OK. I called DirecTV yesterday and ordered their service.

They are booked until the first week of February before they can install it which is a good thing as I have a BUNCH of programs recorded on my 2 Dish Network DVR's and need to get some of the stuff off them and recorded to some other media.

Does anyone here use their PC to record video?

What program do you use and how do you interface to your PC?

At Costco, they have Roxio and a USB adaptor that has video and audio inputs for about $75.

Has anyone used this?

I'm not concerned with editing it right at this time. Just getting it off the DVR to my PC. I'll clean it up later.

I don't want to sink a bunch of money into this.

Speaking of which, I have a new digital camera that can also record video. I tried it out last night and saved it to my computer. It's in avi format and it said it was 21 megs. Is there a way to make the video file smaller so I can email short vids to family?

I use a AVerMedia USB dongle TV tuner/Video input, which is similar to this unit from Hauppauge:

http://www.amazon.com/Hauppauge-WinTV-HVR-950Q-Personal-Recorder-Control/dp/B001 DEYVXO/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1232335838&sr=8-3

The main unit has an outlet on the side that set of audio/video/s-video jumper wires plug into... sort of a "dongle with dangles". It works fine for recording from A/V sources *and* is also a HDTV/ATV & FM radio tuner card.

My AVerMedia card did not come with a remote

It Requires a very fast computer if you want to record HDTV off the air.

The 'Windows Movie Maker' should already be on
your PC under PROGRAMS to 'edit' video files -

- However, SOME .avi and .asf files may not function ON it...

...therefore you HAVE to get the Boilsoft ASF Converter:

http://www.boilsoft.com/asfconverter