Abstract: A media streamer (10) includes at least one storage node (16, 17) comprising mass storage for storing a digital representation of at least one video presentation; and a plurality of communication nodes (14) each having at least one input port that is coupled to an output of the at least one storage node for receiving a digital representation of a video presentation therefrom. Each of the plurality of communication nodes further includes a plurality of output ports, individual ones of the plurality of output ports being operable for transmitting a digital representation as a data stream to a consumer of the digital representation. Individual ones of the output ports also have an associated data buffer for buffering a portion of a digital representation prior to a transmission of the digital representation.

Abstract: A data storage system includes a mass storage unit storing a data entity, such as a digital representation of a video presentation, that is partitioned into a plurality N of temporally-ordered segments. A data buffer is bidirectionally coupled to the mass storage unit for storing up to M of the temporally-ordered segments, wherein M is less than N. The data buffer has an output for outputting stored ones of the temporally-ordered segments. The data storage system further includes a data buffer manager for scheduling transfers of individual ones of the temporally-ordered segments between the mass storage unit and the data buffer. The data buffer manager schedules the transfers in accordance with at least a predicted time that an individual one of the temporally-ordered segments will be required to be output from the data buffer.