1. A method of deinterlacing a video image comprising the steps of: receiving a composite image comprising alternating even and odd rows of pixels, the even rows comprising a first image and the odd rows comprising a second image, the first and the second image recorded at different times, each pixel having an intensity value; computing a first average horizontal intensity difference between the first image and the second image; offsetting the first image by one pixel in a first horizontal direction to form a first horizontally offset image; computing a second average horizontal intensity difference between the first horizontally offset image and the second image; offsetting the first image by one pixel in a second horizontal direction opposite the first horizontal direction to form a second horizontally offset image; computing a third average horizontal intensity difference between the second horizontally offset image and the second image; determining a minimum average intensity difference from a comparison of the first, the second, and the third average horizontal intensity differences; shifting the first image in a horizontal direction determined to achieve the minimum average horizontal intensity difference; and combining the horizontally shifted first image with the second image to form an improved composite image.