Optical disk recording/reproducing apparatus and method for determining optimal reproducing speed thereof

An optical recording/reproducing apparatus comprising:

• a pickup unit for reproducing data from an optical disk;
• a radio frequency (RF) unit for amplifying an RF signal output from the pickup unit and wave-shaping the amplified signal;
• a reproducing-speed determining unit for determining an optimal reproducing speed of the pickup unit according to a bit rate of the data recorded on the optical disk;
• and
• a control unit for detecting information on the bit rate of the data recorded on the optical disk from a signal output from the RF unit to control the reproducing-speed determining unit,
• wherein the reproducing-speed determining unit compares the detected bit rate with a predetermined threshold value to determine the reproducing speed,
• wherein the reproducing-speed determining unit multiplies the predetermined threshold value by a desired value greater than 1 to produce a second threshold value, and compares the second threshold value with the bit rate, and wherein if the bit rate exceeds the second threshold value, the reproducing speed of the optical recording/reproducing apparatus is again increased by a predetermined level.