the disclosed invention is a method to detect candidate errors within the picture start code , picture header , and picture timestamp . upon detection , these errors may be confirmed and the impacts mitigated . an error within the timestamp bit field is adaptively detected by the use of a threshold comparison , and a mechanism for concealing the timestamp information leaves only a small timestamp anomaly . an error within the picture start code is determined by adaptively analyzing the number of bits and the macro - block location of the next slice or gob . if a psc is suspected to have been overrun due to an error , this method allows for data beyond the first gob or slice to be recovered in the frame . depending on the extent of use of slices and gobs , the method can recover a majority of the frame that otherwise would have been completely lost . a candidate error within the picture header is evaluated by utilizing the first slice or gob of the frame and analyzing information from a previous frame to check whether the current frame &# 39 ; s header information should be replaced with the previous frame &# 39 ; s header information . replacing the erred frame header can result in a majority of the data within the frame being recovered that would otherwise be discarded if the header was not replaced .