a method and concomitant apparatus for adapting the behavior of an mpeg - like encoder to information discontinuities within a received information stream , such that encoding quality and random access to a resulting encoded stream is retained near information discontinuity point without adversely impacting buffer utilization parameters . specifically , an anchor frame comprising an i - frame preceding an information discontinuity is encoded as a p - frame , while an anchor frame following the information discontinuity is encoded as an i - frame .