A data recording andor reproducing apparatus and method in which, during a recording operation, the maximum bit rate of a transport stream may be detected and along with the transport stream written into a storage medium. The input data source is partitioned into a plurality of initial partitions. The client application can display the jobs information in a single display window comprising multiple subwindows for various characteristics of the jobs information. The intermediate focus is located at a position substantially at the same level or below a bottom portion of the illumination system.