think I read not so recently that Windows Media Center was discontinued and will receive no more support.
Media Center was discontinued a while ago, your right and not recently by any means. BUT, Microsoft plans on supporting it with the OS, So this includes Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, So 2020 and 2023.
This means, NO software changes or updates but, they changed the guide data from Zap2It to ROVI, the same provider they use for the Xbox one's One guide. I would put money down they are in the same format and when creating the Xbox One's One guide, they used Media Center's guide as a starting point and just contuned it. The only data stream from Microsoft left in Windows Media Center is the guide and setup data (part used on Xbox one as well).
Odds are that the guide data will keep going till 7 or 8.1 is killed, or even the Xbox one's one guide feature is killed off (could be past 2023)..
No matter how you look at it, Windows Media Center is STILL rated by most sites who review HTPC based software as one of the best DVR PC software available. It works well, it's VERY easy to use and with simple registry settings could be exended beyond what you think.
It's 100% scaleable, You could have 1 TV, or 6 tvs with the same experiance (expandable beyond that with addon software), You could have 1tb of recording storage, or 100tb, you could store THOUSANDS of movies that are fully indexable. If you could think about it, a LOT of it can be done. And there is API for WMC, 100's of addon packages that can PLUG right in (older plugins, and hacks to get things working). Base Product could get 12+ tuners(4 of each type, or 3rd party package), and even expandable to 32 tuners (addon software).
Think about how you want TV for WATCHING or RECORDING TV, it's possable a lot of it could be done with WMC as your base product and for the most part, you would very happy with it.