METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENHANCED PLAYBACK OF CONTENT WHILE SWITCHING AMONG CHANNELS OF BROADCAST OR STREAMED CONTENT WHILE BEING RECEIVED (Tune Start)

A system for enhanced playback of content, the system comprising:

• a broadcast device;
• and
• a computing device configured to:
• receive, from the broadcast device, a plurality of program channels from at least one content stream;
• designate one or more of the plurality of program channels as designated channels;
• store at least a currently received program and one or more older programs associated with each of the designated channels in a buffer;
• and
• in response to receiving a command to initiate a scan function, scanning at least a subset of the plurality of program channels by:
• playing a portion of an oldest program in each of the designated channels from a playback point that corresponds to a start of the oldest program;
• and
• successively playing a portion of a next oldest program in each of the designated channels until at least a portion of the currently received program in each of the designated channels is played.

A system for enhanced playback of content, the system comprising:

• a broadcast device;
• and
• a computing device configured to:
• receive, from a broadcast device, a plurality of program channels from at least one content stream;
• designate one or more of the plurality of program channels as designated channels;
• store at least an oldest program and a next oldest program, associated with each of the designated channels, in a buffer;
• receive a user input to initiate a scan function;
• and
• in response to the user input, scanning at least a subset of the designated channels by successively playing a selected amount of content for each designated channel in the subset, wherein the successively playing the selected amount of the content includes playing a portion of an oldest program in each of the designated channels and playing a portion of a next oldest program in each of the designated channels until at least a portion of a newest buffered program in each of the designated channels is played.