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If you have a Tivo or DirecTV Tivo that's been modified to have an Ethernet connection (either with a special network card wired in, or through a modified USB port on later units) this is the magic key. You install some modified software on your Tivo hard drive and connect the unit to your home network (or directly to your PC with a "turnaround" cable). Here's what the latest version does:
It lists the "now showing" (recorded) files on your Tivo. You can select and download the "ty files" containing the video and audio to your computer's hard drive. (Supposedly you can also upload to the Tivo's drive.)
It allows you to edit (now with "frame accurate edits") the ty files. This lets you remove commercials, et cetera. The editor is a little weird, but it functions beautifully.
You can then process the ty files to produce MPEG2 files which, with a little manipulation, can be used in your DVD/SVCD authoring program. (I've been unable to find the specifics on this.)
Or...you can process the ty files to make VOB files and burn them to DVD within the program! It makes basic but acceptable menus (you can put up a picture background), and on the web site (tytool.com, under construction) there are "templates" for collecting episodes of various shows with themed pictures.
The resulting DVD had some artifacting, but I'm uncertain how much was due to the digital satellite feed and how much was the internal decoding. All I know is, the equipment and the program works with far less pain than anything I've encountered here.
It would be nice for the more astute sorcerers of digital video to work with TyTool and a modified DirecTivo and make recommendations for processing with greater quality. However, this is a superb program. In fact, it's the only thing out there that will do anything with a Tivo system.
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