Patent ID: 7305694

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling a media receiver having a plurality of receiver connections, the apparatus comprising: a media player interface comprising a plurality of output connections for outputting media signals to a corresponding receiver connection of the plurality of receiver connections; a user interface for querying a user to associate each encoding format of a plurality of encoding formats with a receiver connection of the plurality of receiver connections; a media database comprising (i) media unit data that identifies an encoding format of each playable piece of media of a plurality of playable pieces of media, and (ii) receiver connection data that identifies the receiver connection associated with each of the encoding formats; and a processor for interfacing to a play selection function that (i) determines from the media unit data an encoding format of a selected playable piece of media, and (ii) determines from the receiver connection data a receiver connection associated with the encoding format of the selected media, wherein the processor (i) sends to the media receiver a control signal instructing the media receiver to use the receiver connection associated with the encoding format of the selected media for receiving a media signal of the selected media, and (ii) outputs the media signal of the selected media to the receiver connection associated with the encoding format of the selected media.