Abstract: A recording and playback apparatus for a digital video cassette recorder is provided with a data conversion unit for recording a compressed video signal in a more compressed format on a digital recording medium and a data inverse recording unit for playing out the recorded video signal. The data conversion unit includes a controller, encoder and multiplexer. The controller has for its inputs ID information decoded from the compressed video data signal by a decoder and a recording signal instructing the recording of the compressed video signal on a recording medium. At the start of picture recording the controller provides a selection signal to a multiplexer and a decoding instruction to an encoder to enable the encoder to recode the entire picture region of the decoded video data in an intraframe manner with a header which contains the decoding instruction information. The data inverse conversion unit includes a header decoder, a buffer controller, and a buffer.