Looking for alternative to DVR

[jkenny5150]

My wife wants to sign us up for Comcast DVR service.  I'm looking for an alternative that I can buy upfront and a) not have to pay the monthly service, b) retain recorded content indefinitely on DVD, Blu-Ray, or external hard drive, c) be able to program the recording accordingly just like you would with TiVo or equivalent.

I'm not really sure which devices would be best suited for recording with the new digital format.  I'm not even sure what's on the market as it seems most major carriers don't have that anymore.  Obviously, I'd like something reasonably priced and user friendly.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

-John

[Chris Petersen]

This group is more directed at the people who might build/sell those devices, looking for developers willing to help.

If you want to set up and run MythTV, you should check out the user support options (http://www.mythtv.org/support), particularly the IRC channel and users mailing list.

Honestly, if you just want a device that can record TV, and aren't interested in tinkering with constantly-changing software, you're probably best off just buying a Tivo.  Though it has fewer features, it will give you fewer headaches than MythTV, and cost you about the same in hardware.  If you want to set up something on a computer, but aren't interested in learning a lot about Linux, there are also a number of Windows-based DVR applications (including the media center built into Windows itself), though I don't know enough about any of them to provide any advice.

-Chris