Systems and methods for cost effectively making video content available to users are disclosed. In particular, a prescient abundant viewer (PAW) is described. A PAW includes a content receiver, a media vault encoder, a media vault interface, a media vault decoder, a digital rights management module and an access rights module. A PAW stores and accesses content on a media vault. A PAW includes a smart card reader to support a plethora of authentication, billing, and access privilege scenarios. In another embodiment, a PAW includes a media vault interface and a media vault decoder. According to an embodiment of the invention, a media vault includes a high capacity IDE drive with special encoding to support sophisticated digital rights management and access rights management. Methods are provided for the storing, distribution and viewing of digital content stored on a media vault.