I have a Windows XP Media system which is hooked up to cable.
If I save a program to disk, can I e-mail it as an attachment?
If yes, would it take an eternity to send a full length movie even if both of us have DSL (if that’s a factor)?
You can’t really send it that way. The show would be anywhere from a couple of hundred megabytes to several gigabytes. E-mail programs don’t handle files that size well if at all. Most e-mail hosts have a size limit on their server that is well below that.
What you can do is use a P2P file sharing program to do it. Some programs allow you to specify a specific IP address to download a file from. This creates a private network that will do what you want. The clients need to be on both computers. I won’t go into details because that type of thing is frowned upon here.
Thanks Shagnasty. But the board needn’t worry. I won’t even try. 
If you can save it as a file that has no “digital rights management” or whatever they call it (basically, some filetype that can be played on another PC) you should be able to send it by email in theory, BUT…
Most email accounts are set up so your mail is delivered to your ISP’s mail server first (so you download the email off that server to your home machine). There’s usually a limit on the amount of mail per account that will be stored on the ISP’s mail server, which is very likely to be less than the size of a complete TV-program. Also many email programs don’t handle huge attachments well.
It’s probably easier to send large files via another protocol that uses a direct connection between the machines. I’d probably go for some instant-messenger program, or (more work) set up an FTP/HTTP server.
As for how long it would take - via email it would take long time if it arrives at all, but via a direct upload/download connection, about an 1.5 hours for an hour worth of video:
My DSL connection can upload at about 75 Kb/sec, which works out to about 260 Mb / Hour. A reasonably good quality XVID can stuff about 2 hours of film in 600 Mb.
I dealt with this in trying to send stuff to my brother in Iraq. Large video files need hours of uninturrupted broadband. I mailed him burned DVDs.
Then I found out that he moved three times in 6 months and he’d still not gotten them by his 6 month State-side leave, and I’d had a crash and lost the files. Grrrrrrrr.
The following sites let you send very large files, you essentially upload the file to the site, and the site sends a link to the email recipiant. Neither works particularly well.
This one generally has quicker upload speed that the other, but often craps out before the upload is done.
http://www.sendthisfile.com/
Doesn’t crap out like the above site, but the upload is slower, sometimes MUCH slower, and it requires making an account and logging in (the basic account is free).
I’ve successfully send files of 400 megabytes or so with these services.
If you burn the TV shows to DVD or VCD, you can send them by post or hand them to the friend in person with much less hassle than a send-receive. If you want to do direct file transfers, most IRC clients have a function called “DCC” (direct computer connection) which permits the transfer of large single files.
My sincere thanks to all of you. You have answered my question most satisfactorily.
Mods, please feel free to close this thread.