Embodiments of the present invention include a method and system for encoding video data comprising accessing a picture to be encoded, wherein the picture comprises a plurality of macro-blocks. A plurality of programmable counters is associated with each macro-block to be encoded. A counter associated with a macro-block of the plurality of macro-blocks is accessed and a value of the counter is determined. The method further includes determining whether to encode the macro-block as an Intra or non-Intra based on the value of the counter. If the macro-block is encoded as Intra, its counter is reset. If the macro-block is encoded as non-Intra, its counter value is updated. The counter value may be reset with a random number. Counters can be programmed such that a region of interest is defined for updating associated macro-blocks with greater frequency.