1. A method for decoding an encoded video bit stream in a video decoder, the method comprising: constructing an inter-prediction candidate list for a prediction unit (PU); decoding a candidate index for the PU inter-prediction candidate list, wherein a maximum allowed number of inter-prediction candidates for an inter-prediction candidate list is used as a maximum codeword size for truncated unary decoding of the candidate index; and decoding the PU using an inter-prediction candidate in the inter-prediction candidate list indicated by the candidate index.