I'm thinking of putting together a digital video recorder based on linux. I want to be able to replace my VCR with such a device. So far the only card that might do the trick (because of it's video outputs) is the WinTV-D from Hauppauge. As far as software packages Xawtv & vcr seem to be the most widely used. I went to linuxtv.org and checked out what some German hackers did with a satellite tv tuner. The 'linux VCR how-to' talks about just setting up a tv card and playing back the videos on the computer. Has anyone in the U.S. been able to do this? Any information is greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Well, here's an idea based off what I do. Not cheap, but here goes:

You could get a digital camcorder with video input capabilities, and put the TV in to the camcorder, and then the Firewire to capture the Video at extremely high Quality.

First I want to get a tv card that has co-ax and s-video input/outputs. Next I want to either find/modify an existing application for the recording part. Eventually I'd like to make a box with an embeded device with it own large harddrive that would replace a convential vcr like Tivo or Replaytv. Similiar to what these guys have done:

http://www.cadsoft.de/people/kls/vdr/people.htm

If money is no object and you want a Linux digital video recorder, buy a Tivo which runs linux natively. Linux games system ? Buy a PS2.

I don't want to buy Tivo ($299 for the box and $249 for a lifetime subscription). The fun is learning how to do it. It seems that digital recorders are really in the infancy stage of development. How cool would it be develop a set-top box for under $200? In the Hauppauge forum there's an on-line petition for them to write linux drivers for their PVR's. Please sign it:

http://pvr.opcenter.de/viewtopic.php?t=763