On Thu, 5 Jan 2017 08:27:09 -0600, "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 ...

As long as you are happy with the A/V level of recordings (composite
video) there are plenty of cards out there or you might even find an
old Replay TV cheaper than a card and that has the ability to export
to a PC or simply store the stuff on board. The Replay also has an
intelligent commercial skip.
The problem is if you are trying to get HD or even use the HDMI at all
the cards will not pass the data because DTV tags it as protected
content. (at least that is the way Dish is). I have also had zero luck
using the Component video using an Avermedia card. As long as you are
just using NTSC composite or RF, it goes OK.
I have been able to use an old DVD recorder using the component inputs
but only if it is also hooked to a TV with the HDMI and the TV is on.
This is all part of the HDMI copy protection scheme.
It is cumbersome but I can record to a R/W disk, rip that to a MP4
file and then reuse the disk. That is generally more than I am willing
to do unless the show is unavailable to stream.