Patent ID: 8280234

Claim:
A video server, comprising: a video encoder which encodes input video data at a variable bit rate to output the encoded data; a rate control unit which controls the bit rate and also outputs rate information showing the bit rate; a recording unit which records the encoded data and the rate information on a recording medium; a reproduction unit which reproduces the encoded data recorded on the recording medium at a variable reproduction speed to output the reproduced encoded data, and reproduces the rate information recorded on the recording medium to output the reproduced rate information; a video decoder which reproduces the reproduced encoded data to output reproduced video data; and a reproduction control unit which controls the reproduction speed in accordance with the reproduction rate information so that higher the bit rate is, the lower the reproduction speed becomes, wherein the reproduction control unit controls the reproduction speed so as to lower the reproduction speed regardless of the bit rate when a prescribed object exists in a video.