Abstract: Based on the analysis of all the intra prediction modes of H.264, an efficient hardware architecture for H.264 prediction is proposed to support all the prediction modes. By utilizing the idle cycles of certain special modes, some prediction values can be calculated in advance. The redundancy of prediction values between two neighbour lines in the same prediction mode is also fully utilized in order to get four prediction values in one cycle using two calculating uints. Under 55 MHz frequency, the implements can process 39 standard definition TV (SDTV) frames(720×480) per second.