I will kick this out to another new thread if needed:

But, what (I think it is possible) is the easiest way to load VHS taped (from VCR player) 1hr shows onto my mini SD to watch on my PPC?

I assume I must first somehow get the VHS taped show onto my desktop, then use some magic software to do the conversion for me.

I currently have a TV card on my PC (it has one or two input and ouputs) including a cable in.

*** Better yet, I have a spare PC (celeron 650) sitting around, can I buy some sort of video card and program and hook it up directly to the TV (to act like a home made Tivo of sort) so I can directly capture shows to my harddrive - then at that point use another fancy software to put onto my mini SD for PPC use?

Get Microsoft Windows Media Encoder (it's free). You should be able to pull the video and encode it as an mpg or wmv file. Media Player should play either one.

Mods...thanks for pullig this into own thread.

So, do I hook up PC directly to cable then use media encoder to record (saving as wmv file )as tv show is playing?