However, in the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has felt it necessary to pass a new regulation requiring broadcasters to keep the volume for TV programmes and adverts equal.

FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, said:

“Most of us have … experienced this ourselves: You’re watching your favourite television program, or the news, and all of a sudden, a commercial comes on, and it sounds like someone turned up the volume — but no one did. Today, the FCC is quieting a persistent problem of the television age: loud commercials.”

The FCC has received 6,000 complaints about loud adverts since 2008. While this doesn’t sound like many, the gripe is supported by research from the Consumers’ Union, which found that the issue was a top grievance in 21 of its last 25 quarterly reports.

The new rule will apply to all broadcasters, be they cable, satellite or terrestrial, although unfortunately, it won’t be implemented until this time next year.

Until then, the FCC helpfully reminds people that they have a volume control on their remote control and that the mute button ‘is also useful to control excessively loud audio’.

Bizarrely, this downside is the result of another strength. As a flat screen saves a lot of space, we can have much larger screens as well. This comes at a cost, because above a certain size, normal resolution loses sharpness. This is the main reason why high definition TV is becoming more common. On smaller screens, you can’t really see any improvement, but the larger the screen, the more important it becomes.

We can get high definition video from multiple sources. Blu-ray discs were one of the first ways of seeing HD footage, but now it is increasingly available via conventional TV services. However, it does require a digital signal. In India, this is being addressed by a new bill which will see the digitisation of cable services.

This will benefit both broadcasters and consumers. There could be more channels on offer as well as superior viewing. In India, where between 75 and 80 per cent of TV homes have cable, this will have a huge impact.

In a way, digital TV and TV brackets go hand in hand. They combine with flat screen TVs to provide a superior viewing experience.

Las Vegas research firm, CBS Vision carried out the study which showed that older viewers were even more concerned about picture quality from different angles, expecting brightness and clarity regardless.

3M physicist Dave Lamb, the scientific adviser on the study, said:

“We wanted to understand how important wide-angle luminance — a combination of off-axis viewing and brightness — was to consumers, since this is something 3M technology enhances. This study shows that wide-angle luminance is very important, even if consumers are not initially aware of the measurement.”

It seems consumers don’t always realise that the way they watch an LCD TV has an impact on the image they see. Around 44 per cent of people were unaware that the viewing angle had an impact.

Even so, with 84 per cent of respondents saying that they view their TV from different angles, we can easily the importance of mobile TV brackets. Swivelling and cantilever brackets minimise the problems associated with viewing from an angle, as well as providing a better view in a more basic sense.

Culmann has trained his camera on TV watchers throughout the world, capturing the positions and facial expressions we adopt when indulging in this most common of pastimes. He says the aim was to try and capture the moment when people zoned out, becoming wholly absorbed by what they were watching, be it a film, soap opera or football match.

The people in his photos are in all sorts of positions, curled up on settees, in bed. They are sometimes alone, or with family or friends. However, whether they are in India or Mexico, all are transfixed.

The main challenge was to get the viewers to forget he was there, because he took the pictures himself rather than relying on automated technology. This demanded that he spend hours watching people watch TV until they relaxed and got sucked in.

There were other issues too. In Morocco, people wouldn’t let him into their house without giving him tea and he would sometimes spend a full day in a home before they could relax. Even then, many weren’t comfortable with being photographed. He said India was easiest because people liked being photographed and he would often be invited in after simply knocking on a door.

Internet TV can be accessed via the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the Wii and according to a recent survey conducted by Nielsen, it is increasingly common for people to do so. Around 14 per cent of the usage of the Xbox 360 is now accounted for by TV viewing compared to 10 per cent a year ago. 15 per cent of PS3 usage is for video streaming, while 33 per cent of Wii usage is for TV. The Xbox and PS3 figures do not include paid downloads, which account for a further five per cent of total usage time.

This means that games consoles are actually the most popular way to watch high-definition TV. Ailing TV networks will be taking note and attempting to establish deals to get their content accessible.

The online streaming service Netflix is doing particularly well out of games console owners, which account for half of its user base. The PS3 and Xbox are also DVD players and in fact the PS3 is also considered the best-selling Blu-ray player as well.

There’s nothing better than gathering the family around your new television and settling down to watch some Christmas films. But this can only be done if your television is correctly mounted and for this, you need TV brackets.

It’s important that you invest in TV brackets, because it is these that will help to keep your television safe and secure. With the help of the right TV brackets, you can ensure that your television is properly mounted, so that it is not likely to get damaged or broken. But as well as this, the right TV bracket can help you to have an even better viewing experience. For example, by choosing a cantilever bracket, you can mount your television in a corner and there are plenty of other options too.

This is the perfect time to choose a new television for your home, but remember that you always need the TV brackets to match.

YouTube’s 100 premium channels change the face of TV broadcasting. It means that programming is no longer a geographic thing. Someone in New Zealand or Fiji can watch the same things as someone in Wales or Guatemala.

This means much more content – a world of content, in fact. It also means watching what you want, when you want to, which is a huge advantage for the viewer.

It may also lead to better entertainment. This is not simply because you can find new, better programmes, but also because there is more competition. Any broadcaster who produces a great series can reap greater reward, so there is more incentive to get things right. Equally, make something lacklustre and it is likely to get lost in the ocean of choice.

The barriers for entry are also lower. YouTube already has its stars, but as technology has improved, home-made video has improved too. It’s possible to make something reasonably professional at minimal cost. Furthermore, if you make something good, it will now be available through people’s TVs, not just via their PCs and laptops, meaning you can potentially command a much larger audience. All of this could be good news for viewers in the future.

The latest Xbox 360 update brings live TV to the games console, as well as an expanded on-demand offering. You can pretty much get rid of your set-top box, it would seem – particularly if you’re in the US, where HBO, Comedy Central and PBS are all available.

Microsoft has gone to great lengths to establish partnerships with many major broadcasters, although you’ll still need to subscribe to their channels in order to see their video content.

However, this development is not so significant as the earlier one that allowed Xbox owners to play online video through their TV sets. This is undoubtedly the future of TV and it is only the relative paucity of high quality on-demand programming that is holding it back from becoming the normal way we interact with our TVs.

Increasingly, we will be able to watch whatever we want, whenever we want to. No longer will we be limited by what is being broadcast or what we have already recorded on a digital video recorder. We will simply select from a giant online video archive and then press play. Furthermore, we will do this on our current TV sets – the ones that give us the optimum viewing experience.

This year, thanks to the proliferation of TV channels, there will be no fewer than 656 films shown in the UK on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day. However, you’ll be forgiven for experiencing a sense of déjà vu with a few of them, as only 13 are premieres. The rest have all been on TV before. That represents a 19 per cent drop in first showings compared to last year.

All the same, that’s a 23 per cent increase in films shown overall compared to 2010. You certainly won’t have seen them all. Classics such as The Wizard of Oz, Lawrence of Arabia and ET may be familiar, but might even warrant a repeat viewing.

The premieres that are showing are mostly kids’ films, such as Monsters vs Aliens and Ratatouille, both of which are scheduled on BBC One on Christmas Day. Pay-to-view TV channels are surprisingly light on film premieres. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and The King’s Speech are the only ones, appearing on the perhaps inaccurately named Sky Premiere.

Whatever you do choose to watch, make sure you have TV brackets. Long hours of Christmas TV viewing can lead to neck and back ache if your TV is incorrectly positioned. It’s harder work than it looks.

Recent research has revealed that the average Brit spends almost a year of their life watching soaps. According to Dalepak research, around 33.9 million people watch one episode of a soap opera or more each week. The average person spends 143 minutes doing so.

If you multiply that to get a figure for the average lifetime, it works out as 336 days of solid viewing. Not insignificant.

The survey also looked at a few other aspects of soap operas, finding that Richard Hillman was considered the top soap opera villain. The famous serial killer character beat Dirty Den and Nick Cotton, both of Eastenders.

In terms of the best soap family, Coronation Street again emerged on top, this time thanks to the Duckworths, who pipped the Mitchells of Eastenders. However, Eastenders was considered to have had the best storyline, thanks to the 2001 Phil Mitchell whodunit story.

Anne Claypole, marketing manager for Dalepak, said:

“We Brits love nothing more than to watch our favourite soaps, they are part of our cultural make-up and we love them because of that. However, it is extraordinary to think that on average we spend a year of our lives sat in front of the television watching our favourite soaps.”