Putting money into a nearly 15 year old PC is probably not your best alternative. What's the condition of the components? The power supply? The fans? The electrical connections? Unless you're looking at this project in a hobbyist sense, and you're willing to risk the possibility that after spending the money the PC doesn't work or has unexpected problems, I think there's a better approach.

Don't forget that in a switch to linux (which some people can do
successfully), you can sometimes have problems finding drivers to
operate the disparate hardware components you add. Especially when some hardware pieces are new and others are 15 years old. "No driver, no workee". Are you ready to deal with that?

For the same cost or less, you can get a refurbished (fill in the blank - Dell, HP, etc) PC with a limited warranty. And, most importantly, with far fewer miles on the odometer and with hardware components that are fully functional. We're talking plenty available in the $100-$150 price range. Start with Newegg, and there are others.

For now it is a dead issue. The hard drive died this morning.

The power supply is fairly new. The CD/DVD drives all work fine.

I could replace the motherboard and RAM to get SATA compatibility.

Or I could just get a SATA to IDE adapter ($7) and put in a new hard drive.

What ever I do, my budget is blown.

While everything you mention will allow you to capture video, you're probably being to be disappointed with all the stuttering of the video with such old equipment. Some cable companies are also going to digital adapters so cable lineup will not necessarily be recordable, especially premiums.

For just storing and watching, you might want to consider a RaspberryPi for about $40, and run a version of XBMC media center on it (now renamed KODI), or some version thereof.

You still need to provide a drive, monitor & keyboard. It does have HDMI out and will play HD.

But the XBMC/KODI solution is pretty popular.

-- Raspberry Pi Model B, Revision 2.0 ~$40
-- Building, Installing & Using XMBC - Lifehacker

I use the Xbian version of XBMC - very nice interface

-- Raspberry Pi XBMC Solutions Compared: Raspbmc vs OpenELEC vs XBian

-- KODI (was called XBMC)

--XBian

If you want to record, perhaps consider a Micro-ATX motherboard and a small case - also a popular solution. and you can still run XBMC/KODI.

I have stacks of old computers. All of them recycles, freebies, rescues.
Somebody found one setting next to a dumpster and brought it to me.
It was a throw-away. And it was PACKED with dust. No wonder it didn't work.
After I cleaned all the dust out of it, it started right up. Still had all the
previous owner's info on it. My mother uses that computer to play solitaire
and do jigsaw puzzles.

I looked at Raspberry Pi computers. They won't do everything I need.
I want to be able to go to a network's web page and watch back episodes
of my favorite shows. But they are in .swf and RPi doesn't do .swf.

I have a set top dual tuner PVR provided to me by the cable company.
But I have no way to move video from/to the PVR. I have been recording
WAY more than I have been watching. I don't use premium channels.
I just need to record an HDMI or RCA signal from the cable box.
And then be able to play video on the TV, either HDMI or RCA.
For now, I have a USB dongle that I can use to record.

I looked at refurbished computers at Newegg.com I'm weighing options now.
I really need to inventory what useable hardware that I have.