Windows 8 came with some multimedia features missing. Mind you, it was by design. Missing features were made available as separate product named Windows 8 Media Center Pack. For a small cost ($10) you can make your Windows 8 work as good as Windows 7. Nice touch.
Good news is that you can get it for free. There are two conditions: you must have Windows 8 Professional (MSDN works also) and you must activate it before January 31st 2013. If that is true, just go to Microsoft feature pack pages and give your e-mail address. In few minutes you should get a key.
With that key just search for Add Features in Settings and enter key when asked to. Feature will be downloaded in background. Just take care not to do anything else on system since installation will restart your computer without any warning (!). After restart you will have one more restart (?) and then Windows Media Center will magically appear.