Don't know what type of TV broadcasting you have down under - we have to worry about digital reception too. That should do what you are after i would think, it will do the pause live tv, rewind live tv and watch from the beginning stuff you mentioned. You can go back to the beginning of the prog you are watching and record from there on and all sorts of clever things. You can record from HD to DVD and vice versa, probably at high speed too. It can be your CD music player too. I have a HD recorder and its great - my DVD recorder is separate which is a pain. Both in the same box would be ideal.