Reducing digital video recorder storage through reduced encoding of certain program portions

A process executable by a computing device to store a recorded program on a storage medium, the process comprising:

• determining a portion of the recorded program that is most likely to be viewed by a viewer and at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by the viewer;
• encoding a plurality of encoded copies of the recorded program;
• and
• storing the plurality of encoded copies of the recorded program on the storage medium for subsequent retrieval, wherein a first subset of the plurality of encoded copies stored on the storage medium comprises the entire recorded program, and wherein a second subset of the plurality of encoded copies stored on the storage medium comprises only the portion of the program that is most likely to be viewed by a viewer and omits the at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by a viewer, wherein the determining occurs prior to the encoding, and wherein the encoding comprises encoding only the portion of the program that is most likely to be viewed by a viewer without encoding the at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by a viewer for the second subset of the plurality of encoded copies.

A computing device comprising a processor, a data storage and an interface to a network, wherein the processor executes an automated process to deliver an adaptive media stream via the network representing a recorded program that is stored on the storage device, the automated process comprising:

• determining a portion of the recorded program that is most likely to be viewed by a viewer and at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by the viewer;
• encoding a plurality of encoded copies of the recorded program;
• and
• storing the plurality of encoded copies of the recorded program on the storage medium for subsequent retrieval and delivery via the network, wherein a first subset of the plurality of encoded copies stored on the storage medium comprises the entire recorded program, and wherein a second subset of the plurality of encoded copies stored on the storage medium comprises only the portion of the program that is determined to be most likely to be viewed by a viewer and omits the at least one portion of the program that is determined to be less likely to be viewed by a viewer, wherein the entire recorded program for each of the plurality of encoded copies is cached in a first data storage separate from the storage device prior to the storing, and wherein the at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by a viewer for the second subset of the encoded copies is deleted from the first data storage without being copied the storage device.

A computing device comprising a processor, a data storage and an interface to a network, wherein the processor executes an automated process to deliver an adaptive media stream via the network representing a recorded program that is stored on the storage device, the automated process comprising:

• determining a portion of the recorded program that is most likely to be viewed by a viewer and at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by the viewer;
• encoding a plurality of encoded copies of the recorded program;
• and
• storing the plurality of encoded copies of the recorded program on the storage medium for subsequent retrieval and delivery via the network, wherein a first subset of the plurality of encoded copies stored on the storage medium comprises the entire recorded program, and wherein a second subset of the plurality of encoded copies stored on the storage medium comprises only the portion of the program that is determined to be most likely to be viewed by a viewer and omits the at least one portion of the program that is determined to be less likely to be viewed by a viewer, wherein the determining occurs prior to the encoding, and wherein the encoding comprises encoding only the portion of the program that is most likely to be viewed by a viewer without encoding the at least one portion of the program that is less likely to be viewed by a viewer for the second subset of the plurality of encoded copies.