Diva displays on your screen an Electronic Programming Guide - TV listings downloaded via the internet and customised according to your postcode. The guide is searchable, and you simply click on the programmes you want to record. Nor must you sit glued to the PC, mouse in hand and keyboard at the ready, in order to use Diva. It can be hooked up to a TV set and operated by remote control using infra-red links. However, people are getting used to watching DVD movies on their PCs.
Diva does fall short of the ideal.
It's not capable of handling material you've recorded on your digital camcorder. But the company is working on it. Camcorder content can be loaded and edited using another MGI product, Videowave. The good news is that it's a reasonably cheap piece of software which can run with a standard 56k modem. The bad news is that the rest of your kit is pathetically useless.