1. A method for processing image data, comprising the steps of: (a) performing motion estimation analysis to select one integer-pel location based on distortion values for a plurality of integer-pel locations; (b) generating estimated distortion values for a plurality of fractional-pel locations by interpolating the distortion values for the integer-pel locations; (c) selecting a subset of the fractional-pel locations as one or more candidate fractional-pel locations; (d) generating true distortion values for the candidate fractional-pel locations; and (e) selecting a location from the set comprising the candidate fractional-pel locations and the selected integer-pel location as the best fractional-pel location.