Virtual editing of MPEG-2 streams

The introduction of disc based video recorders for consumers brings the possibility to support virtual editing, that is editing without making a copy of the underlying A/V data. To support frame accurate virtual editing, we propose a solution that involves generating a new segment of MPEG-2 multiplex called a bridge sequence. Within the bridge sequence, some video is re-encoded and remultiplexed to ensure that the edited sequence can be played back seamlessly. The bridge sequence is stored on disc separately from the original sequences, which remain unchanged