I want the functionality of a TiVo but I don't want a monthly service fee... Wha

I use Windows Media Center Edition 2005, which has no monthly fee and is quite powerful. I can watch DiVX movies shared on my home network, record ATSC HD and cable shows simultaneously, and burn DVD's of my recorded content (including anamorphic downconverted HD TV). I'm quite happy with it. Other packages which have no monthly fee but work quite well are MythTV and SnapStream. As for hardware, I recommend avermedia and hauppauge products. The WinTV PVR has a much better conexant encoder than my tivo, and my AverMedia HDTV tuner works much better than the ATI HDTV Wonder.

Hi happyever, I bought a DVR from radio shack, I'm not sure if you have them in India. This recorder can record any channel. It runs about 199.00 U.S.D. Although I stand by Tivo, I have two of them, one of them I use with the DVR for editing. There is a guy who sells Tivo's on ebay, he is from India, so shipping would be cheap for you. I think he sells them with the lifetime membership, costs a little extra. But no monthly fees. Peace, Totty