In one embodiment, an apparatus and method for an angular-directed spatial deinterlacer are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises calculating a cost measure for each of multiple angle candidates for a target pixel block to be deinterlaced in a spatial-only domain, determining a horizontal angle measure for the target pixel block, establishing a global minimum angle from the multiple angle candidates by determining the lowest cost measure from the multiple angle candidates, establishing a local minimum angle from the multiple angle candidates by sifting through the angle candidates in a hierarchical manner, and filtering the global minimum angle and the local minimum angle to create a value for interpolating the target pixel block for deinterlacing. Other embodiments are also described.