Scheduled TV Capture on LOCKED PC

[GrayStrickland]

NEED: scheduled TV capture which can run on locked pc

I have a pc at my office with an ATI AIW 9000 tv/capture card. I need a way (preferably with this card, but possibly with different hardware) to record a 30 min. program every night on my Win XP Pro (sp2) workstation after I have left for the day. Due to security restrictions at the office, leaving the pc unlocked is not an option. I've tried ATI Multimedia Center 9.08 and Showshifter 3.12, but both depend on Direct-X and both fail to begin recording if the pc is locked when the scheduled recording is set to kickoff (or stop recording if the pc is locked after recording begins).

I'd love any solution which uses the hardware I already own, but am open to an external hardware encoder provided that it can run on a schedule while the pc is locked. Finally, I need a small file. Fortunately, resolution is not terribly important.

[Soopafresh]

In order to start any program while your system is locked or logged off, you'll have to load the app as an NT service. Fortunately, there are many apps which will convert a regular program into an NT service.

[GrayStrickland]

In order to start any program while your system is locked or logged off, you'll have to load the app as an NT service.

Yes and no.

If an NT, 2000 or XP system is locked (but running and with a user logged on), then programs which were executing when the lock was engaged, will continue to execute. For example, start your favorite music player, then lock your workstation. The sound will continue to play. Any program which can be started from a command line, can be started by the Windows Task Scheduler while the pc is in a locked state. Example: if you have a music player which is capable of being started from a command line, you can make WTS start it after your pc is locked an you will hear the sound commence while the pc is locked. Incidentally, some programs which need to run on a schedule use their own 24/7 scheduling applet which runs in the background instead of relying on the WTS.

If an NT, 2000 or XP system is logged off, then nothing but a service can run. The WTS is a service itself, so it can start applications which are capable of running without a user logged on, but most applications cannot.

In the cases of the ATI AIW Multimedia Center 9.08 and ShowShifter 3.12, both rely on Windows Direct-X to assist in video processing. It seems that they can't process video for recording truly in the background or while the workstation is locked. Lock=death for Direct-X.

What I need is a way to:
(1) capture video
(2) from a tv tuner (existing internal ATI card, or something new)
(3) on a schedule
(4) in WMV, Mpeg4 and/or Divx (AVI) format
(5) that will execute even when the pc is locked

(and capability to run as a service would be nice too).