a scene-change detector which detects a scene change between first and second pictures based on differences between thinned-out pixels of the first picture and thinned-out pixels of the second picture, and outputs a detection signal indicating a result of detecting the scene change, where the second picture immediately precedes the first picture; and

a transfer controller which controls a first operation of reading out, from a storage device storing said second picture, discrete groups of a predetermined number of pixels consecutively arranged along a horizontal direction in said second picture, and a second operation of transferring said discrete groups as the thinned-out pixels of the second picture to said scene-change detector through a data bus having a width, where said predetermined number is determined based on the width, and corresponds to a maximum number of pixels which can be concurrently transferred through the data bus, or an integer multiple of the maximum number;

wherein said transfer controller controls said first operation in such a manner that said discrete groups of said predetermined number of pixels consecutively arranged along a horizontal direction are read out from each of a plurality of horizontal pixel lines in said second picture, and a maximum number of consecutive horizontal pixel lines from each of which no pixels are read out is smaller than a maximum number of consecutive pixels which are not read out from said plurality of horizontal pixel lines;

wherein said scene-change detector and said transfer controller are each implemented in hardware or a hardware/software combination.