1. A digital video recorder, comprising: at least one memory device; at least one communication access point for receiving at least one program play; an open application programming interface associated with said at least one memory device for programming a plurality of applications to operate on metatags associated with at least one of visual and audio indicia contained in the at least one program play, wherein each of the plurality of applications exposes and provides interactivity of a viewer directly with a display of the at least one program play through interaction with external information associated with the metatags, and wherein said external information is one of: an externally accessible media having an identified characteristic in common with the program play; an advertisement of goods appearing in the program play; a purchasing point of goods appearing in the program play; and information of items appearing in the program play; and wherein the at least one of visual and audio indicia associated with metatags comprises one of: a word spoken in the program play; and a sound made in the program play.