One of you on this list got pretty close to saying the
same thing I am about to say, so I hope not to sound too
repetitive.

	I don't know if there will ever be a talking DVD player
or digital time shifter like the Tivo, but the computer running
either Windows or Linux may be our salvation, here.  Linux is
what I use at work and at home so I really can't speak with any
knowledge about Windows.  UNIX has a very great pair of timer
utilities such as cron for repeating jobs and at for one-shot
events so that takes care of your timer.

	You can now buy video capture cards with tuners in them
and use your computer to set them up.  Just be sure, under Linux,
that the capture card you buy has a driver for Linux.  It almost
certainly has one for Windows.

	You will need a good fast computer with as much
hard-drive space and RAM as is practical, but you should be able
to capture TV shows just like a Tivo does.

	I've got some other ideas, but we are getting pretty far
off even this topic so I will spare you the gorry details.

	My big bellyache is that our cable system doesn't carry
descriptive video.  The only way you can get that is to pick it
up off the air.

Martin McCormick WB5AGZ  Stillwater, OK 
Systems Engineer
OSU Information Technology Department Network Operations Group

Jeff Kenyon writes:
> That's what I figured, the stuff you rent though for the most part that is
> accessable?