Abstract: A method for providing instant replay is disclosed. According to the method, a video stream and an audio stream are received from a source. A program is rendered from the video and audio streams and played in real time. The video stream and the audio stream are compressed using a video compression engine and an audio compression engine respectively. Information relating to the compressed video and audio streams and the video and audio compression engines is stored in a sequence header. The compressed video and audio streams are multiplexed to form a single data stream. The information relating to video and audio frames including synchronization information is stored in a multiplexer header. Media units are formed from the multiplexed data stream. Each media unit includes at least one video frame and at least one or more corresponding audio frames. Each media unit further includes a first video frame that is independently decodable. Each media unit is an independently decodable entity.

Abstract: A method for providing video coding is disclosed. The method includes encoding at least one segment of a B picture using motion estimation based prediction. During the encoding step, a determination is made as to whether a number of motion vectors corresponding to a number of already constructed reference pictures of the B picture are acceptable for use in a direct bi-directional prediction mode without further refinement. The motion vectors are refined in response to the determination that the motion vectors are not acceptable. A mode is then selected to be used for coding the segment of the B picture. The mode is selected from a number of modes including a temporal direct mode and a number of standard modes including forward, backward and bi-directional predictive modes. The method further includes decoding the segment of the B picture in an encoded bit stream. During the decoding step, entropy decoding of the encoded bit stream is performed to recreate residual data.