The present invention provides index information that can be handled with ease. Microcomputer 7 reads out the video data recorded in video cassette 100 on the basis of the recording information on-the video data and generates index-related images on the basis of the read out video data. Then, it generates a retrieval-serving image to be used for retrieving the video data recorded in the video cassette 100, said retrieval-serving image containing the index-related images and the recording information of the video data corresponding to the index-related images, and conserves the retrieval-serving image data at least in internal memory 8 or in external memory 110. Thereafter, it displays the retrieval-serving image conserved in the internal memory 8 or the external memory 110 on image display section 5. As one of the index-related images contained in the retrieval-serving image that is displayed on the image display section 5 is selected, it retrieves the corresponding video data on the basis of the corresponding recording information and reproduces the retrieved video data.