When you crunch the numbers, it's almost as expensive to build your own box. Assuming you're doing it legally (and not using a pirated OS), you might as well buy WMCE, which is ~$120 for an OEM copy. Throw in another $30 for the remote. Then you've got to build the PC. If you buy one of those little Shuttle cases, you're going to spend around $150 just for the case. You'll need a CPU, RAM, capture card, and hard disk drives. Even if you could get all that for $150, you'll have spent $450 on it. You can get a Tivo ($190) with a lifetime subscription ($300) for $40 more. Plus there's a $150 MIR on the Tivo - bringing your total cost to $340.
Granted the Tivo doesn't have network capiblity right out of the box, but buy a $50 USB adapter and you're done.
Now, you could use MythTV and the OS would be free, but you're still paying at least $300 for a less elegant solution.
The only real advantage homebrewed PVR's have over a Tivo/ReplayTV is that you really don't have to worry about forced updates that stop you from doing things like saving shows indefinatly or fast-forwarding through commercials (although if Tivo did the latter, it'd be the death of the company).
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