On 1/5/17 7:27 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
OK , I'm cheap and don't want to pay Directv an additional monthly fee for
them to supply a DVR so my wife can see the shows she misses the nights she
has to work . I already have a PC hooked up to the TV and use it to play
stored content , so that part is covered . What I want is a PCI card that I
can use to record a couple of the series she likes for later playback .
There's a whole bunch of stuff out there , from just a few bucks to hundreds
... I'm not looking for the absolute lowest price , just a functional device
to capture some video . It needs to run under WinXP Pro , though if I have
to I can install Vista (but I'd rather not) on that comp for the Media
Center program .
Any suggestions for a brand or a particular model ? I'd prefer to stay
below 50 bucks ...

It depends on how you intend to interface with the device. I used to
use a Hauppauge WinTV PCI card way back when with analog cable,
connected with coax cable. You can still buy these for cheap on ebay,
used, from $5 to $10 (you can spend more if you want a new one, of course).

One thing to consider is the age of the computer, processor type, HDD
space, and RAM available, as compressing/storing video can be taxing on
ancient systems.

Jon