Just going back to the original post, I'm afraid you couldn't have joined our 'happy band' at a worse time mate... that is if you are hoping that watching videos will give you enough credits to gradually buy better equipment. keep you in balls and get you the latest 'must have' avatars.
Personally, I count myself very lucky that I have been able to progress to Tour Master in my 12 Months here, with pretty decent equipment and enough banked credits for a 'rainy day', without having to dig into my own pocket. Not sure about the situation in The States, but here in the U.K; if those were the 'Feast' times..... these are definitely the 'Famine' days. You will probably be aware that the credits awarded for videos watched, has recently been halved, which you can see from the forums, hasn't gone down very well at all !
There really isn't any way round the crumbs that are on offer over here now, unless you can qualify for some surveys, which pay quite well. When I was working my way up, I joined an independent survey company, averaged a couple a day and was rewarded with Pay Pal vouchers, which I was able to redeeem for credits on here. It took me Months, but I ended up with a couple of thousand credits for my trouble, which may be worth thinking about.
I'm afraid to say that WGT have made it perfectly clear that 'my type' is not what they are looking for in future and I fully expect more measures to be brought in, to highlight that. It's people with a few quid, who are willing to invest in their game, that they really want and that's no different to any kind of business, anywhere in the world.
The best of luck my friend.
Ade