Build your own DVR

For the Do-It-Yourselfer, a homebrewed Digital Video Recorder (DVR) that will work "just like Tivo, only better" whatever that means. You definitely need to be a geek to want to do this yourself, but it looks like an interesting project.

http://www.lifehacker.com/software/dvr/hack-attack-build-your-own-dvr-165963.php