a method and an apparatus for transmitting and recovering a video signal are provided . the method for transmitting a video signal that has a hierarchical structure of a frame , groups of blocks , and macro blocks includes a transmitter inserting a plurality of resynchronization markers into each gob to prevent the propagation of errors generated in a transmission channel . the insertion of the resynchronization markers includes assigning the number of resynchronization markers to the respective gobs and inserting the assigned resynchronization markers into predetermined positions of the corresponding gob . the positions are determined to minimize the mean error propagation cost based on whether respective macro blocks positioned between the resynchronization markers to be inserted are skipped . the present invention make it possible to prevent the propagation of an error when a video signal is transmitted over an error prone mobile network or radio network .