Take a look at a media centre pc or tivo for ways of improving... like:

-TiVO learns what you like to watch and records things for you automatically, based on your individual tastes.
-I can set TiVo to record Top Gear (like series link on SKY+), then the summer break comes, and as soon as the series starts again, TiVo picks it up, whereas sky+, well, if you have forgotten it's on... you'll miss them until you tell it to record.
-I can set TiVO to record anything that contains the word "Rally" for example, and restrict to specific categories if I want.
-Want to record a programme in the next couple of weeks, that starts with "Fif", easy, just search the two week program guide and find it. SKY+ only allows you to search on first letter for next 24 hours, otherwise, you need to know exactly which channel to look for.
....

SKY+ rocks if you've only had a VCR in the past, but trust me, sky could make the whole thing soooo much better if they learnt from others

Such a shame TiVo was too early on the market