Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

By definition I cannot be a pirate. Some time ago Belgium quietly passed a law that put a tax on all recordable media. This tax is supposedly paid to our equivalent of the RIAA (meaning that just about everyone bar the actual content creators gets a share, but I digress), so I cannot illegally download movies, as I already paid taxes for them.

Of course, that means I have to store all downloads on DVDs, but I can live with that. It's still a heck of a lot less than the price of a prerecorded movie.

Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

Just this week I got a Hauppauge WinTV digital capable tuner card for over-the-air TV ($59, but you might want to go a little higher-end - I've learned that having 1080i off-loading could be a good thing). That, with a 10 year old Jensen set of rabbit ears, is turning up some 18 TV stations - some in 1080i, many in 720 and a handful in 480 ...

There's some PVR software readily available -- haven't tried it out yet (this is on my linux desktop) - but MythTV gets good reviews.

I wind up getting much better reception off of the digital side than I /ever/ did for analog ... -- $60.00 and a recycled set of rabbit ears ... heh.

Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

I've actually got a Hauppauge 1600 HDTV capture card, and love it to death. It works great. The only catch is, in order to use it I have to take it out to my dad's, because where I live, you can't get any HDTV signals. :( You have to go outside the area in order to get ANY HDTV signals. I tested the card and it works great, but it won't pick up any signal in my apartment because all HDTV signals are killed by the buildings around me. :(

So if anyone wants it, give me $50 and it's yours. It's almost brand spanking new too.

Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

I highly recommend building your own media center using a Hauppauge card and BeyondTV (www.snapstream.com) to record your shows. I also have a custom front-end for everything else (www.opensoms.org), but haven't updated the install instructions in awhile.

Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

I use a Hauppauge 1600 HDTV capture card with GBPVR software on a windows xp machine. The software is free and the community is great (just like the ITT community).

http://gbpvr.com/

Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

I highly recommend the HDHOMERUN from silicondust. It tunes ATSC or Clear QAM and sends it over your network to wherever(most dvr apps like gbpvr, media center, sagetv can use it as well as just plain old VLC). Each box has two tuners. I have two on my network.

Re: VCR Replacements after 02/17/09?
 

Joan, wow, I was using Media Portal, but I like your suggestion better. :D