Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of decoding an encoded video signal that includes a plurality of successive encoded images. The method initially receives an encoded image of the video signal. It then decodes the encoded image. The method next examines the decoded image to determine whether the decoded image satisfies at least one criterion for performing a post-filter operation on the decoded image. Only if the decoded image satisfies the criterion, the method performs the post-filter operation on the decoded image. The criterion in some embodiments is whether the amount of time for applying the post-filter operation exceeds the remaining amount of time that the method has to process the received image. Some embodiments of the invention provide a method of post-filtering a current image that was decoded from an encoded video signal, which includes a plurality of successive encoded images. The current image has several sub-sections. The method selects a sub-section of the current image. It then determines whether the selected sub-section satisfies at least one condition for performing a post-filter operation on the selected sub-section. The method next performs the post-filter operation on the selected sub-section only if the selected sub-section satisfies the criterion.