Recently Microsoft has been talking a lot about how they intend to use the Xbox platform to revolutionize TV entertainment, and with their new streaming and cable interface offerings they have been doing just that.

Microsoft has been rumored as far back as 2007 to have been looking at the possibility of crossing the Xbox platform with digital video recording (DVR) functionality. This past December 27, 2011, Microsoft was granted Patent #8,083,593.  The Patent describes a digital video recorder (DVR) application that runs alongside a television client that allows for recording of media content on the gaming console itself.

This could offer some insight into where Microsoft will be headed in the future with the next generation of Xbox. The company has already worked with companies such as Sky and AT&T Uverse, for example, which have clients on the Xbox that turn the Xbox into a set top box-like access point for these cable services. Naturally, offering DVR functionality would be the next step to integrate into the Xbox platform.

The current Xbox 360, however, presents a problem when thinking about adding DVR functionality; and that is none other than the fact that Microsoft does not offer hard drives large enough for the serious demands of typical DVR users. Currently, they offer 320GB hard drives for the slim consoles, but this would still be on the small side for most DVR users when you consider the amount of storage on the hard drive that users already use for Xbox data. 500GB would be about the minimum size if you look at today’s standard DVRs.

We suspect that it could be that Microsoft might be talking about offering this functionality in the future on the next Xbox; but offering it on the current platform would prove difficult, at best.