A method for measuring motion at a horizontal and vertical position between video fields of opposite parity comprising the steps of measuring the signal values of at least two vertically adjacent pixels from a video field of one parity and at least two vertically adjacent pixels from a video field of the opposite parity such that when taken together, the pixels represent contiguous samples of an image at said horizontal and vertical position, and determining whether the signal value of any of the pixels lies between the signal values of adjacent pixels in the field of opposite parity and in response outputting a zero motion value, otherwise, outputting a motion value equal to the lowest absolute difference between any of the pixels and its closest adjacent pixel in the field of opposite parity.