For a DVR I bought a 2011 era Dell business laptop from craigslist for $150 (E6410 model, i5 processor, 4GB ram, HDMI output) and use Mediacenter which is included in Windows7. The only other hardware needed is an IR remote with USB receiver (~$15 on Amazon) and one or more TV tuner cards ($50-$100). The laptop is a dedicated DVR appliance, it sits near the TV and is set to sleep whenever it is not recording or playing video in order to minimize power useage. It's a very simple/clean user interface, I think it's a bit simpler than Tivo and there is no monthly fee.
I'm thinking about going this route as well. Any avid sports fans out there- what do you all do? The only thing I watch on TV is live sports which I know that I can't give up.
I've been checking this thread periodically and everyone's updates have inspired me to to cut the cord since I really don't watch that much tv. However my husband follows a lot of sports, so cutting the cord was never really an option... That was until Time Warner decided it was time to increase our bill to $120/mo for cable and internet. We weren't going to pay for any of that, so he cancelled our cable this week. Tomorrow is our last day of cable tv and I am happy to report this will save us around $60/mo because of it!