Abstract: The present invention provides a technique by which content can be prepared for VOD that is quicker than existing techniques. For example, a method of preparing content for distribution comprises recording a video, audio, or video and audio program stream in a plurality of chunks, each chunk including a discrete portion of the recorded program stream, processing the program stream so as to mark locations, in parallel, encoding each recorded chunk to a plurality of output formats, wherein the encoding is started after at least one chunk is recorded but before all chunks of the program are recorded, for each of the plurality of output formats, in parallel, modifying the recorded and encoded chunks which correspond to locations that have been marked in the program stream and re-encoding the modified chunks; and for each of the plurality of output formats, concatenating the encoded and re-encoded chunks to form an output program in each of the plurality of output formats.