1. A method of comparing first and second two-dimensional images to identify a desired match location for the first image within a search area of the second image, wherein each image represented by pixel values and one of the dimensions has at least N pixel values, comprising the steps of: reading 2N pixel values corresponding to a line of the first image from a memory into a funnel shifter; shifting the pixel values within the funnel shifter to align the pixel values on a desired pixel boundary; receiving N+1 pixel values corresponding to a line within the search area of the second image; accumulating a first pixel-wise sum of absolute difference (SAD) values within a first tree adder using a first set of pixels output from the funnel shifter and a selected set of pixels from the lines of the second image; accumulating a second pixel-wise sum of absolute difference (SAD) values within a second tree adder using a second set of pixels output from the funnel shifter and the selected set of pixels from the lines of the second image; and finding a minimum accumulated SAD value which corresponds to the desired match location for the first image within the second image.