Patent ID: 8836857

Claim:
A device for use with an input signal and a selecting signal, the input signal having a first format, the selecting signal having a first state and a second state, said device comprising: a receiving portion operable to receive the input signal and output a received signal; a transcoder portion arranged to receive the selecting signal provided by at least one of a content provider and a service provider, wherein said transcoder portion comprises a selector, a first transcoder and a second transcoder, wherein said selector is arranged to receive the selecting signal and is operable to output a signal to the first transcoder when the selecting signal is in the first state and to output the signal to the second transcoder when the selecting signal is in the second state, wherein the first transcoder is operable to transcode the signal to output a first transcoded signal, and wherein the second transcoder is operable to transcode the signal to output a second transcoded signal; and a transmitter portion operable to output a first transmission signal based on the first transcoded signal when the selecting signal is in the first state and to output a second transmission signal based on the second transcoded signal when the selecting signal is in the second state, the transcoder portion being programmable to operate according to a first configuration and a second configuration, wherein in the first configuration, the first transcoded signal has a first format type and the second transcoded signal has a second format type different from the first format type, and in the first configuration the transmitter portion outputs the first transmission signal for receipt by a first end user display device located in a first geographical region and outputs the second transmission signal for receipt by a second end user display device located in a second geographical region, the first format type being based on the first geographical region and the second format type being based on the second geographical region, the first geographical region being different from the second geographical region, wherein in the second configuration, the first and second transcoded signals have the same format type and contain the same content with different content resolutions, the transcoder portion synchronizing the output of the first and second transcoded signals in the second configuration such that the first and second transcoded signals are receivable at a receiving device in synchronization, wherein each of the first and second transcoders are reprogrammable to transcode the signal from the selector into a format type different from a prior transcoded format type.