Methods and apparatus are provided for intra coding a block having pixels assigned to groups. An apparatus includes a video encoder (500) for encoding a block in a picture using intra prediction by dividing pixels within the block into at least a first group and a second group and encoding the pixels in the first group prior to encoding the pixels in the second group. A prediction for at least one of the pixels within the second group is obtained by evaluating the pixels within the first group and the second group.