A digital video recording apparatus and method is disclosed. Under the condition in which the user sets information of a preferred program in the digital video recording apparatus, a broadcast stream received by the digital video recording apparatus is analyzed. Based on the results of the analysis, the preferred program can be automatically recorded. In accordance with the digital video recording apparatus and method, there is convenience in that it is unnecessary for the user to directly check there is a preferred program, to be recorded, in the broadcast stream, or to manually enable recording of the preferred program.