[ale] Recording TV shows?

[jheim at math.wisc.edu (John Heim)]

I'm blind and i want to record just the audio for certain TV shows. Right 
now, I have a cable running from the audio-out on my VCR to the line-in on 
the sound card of my linux box. I then use sox & oggenc to record the shows 
in ogg format.

But in February 2008, this ain't gonna work because my VCR tuner won't work. 
I suppose I could by a converter box but that seems to be adding more 
complexity to a system that is already rather unwieldy.

Is there a simpler way? Can I get a digital TV tuner that connects directly 
to a USB port? Or maybe a converter box with an audio out?


Maybe I'm asking for the impossible. I thought about simply getting a TV 
tuner card for inside the computer but I thought it would be impossible for 
a blind guy to configure.  It would have to have a  CUI setup program. Linux 
is great for using text files and command line programs. But for a TV card?