The invention pertains to a method for a video encoder to select data from a set of image blocks, each block being associated with a frame, a counter value and a cost, the method comprising: calculating, for a target block from among said set of image blocks, the respective counter values and the respective costs of other blocks from among said set of image blocks, said other blocks being associated with the same frame as the target block or with a previous frame; and selecting from said other blocks a reference block having the lowest cost and counter value, according to predefined criteria. The invention also pertains to a computer program product for carrying out the method, and to a video encoder apparatus.