Abstract

An MPEG digital video decoder system, method and computer program product are presented for monitoring decoding of an encoded digital video signal for one or more predefined illegal conditions. Error detection logic is coupled to the variable length (VLC) decoder, inverse quantizer (IQ), inverse discrete cosine transformer (IDCT) and motion compensator (MC) of the decoder for detecting an illegal condition within at least one of the VLC decoder, IQ, IDCT and MC during decoding of the encoded digital video signal. The monitored illegal conditions can include a VLC/IQ control error, an IQ level overrun, and IQ/IDCT buffer error, an MC idle error and an MC macroblock start error. Error signals are reported to a central error register which is monitored periodically by the decoder's control processor. The control processor initiates recovery within the decoder system prior to stoppage of the system due to the illegal condition.