Tivo is a great product, there’s no doubt about it, but there are many, many options out there when choosing a Personal Video Recorder. One of the geekiest solutions is to build your own PVR box. It’s not a cheap solution (although, in the long run, it might be cheaper than Tivo or your cable’s generic PVR). It’s not an easy solution if you’re not familiar with building PCs, but it is the geeky solution, and that’s really all that matters. Below is a list of the best software solutions for your custom built PVR box.

SageTV - SageTV is a great PVR software package, with almost every feature that Tivo has, and a few that Tivo doesn’t. It can record in MPEG-2, MPEG-4, or even Divx, and features PVR standards like pausing live TV, season passes, and it even features the Tivo-like option of recording shows for you based on your personal tastes. Plus, SageTV has a great feature for people that really like to customize the look and feel of the programs they use. With SageTV Studio, you can completely customize the look and feel of the SageTV user interface.

SageTV is a really a great solution if you’re building your own PVR box, and is well worth the $79.95 ($144.95 bundles with a video capture card and remote via Amazon).

Beyond TV - Beyond TV is another good PVR software solution, but lacks some of the cooler features of SageTV. It features commercial skip, pausing live tv, search for your favorite shows, HD recording, and even recording and pausing live FM radio, but it lacks UI customization, and I’ve seen reviews that complain the software can be a bit buggy (I have have had no such problems myself).

Beyond TV clocks in at slightly less expensive than SageTV at around $70 bucks.

Myth TV - Myth TV is one of my favorite PVR software solutions for a number of reasons. One - it’s FREE. Myth TV is an open source “homebrew” project that you can download for free, and install on your Linux based system. It has many of the same great features of SageTV, including a fully themeable user interface. Another great thing about MythTV is that it can AUTOMATICALLY skip commericials for you.

One of the biggest drawbacks of MythTV is that it can be a bit harder to install than something like SageTV, but if you’re willing to tinker with it, it’s a really great PVR solution.

There are more PVR solutions out there, but, chances are you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in one of these three. None of them have recurring monthly fees, and all of them do most, if not all, of the things your Tivo or generic cable PVR box do.

If I had to choose just one, I would go with SageTV over MythTV, mainly because of the ease of install, and the fact that it features professional company support.