1. A method of coding video pictures, comprising the steps of transforming ( 1 ) picture blocks of a video picture into transform coefficients, and encoding ( 2 - 8 ) the difference ( 2 ) between the transform coefficients of each transformed picture block (Y) and corresponding transform coefficients of a prediction block (Y) which is obtained by applying motion estimation ( 8 ) to a previously encoded picture, the motion estimation comprising the steps of: calculating ( 23 ) a plurality of candidate prediction blocks, comparing ( 24 ) each candidate prediction block with the transformed picture block, and selecting ( 26 ) one of the candidate prediction blocks to be the prediction block, characterized in that the steps of calculating ( 23 ) a candidate prediction block and comparing ( 24 ) the candidate prediction block with the transformed picture block are carried out for a subset of the transform coefficients of said candidate prediction block and transformed picture block.