Here is my setup, which I have in my living room connected to a TV and a monitor.
Windows XP
Nebula DigiTV USB
Digiguide 7
myHTPC
Zoomplayer
Autoit V3
ProjectX
Lame
With this lot I record radio programs (mostly Radio 4 and World Service) and automatically convert them to MP3's ready to go onto my MP3 Player.
I also use it as a PVR to record TV programs. Via the magic of DabDig and an Autoit script the recorded programs get processed through ProjectX (so that they play properly in Zoom Player) and a .my file gets created containing the program description and other info. They can then be accessed on the TV using myHTPC with the nebula remote control.
All these things happen more or less in the background at low priority so that I can use the computer for other stuff. There are still some bugs in the system (Hello Nebula Electronics) that I am ironing out, but it works about 70% of the time and at worst I end up with an unprocessed video file.
Richard Eyton
Long Suffering HTPC Hobbyist