Can a TiVo DVR record shows without having to pay the monthly fee?
In other words, you can use as a VCR with a timer, only without the cassette?
No. Not without some serious hacking or modding anyway, and if there was a way, many people would. I'm pretty sure the baby they have quite blocked. There are free alternatives to TiVo but Windows Media Center is very good, so it is MythTV (the latter requires a job).
How to set up a Tivo DVR ( Source Cnet TV )
