Methods, computer readable media, and apparatuses for switching streams in response to detecting a start trigger are presented. A program's start trigger indicating that the program is upcoming may be detected on a first stream, and in response to detecting the start trigger on the first stream, a second stream containing the program may be switched to. The program may be a video program. Segment triggers may be detected and may be used to selectively record and/or delete segments of the program according to a priority scheme. Multiple start triggers may be detected at decreasing time intervals. The existence of a recording conflict may be determined based on a program's start trigger and a user may be alerted of the recording conflict.

Methods, apparatus and systems related to automated production of multimedia contents are described. In one example aspect, an automated production system includes a directing server configured to store production-stage information in a machine-readable script and manage production of a multimedia content according to the script. The system also includes a device management server configured to coordinate one or more shooting locations for the production of the multimedia content. The device management server is configured to receive a portion of the production-stage information extracted from the script based on its location. The system further includes end devices connected to the device management server. The device management server is configured to track activities of the end devices and to provide status of the end devices at a production time to the directing server to enable the directing server to dynamically update the script for subsequent shooting activities at the production time.

A voice acquisition section 126 acquires a voice of a user viewing content. A recording processing section 116 records content data and user voice data and generates a content file in which the content data and the user voice data are associated with a recording time. A voice detection section 136 detects whether or not the voice of the user has been acquired by the voice acquisition section 126. An event information generation section 140 generates event information including a start time and an end time of the acquisition of the voice of the user. A communication section 102 transmits the event information to a server.

Methods, computer readable media, apparatuses, and systems for switching streams in response to detecting a start trigger are presented. A program's start trigger indicating that the program is upcoming may be detected on a first stream, and in response to detecting the start trigger on the first stream, a second stream containing the program may be switched to. The program may be a video program. Segment triggers may be detected and may be used to selectively record and/or delete segments of the program according to a priority scheme. Multiple start triggers may be detected at decreasing time intervals. The existence of a recording conflict may be determined based on a program's start trigger and a user may be alerted of the recording conflict.

This application describes methods, systems, and apparatus for allowing a user to easily determine whether the user and/or other user(s) have viewed content. For example, a program guide may display one or more graphics associated with the content (e.g., a movie poster), and in response to determining whether the user has viewed the content, the program guide may include an indication of whether the user has viewed the content. The program guide may include indications associated with multiple users (e.g., different colors, icons, graphics, or text). The program guide may filter the content based on whether the user has viewed the content (e.g., only display content the user has not viewed). A computing device storing the content may manage recording of the content based on whether the user has viewed the content (e.g., delete the recording if the user has viewed the content). A viewing history of the user may be maintained.

A broadcast reception device includes: a program recording execution unit that stores, into a recording-content storage area, program identification information for identifying a broadcast program, and storage-destination information for specifying a server device storing the broadcast program; a reception function execution unit that transmits the program identification information and the program storage-destination information to the server device specified from the program storage-destination information; and an output unit that outputs sound information and image information on the broadcast program transmitted from the server device.

A product rendering controller (PRC) manages the overall process of creating video-on-demand (VOD) assets or products from source assets that are obtained from a wide variety of different content sources (e.g., web-based sources) and which are in a wide variety of different native media formats. The source assets are converted to video transport streams such as an MPEG transport stream and transcoded as necessary to create the VOD products. The PRC determines the VOD products that need to be generated, pre-caches data that is to be incorporated into VOD products, and selects the pool of video product generators that is to be used to convert the source assets to VOD products.

Systems, devices and processes reduce the amount of memory or disk space needed to store encoded video content used in adaptive video streaming by eliminating certain portions of the recorded program from one or more copies of the encoded program. Content occurring before or after a scheduled start of a program, for example, can be retained in only a subset of the encoded copies so that the program content is available to be streamed, but only at certain video qualities. Commercials or other less popular portions may also be eliminated in one or more encoded copies. By eliminating the less-likely-to-be-viewed portions of the content from some (but not all) of the encoded copies, the total amount of storage space needed to store the encoded program is reduced without compromising the ability to play back all portions of the recorded program.

Methods, systems, and computer readable media may be operable to facilitate the resolving of a tuner conflict at a digital video recorder. When a multimedia device receives a request for a new recording session, and there is no available tuner for carrying out the recording session, the multimedia device may determine a duration of time until a tuner becomes available. If the duration of time until a tuner becomes available is less than a threshold duration, the multimedia device may initiate the recording session once the tuner becomes available, and the missing portion of the recording may be recovered at an alternate time or from an alternate content source. When the missing portion is recovered, the recording and the missing portion may be stitched together. If the duration of time until a tuner becomes available is greater than a threshold, the multimedia device may present alternate times for recording the requested content.

Methods and systems for managing data storage strategies for continuous video segment recordings on a video recording device are disclosed. The data storage strategies include the detection of various trigger events and ending events detected from the video recordings or measurements detected from sensor devices that are included in the video recording device.