Don't try to do it without an EPG. It is just hard work.
I have an EPG, so I'm not sure how to set up a recording without an EPG any more, but if you set up all the Television channels in MC then I think you with get an EPG with "Program info not available", which you can then click on to record and then edit the start and end times.
But just don't.
I am in Australia, and I use
EPG Collector. It is a little complex to set up, but it gives me very good EPG data using mostly the MHEG5 data stream.
Start by reading here:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=100236.0Which will lead you to this:
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=67992.msg558511#msg558511Then search for threads containing "EPG Collector", particularly mine and Astromo's. We are both Aussies.
Version 4.3 of EPGC is out now, and has much improved functionality. Search over in the EPGC Discussion boards for content about Australia.
While you are about it, search this forum for comments about using WMC and MC together on the same PC at the same time. They don't play well together, so don't try to run WMC while you are testing and setting up MC. There has been plenty of discussion about that.