HIGH-EFFICIENCY ENCODER AND VIDEO INFORMATION RECORDING/REPRODUCING APPARATUS

In a high-efficiency encoder which performs motion-compensation prediction, an intra-field is set every n fields. The presence of a scene change is detected. When a scene change occurs, a reference picture of motion-compensation prediction is switched, or the field immediately after the scene change is set as an intra-field. In intra encoding mode, a digital video signal is encoded after dividing the digital video signal into subbands, and in predictive encoding mode, the digital video signal is encoded without dividing it into subbands.