Filtering by broadcast or recording quality within an electronic program guide

1. A method comprising:

providing a first sequence of cards graphically representing media programs, at least one card being associated with a media format indicator;

providing a second sequence of cards graphically representing media format filters;

displaying at least a subset of the second sequence of cards along a first axis of the user interface intersecting a focus area;

allowing a user to scroll a particular card from the second sequence of cards along the first axis into the focus area;

filtering the first sequence of cards to produce a third sequence of cards in response to the particular card from the second sequence of cards being scrolled into the focus area and without an additional selection action by the user, the third sequence of cards representing those media programs having at least a specified media format determined by the media format indicator of the particular card within the focus area; and

displaying at least a subset of the third sequence of cards along a second axis of the user interface intersecting the focus area, the second axis being perpendicular to the first axis, wherein the at least a subset of the third sequence of cards is automatically displayed in response to the particular card being scrolled into the focus area.

2. A method comprising:

associating one or more media programs with respective media format indicators;

providing one or more media format filters for identifying those media programs having associated media format indicators specifying at least a particular media format;

displaying one or more graphical representations of the one or more media format filters along a horizontal axis of a user interface, the horizontal axis passing through a focus area;

allowing a user to select a media format filter by scrolling the one or more graphical representations along the horizontal axis to move a particular graphical representation of a media format filter into the focus area;

applying the selected media format filter to identify the one or more media programs having the media format indicator associated with the selected media format filter; and

displaying one or more graphical representations of the one or more identified media programs along a vertical axis of a user interface, the vertical axis intersecting the horizontal axis within the focus area, wherein the one or more graphical representations of the one or more identified media programs are automatically displayed in response to the graphical representation of the selected media filter being scrolled into the focus area without a separate selection action by the user.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the media format indicator comprises an HDTV indicator specifying an HDTV video format of at least 720p, such that one or more identified media programs graphically represented in the second axis have an HDTV video format of at least 720p.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the video format indicator comprises an HDTV indicator specifying an HDTV video format of at least 1080i, such that one or more identified media programs graphically represented in the second axis have an HDTV video format of at least 1080i.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the video format indicator comprises a wide-screen indicator specifying an aspect ratio of at least 16:9, such that one or more identified media programs graphically represented in the second axis have an aspect ratio of at least 16:9.