An apparatus comprising: a memory having stored therein at least one block of video data; and a control circuit operably coupled to the memory and configured to: - determine a primary prediction mode to employ when encoding the block of video data; - infer a corresponding companion prediction mode from a companion prediction mode lookup table to correspond to the primary prediction mode; - generate a mixed prediction for the block of video data by mixing a prediction formed using the primary prediction mode with a prediction formed using the companion prediction mode; and - following the generating of the mixed prediction for the block of video data, automatically update the companion prediction mode lookup table, wherein a given one of the companion prediction modes corresponds to a given one of the primary prediction modes as a function, at least in part, of accuracy maps for each of the given companion prediction mode and primary prediction mode, wherein each of the accuracy maps quantifies a prediction accuracy of the respective prediction mode for each pixel position in the block; wherein the companion prediction mode lookup table includes the accuracy maps, such that the control circuit infers the corresponding companion prediction mode, at least in part, by comparing at least some of the accuracy maps for companion prediction modes with an accuracy map for the primary prediction mode, to thereby infer the best companion prediction mode in combination with the already determined primary prediction mode. a memory having stored therein at least one block of video data; and a control circuit operably coupled to the memory and configured to: - determine a primary prediction mode to employ when encoding the block of video data; - infer a corresponding companion prediction mode from a companion prediction mode lookup table to correspond to the primary prediction mode; - generate a mixed prediction for the block of video data by mixing a prediction formed using the primary prediction mode with a prediction formed using the companion prediction mode; and - following the generating of the mixed prediction for the block of video data, automatically update the companion prediction mode lookup table, - determine a primary prediction mode to employ when encoding the block of video data; - infer a corresponding companion prediction mode from a companion prediction mode lookup table to correspond to the primary prediction mode; - generate a mixed prediction for the block of video data by mixing a prediction formed using the primary prediction mode with a prediction formed using the companion prediction mode; and - following the generating of the mixed prediction for the block of video data, automatically update the companion prediction mode lookup table, wherein a given one of the companion prediction modes corresponds to a given one of the primary prediction modes as a function, at least in part, of accuracy maps for each of the given companion prediction mode and primary prediction mode, wherein each of the accuracy maps quantifies a prediction accuracy of the respective prediction mode for each pixel position in the block; wherein the companion prediction mode lookup table includes the accuracy maps, such that the control circuit infers the corresponding companion prediction mode, at least in part, by comparing at least some of the accuracy maps for companion prediction modes with an accuracy map for the primary prediction mode, to thereby infer the best companion prediction mode in combination with the already determined primary prediction mode. <EOS>