Patent ID: 6865339

Claim:
A method of recording, with a channel change function, and playing back, sessions from multiple digitally encoded, interframe compressed streams of audiovideo data, comprising the steps of: (a) formatting each digitally encoded, interframe compressed stream of audiovideo data for recording; (b) recording each formatted stream on a recording medium as one or more sessions while permitting changes between different formatted streams, wherein the end of each session defines a channel change between different formatted streams; (c) recording on the recording medium one or more splice point indicators providing information sufficient to determine the end of each session; (d) reading each session from the recording medium; (e) applying each session to a synchronizable decoding device; (f) detecting one or more splice point indicators; (g) determining the end of a session based on the information provided by the detected splice point indicators; and (h) re-synchronizing the decoding device to a reference clock value corresponding to a next session in response to detection of each session end.