1. A system to process a signal sequence, the system including: a differentiator to receive a signal sequence, the signal sequence including an n-dimensional current frame including a plurality of current frame blocks and a plurality of n-dimensional reference frames, each frame from the plurality of n-dimensional reference frames including a plurality of reference frame blocks; a frame buffer to store the plurality of n-dimensional reference frames; a block matching predictor to identify a prediction block of the plurality of reference frame blocks for each block in the plurality of current frame blocks, and to determine a reference displacement index and a block prediction difference for a respective prediction block for each block in the plurality of current frame blocks, wherein the reference displacement index is to identify a point within the reference frame blocks; a block encoder to encode a respective block prediction difference and a respective reference displacement index for each block in the plurality of current frame blocks, and to thereby create a plurality of encoded blocks; and a sequence encoder to multiplex the plurality of encoded blocks together in accordance with a predetermined format; a cost estimation component to determine computational intensity of the identifying of the prediction block, the cost estimation competent utilizing a cost function J, wherein the cost function J is in the form of 
 J=R dc ( DC )+ R ac ( AC )+ R ri (reference index), wherein the R dc (DC) is a rate for the DC coefficient of the block prediction difference; the R ac (AC) is a rate for the AC coefficients of the block prediction difference; and the R ri (reference index) is a rate for the reference index.