A method is provided for decoding an encoded video stream on a processor having a plurality of processing cores includes receiving and examining a video stream to identify any macroscopic constructs present therein that support parallel processing. Decoding of the video stream is divided into a plurality of decoding functions. The plurality of decoding functions is scheduled for decoding the video stream in a dynamic manner based on availability of any macroscopic constructs that have been identified and then based on a number of bytes used to encode each block into which each picture of the video stream is partitioned. Each of the decoding functions is dispatched to the plurality of processing cores in accordance with the scheduling.