over at woot.com right now there's a $25 deal for "ATI TV Wonder USB Digital HDTV Tuner"

i've looked through the forum and all the questions/comments but still a little confused. i dropped cable a couple months ago because my tv broke, but got it fixed last week. not sure if i want to subscribe to cable again so wondering if i can use something like this because i already have a setup with my laptop connected to the tv. i don't watch too much tv, but would be content with just basic channels for primetime shows/sports.

so yea, how well do these work and what a good recording program to use?