A lot of my friends have been getting the Time Warner DVR (the tivo-like device thats replacing the VCR). Here’s an excellent example of why you should not do it. Not unexpectedly, Time Warner is beginning to investigate limiting the amount of time a show you’ve recorded can live on your DVR. They already limit your ability to get the show off your DVR – now they want to limit how long you can keep it.

This is yet another example of why the content companies should not be permitted to be in the distribution business. It’s a lot more involved, but anyone who considers themselves technically literate should build their own DVR. There are open source (mythtv) solutions as well as a host of different (sagetv) commercial options (meedio). There is even at least one macintosh solution (eyetv). There are also systems integrators out there who will build a complete system for you, software, remote control, and all. If you’re interested, check out htpc news, there are tons of reviews and really useful forums.

I use snapstream myself and am mostly pleased with it.