[John Casler]

you can purchase a high definition tivo box with lifetime service.

Alternatively, you can buy a Tivo and simply not purchase the programming service. Tivo DVRs do have manual recording capability, just like a standard VCR. A used Tivo would also be a good option.

That is interesting.  I just placed two TIVOs for a gal and they warn you that they will not work without the service, but it would seem that the Service, is the "GUIDE" grid that is downloaded via the phone lines.

Seems my dealer cost on them was nothing special (I think around $299) which is probably available if you buy them direct with "rebate". 

And Sometimes they have "refurbs" for even less, but with full warrantees.

[JP78]

john,

the $700 price is broken down as follows...$300 for the box and $400 for the lifetime service contract...which basically breaks you even at the 3 year point and then everything past that is gravy .   generally it's not advertised but always available directly from tivo.  i do know they advertised it this year during the christmas holiday season and we had a flood of people at work asking about for it.

best,

jp

[Dan Driscoll]

Sellout.woot has a refurbed HD TiVo on sale today for $159.99. The programming service is not included.

[Ed Schilling]

Not sure if this is of any help but I "hear" it works really well.
http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr.html

And I "think" you need this......... (you can buy the PVR here too)
http://www.sage.tv/

Ed
My buddy Numa is to thank for this one.

[jkelly]

I have been using Beyond TV for the last 2 years and really like it:
It runs on XP and requires a HD tuner card(s) and IR blaster to control
Satellite receiver if needed.  Has a lot of features including output to
iPod and DVD.  You can also add recordings remotely over the web.

http://www.snapstream.com/products/beyondtv/

Sage is another competitor to BeyondTV

http://sagetv.com/index.html

On the linux side there are a couple of popular programs that
run off the Myth TV software. I think you now need to pay a monthly
fee to get the channel listings:

MythUbuntu
http://www.mythbuntu.org/