Methods and apparatus to detect commercial advertisements associated with media presentations are disclosed. An example method involves receiving a video frame and detecting a change in box-formatting between the video frame and a subsequent video frame. A transition between the video frame and the subsequent video frame is indicated as a commercial advertisement transition based on the detected change in box-formatting.

Systems and methods for recording programs using a user's equipment and a network recording device are provided. An interactive television application may determine whether the user's equipment has sufficient resources (e.g., tuners or space) to record a program selected for recording. If the interactive television application determines that the user's equipment does not have sufficient resources, the interactive television application may select, automatically or in response to a user instruction, the program for recording with a network recording device. In some embodiments, the user may have to pay for the use of the network recording device, or may be required to purchase a given tier level of service. The interactive television application may play back programs from the network recording device as VOD offerings, or may direct the network recording device to transfer recorded programs to the user's equipment when it has sufficient resources.

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving, from a streaming application, a listing of media content items provided by the streaming application to a first device of a first user, determining a priority set of the media content items of the listing of media content items according to relative demand profiles of a plurality of media content items, for each priority media content item of the priority set of the media content items, providing the priority media content item to an edge server of a set of edge servers accessible to the first device, updating edge server location information associated with the priority media content item, and providing the edge server location information to the streaming application. Other embodiments are disclosed.

A method for providing a personalized media stream includes receiving a signal from a user to launch a personalized media stream, determining a current time, identifying a first time slot of a schedule into which the current time falls, identifying a first channel that is associated with the first time slot, wherein viewing history for the user indicates that the user has viewed the first channel during the first time slot in the past, automatically tuning the display device to the first channel in response to the signal, receiving, subsequent to the automatically tuning, a command from the user to pause a program playing on the first channel, identifying a second channel associated with a second time slot, wherein the second time slot occurs later in time that the first time slot, and buffering a portion of a program being shown on the second channel during the second time slot.

Disclosed in embodiments of the present disclosure are a video page display method and apparatus, an electronic device and a computer-readable medium. A specific implementation of the method includes: displaying a video page, the video page including a video playback view and a dialog box, and a progress adjustment control being displayed in the dialog box, wherein the view hierarchy of the dialog box is higher than the view hierarchy of the video playback view and the remaining controls in the video page; and in response to detecting a first user operation on the progress adjustment control, adjusting the progress of a video currently being played back in the video page, and updating the progress displayed in the progress adjustment control. The described implementation achieves the reuse of a progress adjustment control between different pages.

The present application discloses techniques of interacting with live videos. The techniques comprise obtaining a streaming video of a live streamer and images of a user captured in real time by a user terminal, and displaying the streaming video and the image of the user in a same video play box; obtaining and recognizing a first gesture of a user in the images of the user, and comparing the first gesture with a second gesture included in a preset table, wherein the preset table comprises information indicating corresponding relationships between gestures and special effects; obtaining a first special effect corresponding to the second gesture by querying the preset table when the first gesture matches with the second gesture; and displaying the first special effect in the video play box.

Recorded broadcast programs, including advertisements, are selected for playback responsive to user input. The user input may include pressing a button multiple times to cause recorded programs to be scanned through for a particular preset channel from newest recorded to oldest recorded. Pressing another button multiple times causes the recorded programs to be scanned through for the particular present channel from oldest recorded to newest recorded.

Methods, apparatuses and media for providing content upon request are provided. A search request for content is received from a user. A first filter is applied to the search request to modify the search request before a search algorithm searches for the content to return in response to the search request. Items of content are determined based on the search request to which the first filter is applied. A second filter is applied to the items of content to determine search results. The search results are provided to the user.

Methods, apparatuses and media for providing content upon request are provided. A search request for content is received from a user. A first filter is applied to the search request to modify the search request before a search algorithm searches for the content to return in response to the search request. Items of content are determined based on the search request to which the first filter is applied. A second filter is applied to the items of content to determine search results. The search results are provided to the user.

An interactive television program guide system is provided in which a viewer may direct a television to simultaneously display a selected television program and a program guide display. A viewer may use the program guide display to browse available video-on-demand (VOD) while continuing to view a previously selected program in the background. The viewer may browse through video-on-demand programs on the program guide display using a variety of keys on a remote control unit. The viewer may direct the program guide to order a given video-on-demand program/and set a desired broadcast time for that program.