GB2439593A

GB2439593A - System and Method for Providing Media Content to a Digital Video Recorder

Info

Publication number: GB2439593A
Application number: GB0612951A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gary James Calder
Original assignee: Oxford Semiconductor Ltd
Current assignee: PLX Technology Ltd
Priority date: 2006-06-30
Filing date: 2006-06-30
Publication date: 2008-01-02
Also published as: WO2008001128A1; GB0612951D0

Abstract

A system and method are provided for providing media content to a digital video recorder (10). The digital video recorder (10) has an internal storage device (15) for recording media content, for example broadcasted media content, in a predetermined format for subsequent selection and viewing as recorded content. The digital video recorder (10) also has an interface (14) for connecting to an external storage device (30). The method comprises storing or enabling the storing of additional media content on the external storage device (30) in the predetermined format, such that when the external storage device (30) is connected operatively to the digital video recorder (10) via the interface (14), the additional content is visible to the digital video recorder (10) and available for selection and viewing like other recorded content stored on the internal storage device (15). The additional content is provided to the external storage device (30) over a network connection that bypasses the digital video recorder (10).

Description

I

System and Method for Providing Media Content to a Digital Video Recorder The present invention relates to a method of providing media content to a digital video recorder or the like.

A typical Set Top Box (STB) equipped with a hard drive, also called a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) or Personal Video Recorder (PVR), is only capable of recording video or other media content that is broadcast via a terrestrial or satellite network, or transmitted through a cable network. Such devices arc considered to be generally equivalent, and so the term "digital video recorder" or DVR is used without limitation in the description that follows to cover any such device.

DVRs were originally designed using hard disk drives with a PATA (Parallel Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA), or IntelligentJlntegrated Drive Electronics (IDE)) interface, which meant that these units could only use internal drives. PATA drives are now being replaced by SATA (Serial ATA) drives, and the SATA standard includes the

specification for an external drive connector.

The latest DVRs now employ SATA drives and include an external SATA drive connector (sometimes called eSATA). The intended purpose of the external SATA connector is to allow the recording storage capacity of the DVR to be expanded easily.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of providing media content to a digital video recorder having an internal storage device for recording media content, for example broadcasted media content, in a predetermined format for subsequent selection and viewing as recorded content, and also having an interface for connecting to an external storage device, the method comprising storing or enabling the storing of additional media content on the external storage device in the predetermined format, the additional content being received at the external storage device over a network connection that bypasses the digital video recorder, such that when the external storage device is connected operatively to the digital video recorder via the interface, the additional content is visible to the digital video recorder and available for selection and viewing like other recorded content stored on the internal storage device.

Enabling the storing of the additional content on the external storage device may comprise sending or enabling the sending of the additional content to the external storage device over the network connection.

Enabling the sending of the additional content to the external storage device may comprise carrying out at least part of an ordering transaction to provide the additional content to the external storage device over the network connection.

The method may comprise sending the additional content to the external storage device following a request for the additional content from the digital video recorder.

The method may comprise requesting the additional content using an interactive service provided by the digital video recorder.

The method may comprise sending a request for the additional content from the digital video recorder to an ordering server.

The method may comprise sending the request for the additional content from the digital video recorder to the ordering server via a back channel associated with the digital video recorder. For example, for a satellite or terrestrial system, this may be a telephone-based baek channel, while for a cable system this may be a cable-based back channel.

The method may comprise verifying details of the requester of the additional content at the ordering server before allowing the additional content to be provided.

Information concerning media content available for download to the external storage device may be stored in a media content information server.

The method may comprise providing information concerning the requested additional content to the media content information server.

The method may comprise providing the information concerning the requested additional content from the ordering server to the media content information server.

The method may comprise sending a query from the external storage device to the media content information server to determine if there is additional content to be provided to the external storage device.

The method may comprise sending such a query at predetermined intervals.

The method may comprise sending a message from the media content inlonnation server to the external storage device in response to additional content becoming available for providing to the external storage device, the message indicating this availability.

The method may comprise establishing the network connection between the external storage device and at least one server able to provide the additional content, and receiving the additional content at the external storage device over the network connection.

The network connection may be a peer to peer connection.

The network connection may be provided over the Internet.

The digital video recorder may provide an interface for selecting recorded content on the internal storage device for viewing, and the method may comprise using the same interface for selecting additional content stored on the external storage device.

The method may comprise billing an account associated with the requester of the additional content when at least part of the additional content is played using the digital video recorder.

The predetermined format may comprise a predetermined encoding and/or protection mechanism.

The method may comprise receiving the additional content at the external storage device over the network connection.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for controlling an apparatus to perform according to the first aspect of the present invention.

The program may be carried on a carrier medium. The carrier medium may be a storage medium. The program may be embodied in firmware. The carrier medium may be a transmission medium.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus programmed by a program according to the second aspect of the present invention.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage medium containing a program according to the second aspect of the present invention.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing media content to a digital video recorder having an internal storage device for recording media content, for example broadcasted media content, in a predetermined format for subsequent selection and viewing as recorded content, and also having an interface for connecting to an external storage device, the apparatus comprising means for storing or enabling the storing of additional media content on the external storage device in the predetermined format, the additional content being received at the external storage device over a network connection that bypasses the digital video recorder, such that when the external storage device is connected operatively to the digital video recorder via the interface, the additional content is visible to the digital video recorder and available for selection and viewing like other recorded content stored on the internal storage device.

The apparatus may comprise the external storage device.

An embodiment of the present invention uses an external storage device (such as a hard drive) with a network connection to acquire video content that can be played back by a digital video recorder with an external hard disk connector. The content that is acquired is formatted to appear as though the video content had been recorded over the air, requiring no changes to the set top box firmware to recognise the content. An embodiment of the present invention extends the capability of an external storage device for a DVR, allowing media content to be acquired from any network separate to the broadcast network and played back by the DVR without any changes to the DVR itself.

Reference will now be made, by way of example, to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a system embodying the present invention; Figure 2 is a block diagram showing parts of the system of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a flowchart showing operation according to a first embodiment of the present invention; and Figure 4 is a flowchart showing operation according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

As mentioned above, it is becoming more common now for DVRs to employ SATA drives and to include an external SATA (or eSATA) drive connector. The external SATA connectors arc being provided with the intention of allowing the user to expand the storage capacity of the DVR when required.

Separate to this, it is known that television broadcasters make media content available on the Internet for download, for example by using a P2P (Peer to Peer) client that runs on a Personal Computer (PC). However, this content can only be played back on the PC where it was originally acquired, by virtue of it being protected by DRM (Digital Rights Management) such as Windows Mediafl' DRM, and by using coding formats which are not compatible with those used in digital broadcasts (e.g. Windows Media 9 video encoding).

Some examples of Internet-based download of TV content for playback on PCs are: BBC iMP (trial now closed) (see j cQiL!BL!. and Sky by Broadband (see IjItSLQW sky)\(db.ii... and and AOL In2TV (see All of these systems are based on server and client software provided by Kontiki EP-A-1413119 ("Method And Apparatus For Facilitating Disiributed Delivery Of Content Across A Computer Network") describes the peer to peer network system used by Koutiki.

US 2006/0075441 ("Method and system for a personal video recorder comprising multiple removable storage/tuner units"; Sony Corporation) describes a modular approach using storage modules which can be connected to a DVR and which can be interchanged between different DVR devices. The storage modules can each be connected to a different content provider. Related US 2006/0074807 ("Method and System for Content Sharing and Authentication between Multiple Devices") is concerned with disconnecting a storage module from one DVR and reconnecting to another.

Within the above context, embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to Figures 1 to 4. Figure 1 is a block diagram showing a system 1 embodying the present invention. Some parts not shown in Figure 1 for space reasons are shown instead in Figure 2. Figure 3 is a flowchart showing operation of a first embodiment of the present invention.

The system 1 comprises a DVR 10, display 20, external bard drive unit 30, telephone outlet 32, splitter 34, Asymmelric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) router 36, Ethernet router 38, online ordering system 42, content locator web server 46, and peers 48-1 to 48-N. The system 1 makes use of the Internet 44.

The DVR 10 comprises a Radio Frequency (RF) tuner and demodulator 11, a demultiplexer 12, a video-audio decoder 13, SATA interface 14, internal SATA hard drive 15, modem 16 and interactive applications 17. These parts will be well known to the person skilled in the art, and some arc described in more detail below in the context of the present embodiment.

The external hard drive unit 30 comprises a SATA hard drive (or drives) 34 connected to a SATA disk controller 32. The disk controller 32 allows access to the drive 34 via a standard external hard disk connector (SATA) and also via an internal connection to a second controller 36 handling TCP/IP data. This controller 36 connects to an external network, via an Ethernet interface and the Ethernet router 38. Through this, the external hard drive unit 30 can connect to the Internet 44, via the router 36 and a broadband (ADSL or cable) modem. The router 36 is often already present in the user environment, for example if there is an existing home network installed; otherwise the Ethernet controller can attach directly to the ADSL/cable modem. The external hard drive unit 30 also comprise a DRM control unit 38 which performs digital rights management tasks for the external hard drive unit 30.

Operation will now be described with reference to Figure 3. The method can be considered broadly to be a three-part process: 1. Selecting and purchasing of content 2. Downloading of content 3. Viewing of content The steps involved in the selection and purchasing of content are as follows.

In step Si, the customer uses an interactive application 17 to access a digital interactive service on the DVR 10, and browses the list of available downloadable content (as opposed to broadcast content, although the two may be provided via the same interface).

In step S2, the customer uses the interactive application 17 to request some content for download, and the request is sent to the service provider's online ordering system 42 via the telephone back channel. With an embodiment of the present invention, the process of selecting and purchasing content can take place using the existing arrangements on the DVR 10, without modification being required.

In step S3, the online ordering system 42 checks the customer's subscription credentials to ensure that they are entitled to download the content. If the content is Pay Per View (PPV) the DVR 10 can directly bill to the customer's account any amount payable for this content when the content is actually played.

The steps involved in the acquisition of content are as follows.

Subsequent to the customer placing an order through the interactive application 17 on the DVR 10, in step S4 the online ordering system 42 informs the content locator web server (or content information web server) 46 that this content may be downloaded by the customer. In step S5 the web server 46 updates download status information associated with the customer to indicate that there is new content available for the customer to download.

Meanwhile, in step S6 the peer to peer client software 36 embedded in the external hard drive unit 30 periodically checks the content locator web server 46 to determine whether there is any new content to be downloaded for this customer. If not, processing remains at step S6. After the content locator web server 46 has updated the download status in step S5 as described above, step S6 will determine that there is new content available for the customer to download, with processing proceeding to step S7.

In step S7 the external hard drive 30 requests from the content locator web server 46 the respective IP addresses of one or more peers having the content ready for download. In step S8 the content locator web server 46 checks to ensure that the customer is authorised to download the content and, if so, in step S9 supplies the IP addresses of peers having the relevant content (complete, or parts of it). The authorisation step S8 may be redundant if the content is protected by the broadcast Conditional Access, meaning that the customer must have a valid smart card and subscription (and phone line connection for billing if the content is Pay Per View) to be able to decode the content. Howevcr, it would prevent the customer using up available download bandwidth for content that they could not actually watch.

In step Sb the peer to peer client 36 in the external hard drive unit 30 establishes the required connections with the peers 48 making available ("seeding"), or currently downloading, the required content. In step SI I the relevant peers 48 make the necessary connections to the external hard drive unit 30 and provide the required content. These peers become added to a list of available peers for this content.

In step S12 the received content is saved to the external unit's hard drive 34. As will be explained further below, the content is saved in the same fonnat as content that is recorded "over the air" by the PVR 10 to its internal hard drive 15. It will be appreciated that the elements described so far each perform functions during the above-described process that ultimately enable the storing of additional media content on the external hard drive unit 30 in that format.

Once the additional content has been completely downloaded, and assuming a connection between the external hard drive unit 30 and the DVR 10, because the content is stored in the same format as recorded content stored in the DVR 10 itself, the content appears in the DVR's list of recorded content that is available to play, alongside other content recorded over the air to the DVR' s internal hard drive 15. In step Si 3 the user browses the available content, and in step SI 4 selects content that happens to be stored on the external hard drive unit 30. The selected content is retrieved by the hard drive unit 30 in step Sl5 and sent to the DVR 10 in step S16. In step S17 the content is displayed on the display 20.

With the above embodiment as described, it is assumed that there is a known relationship between the external hard drive 30 and the DVR 10 (or customer using the DVR). This relationship is required in step S6 when the external hard drive 30 queries the content locator web server 46 to determine whether there is any new content for the customer to be downloaded to the external hard drive 30.

Such a relationship can be placed at any point in the chain to enable a mapping between customer number or DVR 10 and the external hard drive 30. For example the external hard drive 30 itself may know its associated customer or DVR 10 and be able to send this information directly in its query in step S6. Or the content locator web server 46 may store a mapping between customer numbers and the IP addresses or identification numbers of their corresponding respective external hard drives 30; in such a case the external hard drive 30 would send its IF address or identification number in its query to the content locator web server 46 in step S6, and the content locator web server 46 would determine the associated customer or DVR 10.

The relationship information can be placed in any suitable manner, for example by registration in advance by the customer. Generally, there would be no direct communication of information from the DVR 10 to the external hard drive 30; in this respect the SATA interface could support exchange of data through vendor specific/private data commands, but this would require changes to the firmware of the DVR 10. It is desirable that an embodiment of the present invention provides a method which allows the SATA interface to be used to read hard drive data from the external drive 30 using the standard command set.

With the embodiment as described above, the external hard drive 30 polls the content locator web server 46 at intervals; in some circumstances this might put an undue strain on the content locator web server 46, particularly where a large community of subscribers is involved. An alternative method will now be described with reference to Figure 4, which shows operation according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

The second embodiment is generally similar to the first embodiment, and so a detailed explanation will only be provided for those parts that differ from the first embodiment.

In particular, steps TI to 13 and TI 0 to TI 7 correspond generally to similarly-referenced steps Si to S3 and Sb to S17 respectively as described above.

In the second embodiment, a relationship between the customer (or subscriber) number and a unique serial number of the external hard drive 30 is first registered with the ordering system 42 in step TO. The serial number may be stored inside a Read Only Memory of the external hard drive 30, and might also be printed on the outside of the hard drive housing for ease of access by the customer.

The customer will generally already have a customer number associated with the ordering service for Pay Per View content, and the DVR 10 would send this customer number to the ordering system 42 when the viewer first tries to view any PPV content (live or recorded). The same method can be used in this embodiment to order content to be downloaded, with the customer number being sent in step T2 (as it would normally).

Prior to doing this, the customer will have already registered the external hard drive 30 as mentioned above, in step TO, by communicating the serial number of the external hard drive 30 to the service provider (and thence to the ordering system 42). This can be done in any one of a number of ways that would be apparent to the skilled person.

For example the customer could: a) telephone a call centre and let them know their customer number and the serial number of the external hard drive 30; or b) access an Internet web server provided by the service provider, entering their customer number and the serial number of the external hard drive 30; or c) use the DVR 10 itself to provide the information. In this example, the DVR would be provided with a menu option for "registering your external drive".

The customer would only be required to enter the drive serial number, as the DVR 10 itself could provide the customer number.

In step T4, the ordering system 42 is able to look up the serial number of the customer's external hard drive 30 using the customer number received as part of the order for additional content. In step T5, the ordering system 42 informs the content locator web server 46 of thc requested content and also sends the serial number of the customer's external hard drive 30.

In the meantime, the external hard drive 30 will, in step T6, have informed the content locator web server 46 of its IP address and serial number, which is stored by the content locator web server 46 in step T7. This information enables the content locator web server 46 to map from the received drive serial number (from step S5) to the IP address of the drive 30 itself, which it does in step T8. In step T9 the content locator web server 46 uses the IP address to inform the external hard drive 30 that there is new content to download, and provides the IF address of a peer 48 from where the content can be downloaded. The method then continues as described in connection with the first embodiment.

The external hard drive 30 need only provide the content locator web server 46 with its IP address (and associated serial number) when it detects that its IP address has changed (by polling; though this would be internal to the home network and would not cause any Internet traffic). This means that the content locator web server 46 will be aware of the IP address of the external hard drive 30 at all times, with only a slight delay if it should change. (Any device attached to the Internet can determine what its assigned IP address is through standard methods. The IP address may be fixed, or it may change from time to time, usually if the connection is lost for some reason, e.g. power cycling or signal reception problems. The external hard drive 30 may save the IP address in non-volatile storage, as the address may remain constant even if the drive 30 is power cycled, as the Internet connection may remain constant independently of the drive 30).

Rather than looking up the IF address of the external hard drive 30 at the content locator web server 46 based on a serial number passed from the ordering system 42 in steps T5 and T6 as described above, it is also possible that the content locator web server 46 can keep the ordering system 42 updated with the serial number / IP address pairs. In that scenario, the ordering system 42 rather than the content locator web server 46 would maintain a database of paired [P addresses and serial numbers. By cross referencing with its customer number / serial number database at the ordering system 42, the ordering system 42 can determine the IF address of the external hard drive 30 associated with any order request and send it onward to the content locator web server 46. Various other possibilities will be apparent to the skilled person. It is preferable that communications between the ordering system 42 and the content locator web server 46 are encrypted.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention allow a DVR equipped with an cSATA port to play back content that has been acquired from an external network such as the Internet, without requiring any changes to the hardware or firmware of the DVR. The content being is received at the external hard drive over a network connection that bypasses the digital video recorder. The embodiments also allow this content to be easily displayed on the same display as normally used for TV viewing, rather than requiring that the content be displayed on a PC screen as in current Internet download systems such as Sky By Broadband. This is particularly important for content which is High Definition (HD), as a household would typically only have one TV display that is capable of showing HD content due to the high cost of large HD displays.

The above-described embodiments of the present invention combine the advantages of content delivery over a TCP/IP network such as the Internet, with selection and playback on a DVR using a familiar remote control and user interface to a display used for TV broadcasts. The content, although delivered by the Internet, is encoded and protected in the same format as TV broadcasts so that it can: (a) be viewed using the same DVR; and (b) be charged for in the same way as the TV broadcast, typically via a channel subscription or on a programme by programme basis (Pay Per View).

A broadcaster can conveniently save copies of the data stream as it is being broadcast in programme files, making these available via the Internet. By downloading these files at any time after broadcast, a viewer can have access (in principle) to any broadcast from the past, although in practice (at least at present) storage requirements may limit the availability to (say) the last two weeks. As mentioned previously, the BBC offered a similar service during their BBC iMP trial, but the content was re-encoded to a lower quality standard and protected using DRM, giving the viewer a lower quality picture that could only be viewed on a single PC. The above-described embodiment of the present invention offers the capability of full broadcast quality video viewed on a regular DVR and TV display.

Since the content is still protected by the same method as the broadcast signal (Conditional Access), the above-described embodiment of the present invention offers the same content security as the original broadcast.

Besides offering content for download that was previously broadcast, content can also be supplied from third parties who need not necessarily be established broadcasters (or necessarily hold a broadcasting licence).

The content can be selected and ordered for download using the existing user interfaces offered by the DVR, for example in one or more of the following three ways: 1. The Electronic Program Guide (EPG), which can be used in two ways: (i) with dates and times in the past, instead of just now' and in the future as is usual, for programs that have been previously broadcast ii) by representing content available via the Internet using pseudo' channels and times In either case, the user would typically only be able to opt to record' the program displayed in the EPG (live broadcast programs also offer a switch to now' option for programs currently being broadcast). Instead of setting a timer for the recording, the DVR would use the return channel to initiate the download process. 2. The Interactive service (commonly available by pressing the Red

button) which can run a dedicated application on the DVR to allow the user to browse the available content and make a selection.

3. The same Interactive service but instead of running a dedicated application, a micro-browser' could be used to access web sites on the Internet. The micro-browser is a web browser-like application which communicates through a return channel (typically a PSTN modem built into the DVR) to an portal machine at the broadcaster's head end, which in turn routes the data traffic between the micro-browser and the web site.

The result in all three cases is a request being made via the return channel for a piece of content to be downloaded. The content server then communicates with the external hard drive via the Internet in order to instruct it to start downloading the content. Once the content has been downloaded it will appear in the DVR's list of recordings available for playback, as if the content had been recorded from the broadcast stream.

An apparatus and method embodying the present invention could be used anywhere where there is an eSATA port available for storage expansion. While the above-described embodiments are described as using P2P client software to communicate over the network interface, in principle this could be any software application that could operate over a network such as a TCP/IP network, for example FTP (File Transfer Protocol). It would be able to provide network connectivity for any storage device having an eSATA port, allowing other devices on the network to read/write the storage medium.

An embodiment of the present invention can be used to enable the sharing of content by moving the external drive between DVRs. In practice, however, it is often a legal requirement of the contract between the broadcaster and the content provider that content should be playable only on one DYR. This restriction is also applied to the Broadband TV services (such as Sky By Broadband and BBC iMP), where the content may only be played on the single PC which acquired the content. This restriction is applied by the DRM systems used (for example, Windows Media' DRM is used in the systems quoted), where the same encrypted content is delivered to all end users, but where the licence file to play the content is generated on an individual basis. The licence to play the content will only work on the PC for which is was issued/generated, making them non-transferable.

However, broadcast content is protected by Conditional Access, which does not use the concept of a licence file. Instead, CA systems use a smart card. Smart cards are registered with the broadcaster and locked to an individual DVR, meaning that they do not work in any other device and so are not transferable. In principle, it should not matter to the broadcaster if content can be transported between DVRs via an external drive, as each device on which it is used must have a valid smart card. However, as mentioned, this capability may be restricted by the broadcaster for other legal or contractual reasons.

The term "hard drive" used above is not intended to imply any limitation to the type of recording medium that is used; in particular the hard drive need not necessary comprise a magnetic recording medium, but may do. Any suitable storage device can be used, in any format (for example from USB memory tokens to RAID arrays of multiple drives).

It will also be appreciated that operation of one or more of the above-described components can be controlled by a program operating on the device or apparatus. Such an operating program can be stored on a computer-readable medium, or could, for example, be embodied in a signal such as a downloadable data signal provided from an Internet website. The operating program could be embodied in the firmware of the device or apparatus. The appended claims are to be interpreted as covering an operating program by itself, or as a record on a carrier, or as a signal, or in any other form.

Claims

CLAIMS: 1. A method of providing media content to a digital video

recorder having an internal storage device for recording media content, for example broadcasted media content, in a predetermined format for subsequent selection and viewing as recorded content, and also having an interface for connecting to an external storage device, the method comprising storing or enabling the storing of additional media content on the external storage device in the predetermined format, the additional content being received at the external storage device over a network connection that bypasses the digital video recorder, such that when the external storage device is connected operatively to the digital video recorder via the interface, the additional content is visible to the digital video recorder and available for selection and viewing like other recorded content stored on the internal storage device.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein enabling the storing of the additional content on the external storage device comprises sending or enabling the sending of the additional content to the external storage device over the network connection.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein enabling the sending of the additional content to the external storage device comprises canying out at least part of an ordering transaction to provide the additional content to the external storage device over the network connection.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, comprising sending the additional content to the external storage device following a request for the additional content from the digital video recorder.

5. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising requesting the additional content using an interactive service provided by the digital video recorder.

6. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising sending a request for the additional content from the digital video recorder to an ordering server.

7. A method as claimed in claim 6, comprising sending the request for the additional content from the digital video recorder to the ordering server via a back channel associated with the digital video recorder.

8. A method as claimed in claim 6 or 7, comprising verifying details of the requester of the additional content at the ordering server before allowing the additional content to be provided.

9. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein information concerning media content available for download to the external storage device is stored in a media content information server.

10. A method as claimed in claim 9, comprising providing information concerning the requested additional content to the media content information server.

11. A method as claimed in claim 10, when dependent on claim 6, comprising providing the information concerning the requested additional content from the ordering server to the media content information server.

12. A method as claimed in claim 9, 10 or 11, comprising sending a query from the external storage device to the media content information server to determine if there is additional content to be provided to the external storage device.

13. A method as claimed in claim 12, comprising sending such a query at predetermined intervals.

14. A method as claimed in any one of claims 9 to 13, comprising sending a message from the media content information server to the external storage device in response to additional content becoming available for providing to the external storage device, the message indicating this availability.

15. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising establishing the network connection between the external storage device and at least one server able to provide the additional content, and receiving the additional content at the external storage device over the network connection.

16. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the network connection is a peer to peer connection.

17. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the network connection is provided over the Internet.

18. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the digital video recorder provides an interface for selecting recorded content on the internal storage device for viewing, and comprising using the same interface for selecting additional content stored on the external storage device.

19. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising billing an account associated with the requester of the additional content when at least part of the additional content is played using the digital video recorder.

20. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the predetermined format comprises a predetermined encoding and/or protection mechanism.

21. A method as claimed in any preceding claim, comprising receiving the additional content at the external storage device over the network connection.

22. A method of providing media content substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

23. A program for controlling an apparatus to perform a method as claimed in any preceding claim.

24. A program as claimed in claim 23, carried on a carrier medium.

25. A program as claimed in claim 24, wherein the carrier medium is a storage medium.

26. A program as claimed in claim 23, 24 or 25, embodied in firmware.

27. A program as claimed in claim 24, wherein the carrier medium is a transmission medium.

28. An apparatus programmed by a program as claimed in any one of claims 23 to 26.

29. A storage medium containing a program as claimed in any one of claims 23 to 26.

30. An apparatus for providing media content to a digital video recorder having an internal storage device for recording media content, for example broadcasted media content, in a predetermined format for subsequent selection and viewing as recorded content, and also having an interface for connecting to an external storage device, the apparatus comprising means for storing or enabling the storing of additional media content on the external storage device in the predetermined format, the additional content being received at the external storage device over a network connection that bypasses the digital video recorder, such that when the external storage device is connected operatively to the digital video recorder via the interface, the additional content is visible to the digital video recorder and available for selection and viewing like other recorded content stored on the internal storage device.

31. An apparatus as claimed in claim 30, comprising thc external storage device.

32. An apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.