A few days ago I posted what I thought was a great way to access recorded tv on a network share; it turned out to be not the best idea if you wanted your guide to update. 

Fortunately, I got some background on why that approach wouldn't work and some insight into some approaches that would from an authoritative source. 

UseShare is a much less intrusive way to accomplish the same thing (giving the MC services valid network credentials).  It is implemented as a Windows service configured to run with Network Service Credentials which maps shares with NET USE. 

For this solution I just use the same credentials of the main account on my WMC boxes to save myself the trouble of creating another account.

After installing browse to the directory where it was installed and open useshare.exe.config.  In the appSettings section add a key for each machine you would like to map a share to.  The value in "value" will get passed directly to NET USE, so everything that is supports will work.  Note that arguments with spaces need to be enclosed in quotes (see the second entry for an e.g.). 

Open up regedt32, browse to HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Media Center\Service\Recording, and add the network path to the shared folder where your tv is stored to the "WatchedFolder" value.

Either reboot the box, or start the UseShare service and restart "Windows Media Center Receiver Service" and "Windows Media Center Scheduler Service".

If you're using an extender, you'll want to create a cmd/bat file that does the same thing for your extender user.