RECORDING AND PLAYBACK APPARATUS AND SPECIAL PLAYBACK METHOD

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for appropriately operating a viewing restriction function even when performing special playback of viewing-restricted contents in a recording and playback apparatus.SOLUTION: When recording contents in a built-in recorder 34, a special playback restriction-processing unit 42 of a viewing restriction controller 40 extracts rating from the contents to be recorded, and records the extracted rating and a recording time (date and time) as a special playback table in association with each other. When performing special playback, the special playback restriction-processing unit 42 of the viewing restriction controller 40 refers to the special playback table to determine whether the special playback can be displayed or not.