How to record tv shows?

I would like to record tv shows (ie brewers games, always sunny in philly.....) without renting my cable companys dvr. my cable company has a monopoly in my area and I do not want to give them any more money than i have to. Ive looked into tivo but it looks like they charge $20/ mo which is a little pricey for me. is my only option to buy a VCR and schedual recordings? I would think there would be a device to do this digitally, but i cant find it. I have a wii is there a program i can use with that?