Multi-media services system

摘要

A video-on-demand system comprises at least one server and a plurality of subscriber units connected to the server by way of a network. Each server comprises data storage for storing video data for a plurality of films, and a video player process for responding to requests from subscribers by dispatching sequences of video data from the data storage means over the network to the subscribers. The data storage stores video data for each film in separate normal, fast forward and fast reverse versions, and the video player means selects one of the separate versions in response to commands from the subscriber. The use of separate fast forward and fast reverse versions of the film avoids the need for the extra processing that would be required to play back the normal version in a fast forward or fast reverse mode. <IMAGE>