Homebrew DVR with Verizon FIOS?

Thanks for the comment, but I'm still a little confused.

OK, assuming that a capture card is just a receiver, I would like to receive the digital signal from my Verizon FIOS set top box.  I know that I would have to get a capture card that can handle a digital signal, but I have no idea which one to get.  I'm afraid to play trial and error with a bunch of cards.  

Also, do these cards handle all aspects of decoding the signal, eliminating the need for my STB? If not, will they play well with my STB?  What would I use to control channels, the PVR software or my STB?

My main problem is that I don't know enough about how I'd get the signal to the PC and be able to view my channels.  Once I get this figured out, I can handle it from there.  I've seen tutorials out there that show how to build a DVR, but none of them are recent.  Nor do they seem to deal with digital cable.  These, which I found, are from 2005 and 2006 and seem to address analog signals:

http://makezine.com/extras/4.html
or
http://lifehacker.com/software/dvr/hack-attack-build-your-own-dvr-165963.php

Verizon Media Manager wouldn't really work for me.  It looks like I would need to have to pay for their DVR service, which is what I'm trying to get away from.

I cannot answer all of these since  ( I'm in the land down under Audtralia) a bit behind America with fibre optics.
The problem as I see it most capture cards dont support analog and digital and since we still exist with both until the world goes HDMi and  full digital it is a problem and will have to wait, the best option is to buy a  DVR and make do with that, it's less cabling problems and easier to use and setup.
The DVD burnt on these can also be transfered to the PC with right video software onboard.
You could opt for a capture for the analog capture in from TV and a HDMI DVR for the TV
to assist you check this conversation in regards to HDMI DVR
http://www.pvrblog.com/pvr/2005/10/verizon_fios_tv.html

Thatnks so much for all of your comments and help.  I did a little research and it seems that, without a CableCard setup, the best that I could ever hope to get (receive) are my local channels that broadcast in "Clear QAM."  I found a couple of cards that will allow for reception of HD channels, but I would still need to decode them.  I may try to connect a set top box to the cable card and treat the whole thing like a DVD or VCR setup.  Tune the card to Channel 3 and use the box to deal with changing channels.  But then I'll have to figure out how to do use it as a DVR.  Perhaps if I look more into the IR Blaster technology, I can find my answer.

At any rate, thanks so much for your interest.