A digital video encoding method, apparatus and computer program product are described with enhanced encoding of a picture having a plurality of macroblocks. The approach is to partition the picture into at least two regions and then to set or adjust at least one encoding parameter for each macroblock of the picture based upon the region of the picture within which the macroblock is located. As one specific implementation, the picture is partitioned into a center region and at least one outer region and the at least one encoding parameter is set to enhance picture quality in the center region at the expense of picture quality in the at least one outer region. The encoding parameter can, for example, be a motion estimation parameter, a quantization value, or a target bits per macroblock.