A video decoding system for receiving a digital bitstream (118, 318) and for decoding the digital bitstream, the system comprising: a video decoder (102, 104, 106, 108, 112) for decoding the digital bitstream (118, 318) to generate a plurality of pictures, each picture being associated with a flag; down-converting means for converting one or more decoded pictures to picture data reduced in size; a memory comprising a plurality of buffers; wherein the flag indicates whether or not the picture is to be reduced in size to picture data reduced in size by the down-converting means prior to being stored in the memory; the picture being stored in a buffer of the memory after size reduction in the down-converting means when the associated flag is armed, and the picture being stored in two or more buffers of the memory without size reduction in the down-converting means when the associated flag is unarmed; characterized by recovery means for recovering the pictures from the memory, for up-converting the pictures and/or for providing the pictures to the video decoder for use during decoding of the digital bitstream; and in that the associated flag is armed when the picture is an I-picture, the associated flag is unarmed when the picture is a B-picture, and the associated flag is armed at times and unarmed at other times when the picture is a P-picture, wherein in case the pictures comprise frames, the flag associated with every first P-frame following an I-frame or a B-frame is armed, and the flags associated with other P-frames are unarmed; in case the pictures comprise fields, the flags associated with up to four P-fields following an I-field or a B-field are armed when the first one of said P-fields is a top field, and the flags associated with up to three P-fields following an I-field are armed when the first one of said P-fields is a bottom field. a video decoder (102, 104, 106, 108, 112) for decoding the digital bitstream (118, 318) to generate a plurality of pictures, each picture being associated with a flag; down-converting means for converting one or more decoded pictures to picture data reduced in size; a memory comprising a plurality of buffers; wherein the flag indicates whether or not the picture is to be reduced in size to picture data reduced in size by the down-converting means prior to being stored in the memory; the picture being stored in a buffer of the memory after size reduction in the down-converting means when the associated flag is armed, and the picture being stored in two or more buffers of the memory without size reduction in the down-converting means when the associated flag is unarmed; characterized by recovery means for recovering the pictures from the memory, for up-converting the pictures and/or for providing the pictures to the video decoder for use during decoding of the digital bitstream; and in that the associated flag is armed when the picture is an I-picture, the associated flag is unarmed when the picture is a B-picture, and the associated flag is armed at times and unarmed at other times when the picture is a P-picture, wherein in case the pictures comprise frames, the flag associated with every first P-frame following an I-frame or a B-frame is armed, and the flags associated with other P-frames are unarmed; in case the pictures comprise fields, the flags associated with up to four P-fields following an I-field or a B-field are armed when the first one of said P-fields is a top field, and the flags associated with up to three P-fields following an I-field are armed when the first one of said P-fields is a bottom field. in case the pictures comprise frames, the flag associated with every first P-frame following an I-frame or a B-frame is armed, and the flags associated with other P-frames are unarmed; in case the pictures comprise fields, the flags associated with up to four P-fields following an I-field or a B-field are armed when the first one of said P-fields is a top field, and the flags associated with up to three P-fields following an I-field are armed when the first one of said P-fields is a bottom field.