Dual deck video recording apparatus and method

A method and apparatus are described for preventing a dual deck video recorder from being used to record a copy-protected video signal. A switch (43) is included on the recorder to indicate whether a video signal input to one of the deck locations for recording originates externally of the machine or internally at another deck location. Recording is prevented whenever the switch indicates that the video signal originates from the other deck location if the video signal at such location includes a selected copy-protect signal. If a video signal to be recorded comes from externally of the machine, copying of the same is prevented if (1) the video signal includes the copy-protect signal; or (2) the video signal to be copied is the same as the play back video signal and the latter has the selected copy-protect signal.