We present a generic video codec, which is able to compress image sequ
ences efficiently regardless of their input formats. In addition, this
codec supports a wide range of bit rates, without significant changes
in its main architecture. A multiresolution representation of the dat
a is generated by a Gabor-like wavelet transform. The motion estimatio
n is performed by a locally adaptive multigrid block-matching techniqu
e. This codec can handle both interlaced and progressive input sequenc
es, the temporal redundancies being exploited by interframe/interfield
coding. A perceptual quantization of the resulting coefficients is th
en performed, followed by adaptive entropy coding. Simulations using d
ifferent test sequences demonstrate a reconstructed signal of good qua
lity for a wide range of bit rates. Thereby demonstrating that this co
dec can perform generic coding with reduced complexity and high effici
ency.