Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
On the one hand, true. On the other hand, bollocks.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


       

ad-break button

 yes, I know I spend too much time channel surfing
 
(0) 		  [vote for,
against]

This often happens to me - I'm watching TV just surfing, flipping from one channel to the next till I find something that momentarily engages my attention. No sooner do I find said attraction, however, than *pop* it's time for the ad break (commercial break for our American cousins).

Since I'm quite sensibly averse to watching ads, I take this as my cue to resume flipping, the idea being to pass the time of the break by checking out the other channels.

The trouble is, above a certain number of channels, it doesn't take me long to forget what channel I was interested in. So I end up going round and round, or get into something else, or come back to it too late.

What I need is an 'ad break' button on the remote control. Say I'm watching 'Planet Earth' on channel 205 and totally getting into the whole nature thing, but then *ding* ad-break ! No problem - I hit the button and it simply remembers what channel I'm on. I then go surfing the other channels; but the clever television will wait a set number of minutes (the average duration of an ad-break) and then remind me what channel I was watching.

I can then decide whether I want to go back to the enchanting Mr. Attenborough, or whether the all-night infomercial on channel 475 about the exercise machine that "goes side-to-side as well as up and down!" is just too enthralling for me to miss.

—bumhat, Feb 04 2007

Please log in.
If you're not logged in, you can see what this page looks like, but you will not be able to add anything.
Short name, e.g., Bob's Coffee
Destination URL. E.g., https://www.coffee.com/
Description (displayed with the short name and URL.)






       Some cable boxes have 2 tuners so you can set one on one channel and then surf with the other and go back to the other tunner. I don't know if this is what you mean or not though.
—acurafan07, Feb 04 2007
   

       I believe this is why PIP was invented. The problem can also be solved less expensively using a notepad and an egg timer.
—sqykly, Feb 04 2007
   

       Switch it off and come back to the 'bakery.
—pertinax, Feb 05 2007
   


 

back: main index
business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle