In a video playback apparatus that is capable of communicating with a printing device, if an event of which notification is to be given has occurs in the printing device, a situation in which viewing by the user is impeded by the notification and a situation in which unnecessary video is recorded are suppressed. If an error occurs in the printing device, the type of display information prevailing when the error is detected is discriminated (S34). In case of a moving-picture program broadcast, an error message is displayed and the display information starts being stored (S35), thereby making it possible to resume viewing after error recovery. On the hand, in the case of a still picture or other type of display information, an error message is displayed (S310) without storing display information, thereby suppressing unnecessary recording of display information.