A media recorder is operable to receive broadcast media data from a media data source. The media recorder comprises a storage element for storing at least a portion of the media data, and a receiver for receiving a sequence of video images from a video camera. The media recorder further comprises a user detector for detecting whether a user is attending to a presentation of the media data, and a media presentation status detector operable to detect whether the presentation of the media item has ended. If the user detector detects that the user is not attending to the presentation, the user detector is operable to cause the storage element to store the media data. If the media presentation status detector detects that presentation of the media item has ended, the media presentation status detector is operable to cause the media recorder to enter a stand-by mode.