Methods and systems are provided for check code line recognition at a point-of-sale terminal having OCR and MICR capabilities. Images of problematic characters are extracted and automatically transmitted to a remote location for on-line manual validation or data entry. Video coding of problematic characters is performed for the correction of either or both MICR and OCR results. The correctly encoded characters are returned to the point of sale within a few seconds, and combined as necessary with locally recognized characters, to assemble a correct code line for entry into a payment system.