Methods and systems for achieving high sub-pixel precision while processing a video signal are provided. Aspects of the method may include selecting IIR filter coefficients for implementing an IIR filter for filtering a video signal during scaling. Polyphase filter coefficients may be selected for implementing a polyphase filter for filtering the video signal during the scaling. The video signal may be filtered using a combination of the IIR filter having the selected IIR filter coefficients and the polyphase filter having the selected polyphase filter coefficients. The polyphase filter coefficients may implement a finite impulse response (FIR) filter for filtering the video signal. The video signal may be phase-shifted. The scaling of the video signal may comprise upscaling or downscaling the video signal. The video signal may be converted from a first format to a second format by combined IIR-filtering and polyphase filtering.