Business Week write explains how he hooked his computer to his TV set.
I set out to see if I could build my own — a do-it-yourself TiVo, as it were. After all, a PVR is nothing more than a special-purpose computer with a big hard drive, and I already have a general-purpose computer with a big hard drive. Personalized TV listings, the presumed reason for the $10 subscription fee, are widely available for free from such Internet sites as tvguide.com and zap2it.com. All I'd need to add is a little circuit board to receive TV signals and some software to manipulate them. My conclusion: It will cost you a little more than $200, a free evening or weekend, and–geek alert–the guts to open up your computer and tinker a bit to install the special video card. It's easier than you think. If you're still intimidated, I'll suggest a couple of ways to get around it.
