Abstract: The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing a stream of pictures. The method comprises the steps of selecting a first portion of pictures from a stream of pictures fulfilling a quality measure for processing in a first processing unit PROC1, and selecting a second portion of pictures not fulfilling said quality measure for processing in a second processing unit PROC2. The first portion of the pictures selected are processed in the first processing unit PROC1, and the second portion of the pictures are processed in the second processing unit PROC2. Finally, the first portion of the pictures processed in the first processing unit PROC1 are combined with the second portion of the pictures processed in the second processing unit PROC2.