Patent ID: 8776137

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving at a digital video recorder located at a user premises, a user input, the user input identifying a video signal, the video signal comprising a program to be recorded; recording at the digital video recorder the video signal to a first video data file based on the user input; sending from the digital video recorder an instruction to a backup server responsive to the user input to cause the backup server to record the video signal to a second video data file, the backup server being remote from the digital video recorder, wherein the instruction comprises a recording schedule and subscriber information, wherein the first video data file and the second video data file each include the program in its entirety, wherein the backup server validates a recovery request for the second video data file according to the subscriber information, wherein the sending of the instruction causes the backup server to store metadata that includes the subscriber information and that includes access control functions associated with the second video data file, wherein a plurality of subscribers other than the user are provided access to the second video data file in accordance with the access control functions, and wherein a subscriber other than the user is provided access to the second video data file based on whether the subscriber previously recorded the program; detecting, by the digital video recorder, a corrupted portion of the first video data file stored at the digital video recorder; sending, by the digital video recorder, a recovery query to the backup server to obtain a portion of the second video data file corresponding to the corrupted portion; and accessing, by the digital video recorder, the second video data file using the metadata responsive to the detecting, wherein the accessing is limited to the portion without accessing a remainder of the second video data file.