Take one digital video cap-ture card, a big cheap hard disk, a home-brew infrared receiver, and a seven-year-old PC out of your nearest closet or dumpster. Add some free software and―voila!―you have a personal video recorder your own home-made Tivo. As with Tivo, watch what you want, when you want. Thumb your nose at the head of Turner Broadcasting or whoever else is angry that you have broken your "contract" to sit through commercials and are "stealing" program- ming if you don't. Know that you have built this insidious entertainment appliance yourself. Which you can do if you're literate enough to run a few basic Web searches, do not run for cover at the mention of Linux, and know which is the business end of a Phillips-head screwdriver. Of course, you could buy a similar personal video recorder (PVR) unit from Sony or Philips or Sonic Blue. Or wait for your cable company to install one. Or buy software from Snapstream or Showshifter or one of the other companies that's sprung up to let you convert your new $1,000 PC into a good imitation of a $200 VCR. But where would be the fun in that?
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