What file format does Windows Media Center use for Recording?
"What type of file format does Windows Media Center use to
record television?"  Windows Media Center uses the DVR-MS file
format, which is an ASF container with MPEG-2 video and AC-3
audio packaged in a slightly non-standard way. ASF is the same
container format used for Microsoft's WMV video files, with the
difference being that WMV typically uses WMV video and WMA
audio. The files aren't recognized by many other media players
and video conversion software frequently fails to convert the
files to new formats because it's unrecognized.  If you want to
burn your DVR-MS files to DVD, MyDVD is probably your best
option. Here's a tutorial on how to burn DVR-MS to DVD.  A
couple of reliable solutions for converting DVR-MS files for
playback on an iPod are AVS Video Tools and Digital Media
Converter.