You might want to try ReplayTV. It records shows to its own hard drive just like a Tivo, but it has built in Ethernet networking.

There is an open source program called dvArchive that lets you move files from the ReplayTV to your computer. From there you can watch them on your computer or burn them to DVD.

This assumes you have, or can set up, a home network, and it works best with broadband.

A few important caveats:

1. It takes a while to move a show over to your computer, probably longer than the show itself (ie 2 hours to copy a 1 hour show). You can schedule this to run on its own though.

2. The MPEG files are not standard ones like you might download off the internet. You might need a special video viewer to watch them on your computer. There are free viewers that work with these files.

3. You cannot upload your own MPEG's to the ReplayTV.