It was almost possible to watch satellite on a PC, around the time DVRs started appearing. Gateway was in talks with Dish Network to add the capability to watch their programming on a Destination HTPC. Adaptec made the PCI card, and it was a stripped down version of one in use in hotel TV distribution setups. The overall project died when Gateway cancelled the Destination line in 1998. I worked with a friend to try and get our hands on one of the few cards out there to build a better DVR, but never could source them reliably.

On the overall DVR field, I don't see too much growth there at all. Pretty much every provider offers a DVR setup standard, and the market for standalone units continues to shrink. DVRs did help start the trend for people to be freed from TV network schedules, and the momentum continued forward into services like Netflix, Roku/AppleTV and others for some people like myself. 6+ years now, and I can't imagine going back to having a cable or satellite subscription, nor can I imagine being happy with any current DVR on the market. Returning to such a setup would feel restricting now that I can watch what I want on whatever device I have handy.