The invention provides a reproducing apparatus and a reproducing method, in which moving picture data read out from a recording medium is once stored in a buffer memory, when the stored data is less than a predetermined amount, by reducing an operating speed of an image compression decoder, a transfer rate to read out the data from the buffer memory is reduced, thereby enabling a moving picture to be reproduced slowly and preventing an interruption of images.
A slow decode control part divides a reference clock generated by a VCXO at a ratio of a slow speed to a normal speed. An STC circuit counts the divided clock. A time for starting decoding by an MPEG video decode part is decided by comparing a DTS included in MPEG data with the count of the STC circuit. A display time determination part determines a timing for outputting decoded data by comparing a PTS included in the MPEG data with the count of the STC circuit. Decoded data temporarily held in a frame buffer is output in response to a signal generated in a determination part on the basis of frame frequency information included in the MPEG data. Thus, slow reproduction is implemented with a high degree of freedom not limited to an integer-fractional speed without requiring a complicated circuit structure.
A moving picture prediction method for enabling a calculation amount and a storage capacity to be reduced in a prediction about a moving picture by scaling processing is provided. A method for predicting the value P of Time T from the value P0 of Time T0 and the value P1 of Time T1 includes a step of judging whether it is possible to generate a predictive value with a predetermined significant number of bits by scaling using Time T0, T1 and T (Step S90); a step of predicting the value P from the values P0 and P1 by scaling using Time T0, T1 and T when it is possible to generate a predictive value with the predetermined significant number of bits (Step S92); and a step of predicting the value P from the values P0 and P1 without using Time T0, T1 and T when it is impossible to generate a predictive value with the predetermined significant number of bits (Step S91).
