Having just admitted to myself that, I do, in fact, watch a significant amount of Television, and that I am continuely frustrated by the ratio of rubbish to ‘things worth watching’, I decided to take my TV viewing into my own hands.? How did I do this?
I walked into Harvey Norman, forked over a little over $500 and purchased a Mediastar 920PVR Digital Video recorder.? Its on the lower end of the scale price wise, but it really has some nice abilities.? I can now record TV on up to 4 channels at once (sort of, in actual fact its really only 2) while also watching something I recorded earlier.?
The video quality is fantastic Standard Definition, my 68cm TV certainly doesnt need High Definition, but thats not the best thing.? Now, if I want to watch those episodes of Futurama that are now on at 7pm, I dont have to sit down as soon as i get home, and disregard my grumbling stomach.? I can talk to my partner about our days and? cook dinner, before sitting down to watch my 30 mins of cartoons.? Did I say 30 mins?? I actually mean 20 minutes, now that I dont have to watch those 10 minutes of ads.? Then I can nick off and wash the dishes, while pausing whatever is on a 7.30 if I want, only to catch up later, without the ads.? My partner even gets to watch a little of what she wanted to watch on the other channel, if she’s lucky 
Of course, there are teething problems, and I still have 3 remote controls sitting next to me on the couch - but these issues will be over come and I may never be forced to watch the ads again.
? My only worry is that the rest of Australia will catch on, rendering ads useless to advertisers, which will mean that free to air TV will probalby end up with banners permanently displayed along the top or bottom.