WM Recorder - nice program, but not for the TotalVid
IMHO WMRecorder is the best Windows Media stream recorder. It records streaming content so there is no sense to use it with video downloads. No matter what its FAQ says, I saw some people that had downloaded DRM protected video streams asking a question about removing DRM protection. So WM Recorder can record some DRM protected streams (not sure whether it can record all of them), but it can't remove DRM protection for you.

Screen capture software, VCR,...
I don't really like the idea with VCR, but you may use it if you like. Rewinding a tape - what a nightmare .

I suggest you to use screen capture software.
I would use free ZD Soft Screen Recorder to make lossless screen recording (BTW it can record audio too). After that I would compress the lossless video with MPEG-4/AVC. x264 is a free MPEG-4/AVC codec I can recommend ATM.

p.s. TotalVid claims to have DVD quality videos. 70Mb for 50 minutes??? Is it a video for a mobile phone? Or do they manage to buy DVDs of such a quality?

Even when I use portable profile of my MPEG 4/AVC codec I get about 120 Mb for 40 min. If I convert DVD video (and not captured analogue TV shows) I will get a little bit smaller files.

Although Windows Media can look better on small resolutions, I don't really see how to get DVD quality with it. I hope it is not that awful.
High quality videos worth much more than $5.99/month . For these "few cents" the TotalVid must be very attractive anyway.