A method is provided for adaptively decoding an embedded video bitstream by a video receiving system. First, the embedded video bitstream is received. At least one terminal parameter of the video receiving system is further obtained. The at least one terminal parameter includes one of display parameter and system memory bandwidth usage of the video receiving system. Next, the embedded video bitstream is truncated to extract a truncated video bitstream according to the at least one terminal parameter. Finally, the truncated video bitstream is decoded to reconstruct video data.