A collaborative cloud DVR
system (ccDVR), which includes a
cloud storage system and a plurality of participating DVR
client devices, acts collaboratively as a single communal entity in which
community members authorize each other to upload, remotely store and download licensed content for time shifted viewing, in a manner which rigorously protects legal rights of the content owners while overcoming the potential physical obstacles of limited bandwidth, power failures, incomplete uploads / downloads of content, limited
cloud storage capacity, etc. The collaborative cloud DVR
community collaboratively shares bandwidth and
cloud storage capacity among DVR viewer / users with each owner / user of a DVR
client device authorizing his or her individual DVR
client device to be utilized by a
cloud storage system server and any other owner / user of a DVR client device in the respective service
community, and receiving similar permission in return to promote the convenience of cloud storage in an authorized manner.