Patent ID: 8078033

Claim:
A recording apparatus comprising: a receiving unit that receives a televised program; a recording unit that records the program being received by the receiving unit to an optical disk; and a commercial message detecting unit that detects a switch from main program to commercial message and a switch from commercial message to main program by detecting a change in an audio mode of an audio signal included in the program being received by the receiving unit and measuring a time period for which the audio mode is constant when the recording unit is recording the program, wherein the recording unit: sets a chapter break based on a preset first time interval upon the switch from main program to commercial message being detected by the commercial message detecting unit; sets the chapter break, based on a second time interval which is longer than the first time interval, upon the switch from commercial message to main program being detected by the commercial message detecting unit; and records, in a lead-in area of the optical disk, information showing a start position of each chapter that is set based on the first time or the second time; wherein the recording apparatus further comprises: a playback unit that reads the information recorded in the lead-in area of the optical disk and playbacks the program recorded on the optical disk based on the information; and an operation unit that receives input for setting the second time interval.