JPH11339392A - Recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a recording device in which a compression rate of a signal when an input signal before start of a recording means is accumulated in a buffer memory is varied, limited capacity of a buffer memory is effectively used, and start of recording is quickened. SOLUTION: A system control means 160 gives a required picture compression rate to a picture compression means 100 through a picture compression rate control means 110, also gives a voice compression rate to a voice compression means 101 through a voice compression rate control means 111, based on residual capacity of a buffer memory 130 and a time required until start of recording of a recording means 150, a picture signal S1 and a voice signal S2 are compressed respectively, processing such as making bit stream and the like is performed by a picture voice signal processing means 120, and the signal is accumulated in a buffer memory 130. When a recording means 150 is made able to start recording, a system control means 160 operates a recording system signal processing means 140 and the recording means 150 to start recording from the buffer memory 130, and each compression rate is reduced to a normal value simultaneously.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for compressing an input signal and recording the compressed signal on a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some recording apparatuses of this type compress and record an input signal on a large-capacity optical disk such as a magneto-optical disk or a phase-change optical disk. As shown in the block diagram of FIG.
00, voice compression means 201, video / audio signal processing means 2
20, buffer memory 230, recording system signal processing means 24
0, comprising a recording means 250 and a system control means 260, compressing the image and audio data S1, S2, temporarily storing them in a buffer memory 230, and converting them into signals suitable for recording by a recording system signal processing means 240. After the conversion, the data is recorded on the disk-shaped recording medium of the recording means 250.

The image compression means 200 is, for example, an MPEG
2 (Moving Picture Image Coding Expert Group Phase
The image encoding system 2) is provided with the image encoding method, and compresses the input image signal S1 while controlling the image generation code amount to be constant with time at a predetermined image compression ratio. The audio compression means 201 is provided with, for example, an MPEG2 audio encoding system, and performs a compression process on the input audio signal S2 while controlling the amount of generated audio code at a predetermined audio compression rate to be constant over time. I do.

The video / audio system signal processing means 220 performs processing such as adding a packet signal to output signals of the video compression means 200 and the voice compression means 201, performs packet processing on the data, and converts the data into stream data while synchronizing. And performs predetermined video and audio system signal processing. The buffer memory 230 writes and temporarily holds the output of the image / audio-system signal processing means 220 at a fixed time interval, and reads the output at an arbitrary timing within the predetermined time interval. Specifically, there is a read address pointer after the write address pointer, and writes the output of the audio / video signal processing means 220 at fixed time intervals while synchronizing with the write address pointer, and synchronizes with the read address pointer. While reading at an arbitrary timing within a predetermined time interval.

The recording system signal processing means 240 converts the stream signal read from the buffer memory 230 at an arbitrary timing within a predetermined time interval into CIRC, ACIRC, R
An encoding process such as adding an error qualitative code to each predetermined data such as S-PC is performed, and a modulation such as EFM or (1.7) RLL is performed on this. Recording means 250
Is provided with, for example, a recording head and a recording medium. The output read from the buffer memory 230 under the control of the system control unit 260 described below is processed by the recording signal processing unit 240 as described above. Record on a recording medium. The system control means 260 monitors the write address pointer and the read address pointer of the buffer memory 230 so as to keep a certain range of phase difference. If the phase difference becomes small, the remaining capacity becomes large. The output from the memory 230 to the recording system signal processing means 240 is stopped, and the recording to the recording means 250 is temporarily stopped to accumulate data. If the phase difference becomes large, the remaining capacity becomes small. The control unit 230 controls the recording unit 250 via the recording system signal processing unit 240 to start recording.

[0006]

In the above-described conventional recording apparatus, the amount of image generation code and the amount of audio generation code generated by the image compression means 200 and the audio compression means 201 are always constant over time. However, when the recording device is activated, the recording device 250 performs a drive activation process,
The image signal S1 and the audio signal S2 are compressed and stored in the buffer memory 230.
After the recording signal processing is performed at 0, recording is performed on the recording medium of the recording means 250. At this time, the recording start time is delayed by the start processing time, and the signal during this time cannot be recorded.

As a countermeasure against this time delay, data corresponding to the time of the start-up process can be stored in the buffer memory 230 and then recorded on the recording medium. Huge, recording means 2
If the capacity of the buffer memory 230 exceeds the capacity of the buffer memory 230 by the start of the recording of 40, the recording data is overwritten or the input of the recording data is interrupted, and the data to be recorded on the recording medium becomes discontinuous recording data. The device causes a system failure. Buffer memory 2 for avoiding such a situation
Increasing the capacity of 30 is costly and uneconomical.

In order to cope with such a purpose, it is difficult to change the rotation speed of the disk or to change the track width by changing the moving width of the magnetic head or the optical head. It is difficult to deal with. The required storage capacity of the buffer memory 230 also becomes very large. According to the present invention, when the input signal until the rising of the recording means is stored in the buffer memory at the time of startup, the compression rate of the signal to be recorded is changed so as to be higher than usual, thereby effectively using the limited capacity of the buffer memory. It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording apparatus capable of recording an input signal before recording can be started on a recording medium without causing discontinuous recording.

[0009]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a recording apparatus which compresses an input signal by a compression unit and records the input signal through a buffer memory. In a recording apparatus for recording on a medium, control means for changing a compression ratio when accumulating a signal input in a buffer memory until the recording on the recording medium can be started when the apparatus is started is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a signal compression means for compressing an input signal to control a code amount, a buffer memory for accumulating an output of the signal compression means, and a recording means for recording an output of the buffer memory. And control means for giving a compression ratio to the signal compression means based on the remaining capacity information of the buffer memory and the time until the recording means can start recording, the control means comprising: When accumulating an input signal until the recording unit starts recording by increasing the compression rate of the signal compression unit until the recording unit starts recording based on the information and the time until the recording unit can start recording. In this configuration, a predetermined value of the remaining capacity of the buffer memory is secured.

With this configuration, it is possible to record an input signal before recording can be started on the recording medium when the apparatus is started, for example, after turning on the power, and to start recording using a relatively small capacity buffer memory. Thus, it is possible to realize a recording apparatus in which the remaining capacity of the buffer memory is adjusted without causing the buffer memory to overflow, thereby preventing discontinuous recording.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided an image compression means for compressing an input image signal and controlling an image code amount,
Audio compression means for compressing an input audio signal to control the amount of audio code; buffer memory for storing the output of the image compression means and the output of the audio compression means; recording means for recording the output of the buffer memory; Control means for determining a compression ratio of the image compression means and the audio compression means based on the remaining capacity information and the time until recording by the recording means can be started. Occasionally, the compression ratio of the image compression unit and the audio compression unit before the start of the recording operation of the recording unit is increased based on the remaining capacity information of the buffer memory and the time until the recording unit can start recording, thereby increasing the compression ratio of the recording unit. The configuration is such that a predetermined value of the remaining capacity of the buffer memory is secured when inputting image and audio input signals until the start of recording.

With such a configuration, it is possible to record the image and audio input signals before the recording means can start recording after the apparatus is started, for example, when the power is turned on, and the data is stored in the buffer memory having a relatively small capacity. It is possible to realize a recording apparatus that adjusts the remaining capacity of the buffer memory without causing overflow of the buffer memory before the start of recording even for a large amount of image signal, thereby preventing discontinuous recording.

[0014] Next, a fourth aspect of the present invention is directed to the first aspect.
In the configurations of (1) to (3), the compression ratio is changed almost continuously at the time of changing the compression ratio. With this configuration, the compression ratio is changed by gradually returning from the high compression ratio to the normal low compression ratio. Natural recording that you do not notice becomes possible. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the configuration of the first to fourth aspects, display means for displaying at least one of the compression rate of the image compression means and the compression rate of the audio compression means is provided. The user can be notified of the change state of the compression ratio.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a recording apparatus according to the present invention will be described based on specific embodiments. Here, a case where an image and an audio signal are compressed and recorded on an optical disk will be described as an example. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the recording apparatus of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a timing chart at the time of starting the recording apparatus, and FIG. 3 is a view showing a state of accumulation in a buffer memory. As shown in FIG. 1, the recording apparatus according to the present embodiment includes an image compression unit 100 for inputting an image signal S1, an audio compression unit 101 for inputting an audio signal S2, and an image compression unit 1
00 and an audio / video signal processing means 120 for inputting respective outputs of the audio compression means 101; a buffer memory 130 for inputting the output of the audio / video signal processing means 120;
A recording signal processing means 140 for processing the output of the buffer memory 130 into a format for recording, and a recording means 150 for inputting the output of the recording signal processing means 140
System control means 160 for obtaining information of buffer memory 130 and recording means 150;
An image compression ratio control unit 110 and a system control unit 160 which are controlled by the image compression unit 100 to control the image compression unit 100
And a display unit 170 for inputting information of the image compression ratio control unit 110 and the audio compression ratio control unit 111. S
1 and S2 are compressed and recorded on a disk-shaped recording medium.

The image compression means 100 is, for example, an MPEG
2 image encoding system, and an image signal S1
Is input, and the input image signal S1 is compressed at the image compression ratio selected by the image compression ratio control means 110. The combination of the compression ratios is, for example, when the recording unit 140 has a recording capability at a bit rate of 4 Mbps or more, for example, 3 to 6 Mbps.
ps variable rate, 4 Mbps fixed rate (or 2
A variable rate of ４4 Mbps), a fixed rate of 2 Mbps (or a variable rate of 1 to 3 Mbps), or the like is prepared in advance and can be selected from these. In the case of a fixed bit rate, compression is performed while controlling the amount of generated image code to be constant over time.

The audio compression means 101 is, for example, an MPEG
2 audio (ISO / IEC 13813-8) audio encoding system. The audio signal S2 is inputted, and the audio generation code amount is temporally determined by the audio compression ratio selected by the audio compression ratio control unit 111. The input audio signal S2 is compressed while being controlled so as to be constant. The image / audio-system signal processing unit 120 receives the output signals of the image compression unit 100 and the audio compression unit 101, adds a packet signal thereto, performs packet processing on the data, and converts the data into stream data while maintaining synchronization. A predetermined image / audio signal processing such as
Output to 0.

The buffer memory 130 writes and temporarily holds the compressed video / audio signal output from the video / audio signal processing means 120 at a fixed time interval, and reads and records it at an arbitrary timing within the predetermined time interval. Output to the system signal processing means 140. The buffer memory 130
When the remaining capacity is equal to or less than the predetermined capacity, the information of “no remaining capacity” is given as the remaining capacity information.
Output to 60.

The recording system signal processing means 140 converts the stream signal read from the buffer memory 130 at an arbitrary timing within a predetermined time interval into CIRC, ACIRC, R
An encoding process such as addition of an error correction code is performed for each predetermined data such as S-PC, and modulation such as EFM or (1.7) RLL is performed on the data. Recording means 150
Is provided with, for example, a recording head and a disk as a recording medium, and records an output read from the buffer memory 130 and processed by the recording-system signal processing unit 140 on the recording medium.

The system control means 160 includes the recording means 15
0 is recordable or not, and the buffer memory 13
Based on the remaining capacity information obtained from 0, the necessary compression rate is given to the image compression rate control means 110 and the audio compression rate control means 111 from the predetermined image compression rate and audio compression rate. To control the operation of the recording system signal processing means 140 and the start of recording to the recording means 150.

The image compression ratio control means 110 outputs a required image compression rate to the image compression means 100 and outputs this image compression rate information to the display means 170 under the control of the system control means 160. Voice compression ratio control means 11
1 outputs the necessary audio compression rate to the audio compression means 101 under the control of the system control means 160, and also outputs this audio compression rate information to the display means 170.
The display unit 170 displays both or at least one of the image compression ratio and the audio compression ratio based on the image compression ratio information and the audio compression ratio information.

The operation of the recording apparatus configured as described above immediately after the power is turned on will be described below. FIG.
When the power of the recording apparatus is turned on at time t0 in (a), the power is immediately turned on. As shown in FIG. 2B, when an image signal S1 is to be obtained from, for example, a CCD or the like, an image signal can be obtained at time t1 after the activation and adjustment progress is obtained. As shown in FIG. 2C, the recording means 150 is activated, adjusted, and TOC (Taqble of Co.).
It is after time t2 that the reading and the access to the predetermined position of the recording medium are completed and the recording becomes possible. Therefore, the image signal is stored in the buffer memory 130 from time t1 to time t2 when the image signal can be output, and is read out from time t2 and output to the recording signal processing means 140 to add an error correction code. After performing the processing and the modulation processing, the image data is recorded on the recording medium by the recording means 150. However, since the image signal has a very large data amount, the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 130 immediately falls below a predetermined capacity.

Therefore, in the present embodiment, during the period from time t1 to t2, the compression ratio is set higher than usual as shown in FIG. In the rising period of the apparatus, data is stored in the buffer memory 130 during the period from time t1 to t2 as shown in FIG. 2 (e), and after time t2, the data is read out together with the storage and output to the recording-system signal processing means 140. The above processing is performed, and the recording unit 150
By performing recording on the recording medium, recording can be reliably performed from the signal at time t1.

Note that the compressed video and audio data recorded on the recording medium is also recorded with the compression rate at the time of recording. When the recording medium is reproduced, the compressed video and audio data is decompressed based on the compression rate and the video and audio data is decompressed. Normally extended and reproduced. FIG.
This will be described in further detail with reference to FIG. The power is turned on at time t0, and the system is started at time t01. However, the image signal S1 has not been input yet, and the buffer memory 13
It cannot be stored in 0. At time t1, the image signal S1
And the audio signal S2 are input, and data can be stored in the buffer memory 130. In the case of the audio signal S2, the accumulation can be started earlier than in the case of the image signal S1, but from the viewpoint of synchronization with the image signal S1, the accumulation starts after the state where the accumulation of the image signal S1 can be started. The disk recording can be started from time t2, and the system control means 160
Sums the audio signal and the image signal with respect to the total capacity of the buffer memory 130, determines a compression rate at which the accumulation rate in the buffer memory 130 becomes 80% at time t2, for example, and determines the image compression rate control means 110 Then, the respective compression ratios are instructed to the audio compression ratio control unit 111, and the image compression unit 100 and the audio compression unit 101 are controlled based on the compression ratios to obtain compressed image signals and audio signals. The processing means 120 performs a predetermined video / audio signal processing such as adding a packet signal to the packet data, converting the data into packet data, and synchronizing the data into stream data.
And starts accumulation. Image compression ratio control means 11
0, the audio compression ratio control unit 111 notifies the display unit 170 of the value of the compression ratio, and the display unit 170 displays one or both of them. The display may be, for example, a bar graph, a pie chart, or the like in addition to the numbers.

The buffer memory 130 is provided with a write address pointer for writing the output of the video / audio system signal processing means 120 at a fixed time interval and a read address pointer for reading at an arbitrary timing within a predetermined time interval. ing. The write address pointer and the read address pointer circulate so as to point to the last address of the buffer memory 130 and then to the first address of the buffer memory 130. Further, a read address pointer exists after the write address pointer, and the write address pointer and the read address pointer need to keep a certain range of phase difference. That is, when the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 130 is equal to or greater than the predetermined capacity (in this case, the accumulation rate is equal to or less than 20%), the buffer memory 1
Numeral 30 indicates "remaining capacity exists" as remaining capacity information, and if the remaining capacity is less than a predetermined capacity (in this case, the accumulation rate is 80% or more), the buffer memory 130 stores "no remaining capacity" information as remaining capacity information. Is output to the system control means 160.

The slope of the accumulation ratio from time t1 to time t2 in FIG. 3 is determined by the determined compression ratio, for example, 2
This indicates that the data is stored as data of a Mbps bit rate. Since the image compression unit 100 and the audio compression unit 101 compress the image and the audio at a compression ratio higher than the compression ratio for normal recording, the buffer memory 130
The amount of generated code of input data to the input address is smaller than that in the case of compression at the compression ratio for normal recording, and the movement of the write address pointer becomes slow. The display unit 170 displays both or at least one of the image compression ratio and the audio compression ratio based on the image compression ratio information and the audio compression ratio information obtained from the image compression ratio control unit 110 and the audio compression control unit 111.

At time t2, buffer memory 130
When the remaining capacity is equal to or less than the predetermined capacity, in this case, the accumulation rate becomes 80%, the buffer memory 130 outputs information of “no remaining capacity” to the system control means 160 as remaining capacity information. At this point, since the recording means is ready to start recording on the disk which is the recording medium of the recording means, the system control means 160 starts output from the buffer memory 130 to the recording system signal processing means 140, where error correction coding, modulation and the like are performed. And the recording unit 150 starts recording.
At the same time, the system control means 160 does not need to select a high compression rate, so that the image compression rate control means 110 has a rated compression rate that can be recorded in the recording means 150, for example, a bit rate of 4 Mbps for an image signal. And the image is compressed by the image compression means 100 at this rate. The voice compression means 101 is also instructed via the voice compression rate control means 111 to lower the compression rate. Display means 1
Numeral 70 displays both or at least one of the image compression ratio and the audio compression ratio reduced based on the image compression ratio information and the audio compression ratio information obtained from the image compression ratio control unit 110 and the audio compression control unit 111.

Assuming that the image signal S1 and the audio signal S2 are continuously inputted at a low compression rate, the recording means 150 records the image signal S1 and the audio signal S2 at a bit rate higher than the bit rate for storing in the buffer memory 130. Make it work. Then, the accumulation rate in the buffer memory 130 decreases steadily with the time t2 as the peak, and at the time t3, the accumulation rate of the buffer memory 130 becomes a predetermined value or less, for example, 20%. The system control unit 160 that has obtained the above stops the operations of the recording system signal processing unit 140 and the recording unit 150.

Since the data is continuously stored in the buffer memory 130 at a low compression rate, the data is stored at a steep slope from time t3 to t4 when the disk stops, and the storage rate becomes 80% at time t4. Buffer memory 1
Numeral 30 outputs "no remaining capacity" information to the system control means 160 as remaining capacity information, and the system control means 160 instructs the recording signal processing means 140 and the recording means 150 to start operation and starts recording on the disk. The recording is stopped at time t5. At times t6 and t7, the same processing is performed as at times t4 and t5.

As described above, in the present embodiment, the recording means 1
Image compression and audio compression are performed by selecting a high compression rate such that the remaining capacity of the buffer memory 130 remains above a predetermined capacity by the start of recording at 50, and after the recording by the recording means 150 starts, the compression rate is switched to a low compression rate to reduce the image compression. Also, by performing the audio compression, the signal before the recording unit 150 starts recording can also be recorded, and the buffer memory 130 overflows during the activation process of the recording unit 150 using the buffer memory 130 having a relatively small capacity. Thus, a recording apparatus can be realized in which recording can be started quickly after power is turned on and recording is not interrupted.

In this embodiment, an optical disk is used as a recording medium. However, the optical disk may be a magneto-optical type or a phase change type, and a tape-shaped recording medium may be used for other recording formats such as a magnetic disk. It is even possible.
Although two types of input signals, an image signal and an audio signal, are used, the same effect is obtained even when only one type of input signal is used, such as video only or audio only.

When storing both an image signal and an audio signal, the audio signal has a smaller data amount than the image signal.
Changing the compression ratio does not significantly contribute to saving the buffer memory, so a fixed compression ratio may be used. In addition, the compression rate has been described as two types of compression rate for normal recording and a higher compression rate. However, the compression rate may be changed to a plurality of types, or the compression rate may be changed almost continuously to lower the compression rate from the high compression rate to When switching to the compression rate, the compression rate is gradually reduced and returned to the compression rate at the time of normal recording, whereby naturally continuous video and audio recording without any practical problem becomes possible.

The same effect can be obtained by changing the image compression method using the variable bit rate to a fixed bit rate image compression method fixed to the average compression rate, or by limiting the maximum value of the variable bit rate to a lower value. Can also. Although a buffer memory controlled by the address pointer is used, a similar effect can be obtained even when a buffer memory capable of obtaining remaining capacity information is used.

Although the description has been given from the time of power-on at the time of startup, the present invention is also effective when, for example, the power is already turned on and a recording medium is subsequently mounted or the recording medium is replaced. This embodiment can be applied to a case where the recording unit is turned on but the recording unit is restarted, for example, a case where the pause is released. Also, it is described that both the compression ratio of the image compression ratio control unit and the compression ratio of the audio compression ratio control unit are displayed on the display unit, but the compression ratio of the image compression ratio control unit or the compression ratio of the audio compression ratio control unit is displayed. At least one of them can be displayed on the display means to notify the operator of the change in the compression ratio.

Although the image / audio signal processing means is used, the same effect is obtained even when other signal processing means is used or when no signal processing means is used.
Further, although the recording system signal processing means is used, the same effect is obtained even when other signal processing means is used or when the recording system signal processing means is not used. Furthermore, although the image compression rate control means 110, the audio compression rate control means 111, and the system control means 160 are described separately, they may be integrally processed on a microcomputer.

[0036]

As described above, according to the recording apparatus of the present invention, according to the first and second aspects of the present invention, the input signal before the recording can be started on the recording medium after the apparatus is started such as when the power is turned on is also recorded. A recording apparatus that uses a relatively small capacity buffer memory, adjusts the remaining capacity of the buffer memory without causing the buffer memory to overflow by the start of recording, and prevents discontinuous recording. realizable.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in a recording apparatus for compressing and recording an image / audio signal, an input signal before the recording means can start recording after starting the apparatus such as turning on the power can be recorded. By using a buffer memory with a relatively small capacity, the remaining capacity of the buffer memory can be adjusted without causing overflow of the buffer memory before the start of recording, resulting in discontinuous recording even for an image signal with a large data amount. A recording device in which the problem is prevented can be realized.

Further, according to the configuration of claim 4, by gradually returning from the high compression rate at the time of starting to the normal low compression rate, it is possible to perform natural recording without noticing that the compression rate has been changed. With the configuration of 5, the user can be notified of the change state of the compression ratio.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a recording apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a timing chart at the time of starting the same.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a state of accumulation in a buffer memory.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a conventional recording apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 100 image compression means 101 audio compression means 110 image compression rate control means 111 audio compression rate control means 120 image and audio system signal processing means 130 buffer memory 140 recording system signal processing means 150 recording means 160 system control means 170 display means

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────の Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Tatsuya Suzuki 1006 Kadoma Kadoma, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A recording apparatus for compressing an input signal by a compression means and recording the signal on a recording medium via a buffer memory, wherein the signal inputted until the recording on the recording medium can be started when the apparatus is started. A recording device provided with control means for changing a compression ratio when storing in a memory. 2. A signal compression means for compressing an input signal to control a code amount; a buffer memory for storing an output of the signal compression means; a recording means for recording an output of the buffer memory; Control means for giving a compression rate to the signal compression means based on remaining capacity information and a time until the recording means can start recording, the control means comprising: The input signal until the recording unit starts recording is increased by increasing the compression ratio of the signal compression unit until the recording unit starts recording based on the time until the recording unit can start recording. A predetermined value of a remaining capacity of the buffer memory is secured at the time of the recording. 3. An image compression means for compressing an input image signal to control the amount of image code, an audio compression means for compressing an input audio signal to control the amount of audio code, an output of the image compression means and the audio A buffer memory for accumulating the output of the compression means, a recording means for recording the output of the buffer memory, and the image based on remaining capacity information of the buffer memory and a time until the recording means can start recording. Control means for determining a compression ratio of the compression means and the audio compression means, the control means based on remaining capacity information of the buffer memory and a time until the recording means can start recording when the apparatus is started up. By increasing the compression ratio of the image compression unit and the audio compression unit before the start of the recording operation of the recording unit, the image up to the start of recording by the recording unit and Recording apparatus characterized by being configured so as to ensure a predetermined value of the remaining capacity of the buffer memory when storing the input signal of the voice. 4. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the compression ratio is changed substantially continuously when the compression ratio is changed. 5. The recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a display unit for displaying at least one of a compression ratio of the image compression unit and a compression ratio of the audio compression unit.