OK there are so many people out there interested in making a homemade tivo but almost all of them are so clueless on the actual cheapest hardware required. Anyone have the knowledge necessary to make a linux tivo using maybe the pricewatch site for parts.... I mean I guess you need a capture card of some sort, but how do you get it back to the tv?? I know there is some freeware software for tivo tv show recording.

Anyone who knows please give the insite required to setting up a linux tivo and which distribution might be the best bet for setting up a homemade tivo.

You should check out Mythtv http://www.mythtv.org it has many TIVO features and more. And as for the TV card i would recommend one with hardware encoding. http://pvrhw.goldfish.org/tiki-view_articles.php has a list of some Tv cards that should work in linux.