WinDVR

I've been getting slammed with hits on this product. WinDVR is supposed to provide, Tivo-like, digital VCR capabilities to a TV turner enabled PC. Well my experience has been TERRIBLE with it. However it's still a top scorer on my search engine hits. I think this is for two reasons:

1. The increased popularity of "Entertainment System" PCs. These are PCs that are your media centers. Microsoft has helped this movement with their Windows XP Media Center edition (only availible, legally, with pre-made systems). Basically you have one machine that is your DVD player, digital VCR (DVR) and audio player. I have about 9 GB of MP3s on my computer. I happen to have a nice speaker system for my computer, but if I didn't I'd love to play them through my big stereo speakers. (My computer speakers are as good and nearly as loud *big grin*).

People are building their own "Media Centers" too. Parts are readily availible and pretty cheap. Remotes, tv tuners, large hard drives (needed for quality DVR recording) and the small powerful computers and cases are availible now. A few years ago they were too, but cost much too much and the quality wasn't very good, at least not for consumer quality equipment.

2. The second reason I think I'm getting hit by these searches is that WinDVR is a piece of crap and people are searching for help and tips on how to make it work. Maybe I'm the 1 in 1000 who had problems. I may have also been the norm. The problem is that there are only a few companies producing this software so Intervideo will keep stealing peoples money with their crappy software until a better product comes around.

Bottom line. Don't waste your money! The TV tuner cards all come with basic DVR features. They work just fine and they don't cost any more.