A facility for transferring configuration information to a target media device is described. The facility receives in the target media device a copy of media device settings stored in a source media device distinct from the target media device in a first form in which they are used in the source media device. This copy of media device settings is received by the target media device via a route other than its visual user interface. The facility causes the received copy of media device settings to be transformed into a second form in which they can be used in the target media device. The facility then stores the media receiver settings in the second form in the target media device for use by the target media device.

A method and apparatus for secure transfer and playback of multimedia content enables the secure transfer of multimedia content from a digital video recorder (DVR) to a personal computer (PC) and further to a handheld device. A DVR determines which devices on a Local Area Network (LAN) are authorized to share and/or retrieve content from the DVR. The DVR receives a connection request from a PC on the LAN, authorizes the connection request and establishes a secure connection between the DVR and the PC. Once the secure connection is established, the DVR receives a request for multimedia content from the PC, prepares the multimedia content for transfer and transfers the multimedia content to the PC.

A method and apparatus for secure transfer and playback of multimedia content enables the secure transfer of multimedia content from a digital video recorder (DVR) to a personal computer (PC) and further to a handheld device. A DVR determines which devices on a Local Area Network (LAN) are authorized to share and/or retrieve content from the DVR. The DVR receives a connection request from a PC on the LAN, authorizes the connection request and establishes a secure connection between the DVR and the PC. Once the secure connection is established, the DVR receives a request for multimedia content from the PC, prepares the multimedia content for transfer and transfers the multimedia content to the PC.

Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for replacing at least a part of a local time shift buffer of a user device with a remote time shift buffer.

A method and apparatus for secure transfer and playback of multimedia content enables the secure transfer of multimedia content from a digital video recorder (DVR) to a personal computer (PC) and further to a handheld device. A DVR determines which devices on a Local Area Network (LAN) are authorized to share and/or retrieve content from the DVR. The DVR receives a connection request from a PC on the LAN, authorizes the connection request and establishes a secure connection between the DVR and the PC. Once the secure connection is established, the DVR receives a request for multimedia content from the PC, prepares the multimedia content for transfer and transfers the multimedia content to the PC.

A method and apparatus for displaying branded video tags. An advertiser provides additional content associated with broadcast advertising content to a service provider that downloads the additional content to a digital video recorder (DVR). The service provider inserts command tags into the content that are intercepted by the DVR and interpreted as commands that instruct the DVR to perform specific actions when the DVR receives the stream from a broadcaster. The DVR intercepts and translates any tags inserted into the content stream while the DVR is playing the content stream. Tags can cause the DVR to display a branded video tag to the user which is a displayed icon that requests an interaction by the user and has an advertiser’s logo(s) displayed in its vicinity.

A system for a video sharing service for inmates in correctional facilities is disclosed. The system includes an inmate device of an inmate, a database storing inmate profiles, and a video sharing server configured to receive a registration request from the inmate device for registration of an inmate for the video sharing service, the registration request including user credentials of the inmate, retrieve an inmate profile of the inmate from the database, authenticate the inmate based on the user credentials and the inmate profile, create an account for the inmate for the video sharing service in response to authentication of the inmate, receive an upload request to upload a video from the inmate device, analyze the video for restricted content, and assign a rating to the video based on the analysis.

A media guidance application is provided by which users can define rules for assigning user equipment devices as destinations for media content. For example, a user may define a rule by which selected media content having attributes that satisfy a user-defined condition are downloaded, recorded, or streamed to a particular, user-specified user equipment device. The user may define and manage rules using media guidance menus, and may restrict other users from accessing the rules (e.g., parents restricting children).

A method and apparatus for displaying branded video tags. An advertiser provides additional content associated with broadcast advertising content to a service provider that downloads the additional content to a digital video recorder (DVR). The service provider inserts command tags into the content that are intercepted by the DVR and interpreted as commands that instruct the DVR to perform specific actions when the DVR receives the stream from a broadcaster. The DVR intercepts and translates any tags inserted into the content stream while the DVR is playing the content stream. Tags can cause the DVR to display a branded video tag to the user which is a displayed icon that requests an interaction by the user and has an advertiser's logo(s) displayed in its vicinity.

Various embodiments of systems, apparatus, and/or methods are described for presenting relevant programming information. A viewing action of an audiovisual event is detected on a receiving device. Data associated with the viewed audiovisual event is then retrieved. The retrieved data includes at least receiving device information and audiovisual event information. The retrieved data is then stored in a historical viewing database, and at least one scoring table is generated from the data in the historical viewing database. Programming information for a plurality of candidate audiovisual events that are available to be viewed is then organized based at least in part on the at least one scoring table and a selected time, and the organized programming information is output to a presentation device.