Patent ID: 8340191

Claim:
A system for transcoding an input first MPEG stream to a second MPEG stream, the system comprising: a first MPEG decoder configured to: decode the first MPEG stream; identify metadata indicating how the first MPEG stream was encoded, the identified metadata determined during the decoding of the first MPEG steam; and output the identified metadata; and a second MPEG encoder configured to encode the second MPEG stream, wherein the second MPEG encoder is further configured to maintain a decoded picture type of I, P, or B; maintain a decoded picture structure of frame or field; receive the identified metadata from the first MPEG decoder; determine whether to re-encode a macroblock (MB) of a picture in the second MPEG stream using one of a frame or a field mode based on the identified metadata indicating how the first MPEG stream was encoded; and re-encode the MB using the determined frame or field mode.