With thousands of TV shows and video downloads coming through TiVo’s recently launched TiVoCast service jointly with Amazon Unbox, it makes it harder for users to search with just keywords, says TiVo. On Tuesday, the DVR maker introduced a new feature called “Universal Swivel Search”. The new search feature provides broadband-connected TiVo subscribers the ability to search quickly through thousands of programming without making a sweat.

Rather than starting with a title or keyword, the Universal Swivel Search allows subscribers to search by starting with a program currently being viewed. From there, using the show description text elements, users can dig for more information about it, and its linked shows, or even actors by simply clicking a button.

The Universal Swivel Search also allows viewers to seamlessly link from descriptions of one program to all others that have common elements, including program name, actors, or suggestions based on other viewers’ feedback.

Moreover, users can also find programs related to a specific subject with ‘tags,’ which are topic-related terms that might not be included in the program’s title or episode description, but fall under an over-arching subject of interest.

For example, a user would start with a television show or movie that they enjoy, for instance Seinfeld. Seinfeld features Julia Louis-Dreyfus. From the cast list and with the click of a button, the viewer can ‘swivel’ and see other programs that the actor appears in, for instance, The New Adventures of Old Christine, including both broadcast lineup and available for download. Furthermore, from that cast list a user can select Clark Greg and discover that he was also in The West Wing.

While the Universal Swivel Search ability is not limited to actors, topic tags, or even lists of similar programs, it also enables users to jump from a show to an actor, to a second actor, then to another show, and so on.