10. A method comprising: decoding at least one syntax data element related to at least two partitions of at least a portion of a picture, wherein the at least one syntax element is decoded from a plurality of successive decoding loops including a first loop that decodes macroblock and sub-macroblock coding modes as a first data class, the at least one syntax element belonging to a given class of data, and said wherein the decoding of the at least one syntax data element uses already decoded data from surrounding macroblocks for a given class of data prior to decoding a next class of data, wherein later decoded data classes, wherein a later decoding loop decodes a syntax data element of a second data class based on the coding modes, wherein reference picture information is decoded in a decoding loop after the later decoding loop based on the coding modes and the syntax data element of the second data class, and wherein a use of the plurality of successive decoding loops is enabled or disabled using at least one syntax data field in a high level syntax element.
10. A method comprising: decoding at least one syntax data element related to at least two partitions of at least a portion of a picture, wherein the at least one syntax element is decoded from a plurality of successive decoding loops including a first loop that decodes macroblock and sub-macroblock coding modes as a first data class, the at least one syntax element belonging to a given class of data, and said wherein the decoding of the at least one syntax data element uses already decoded data from surrounding macroblocks for a given class of data prior to decoding a next class of data, wherein later decoded data classes, wherein a later decoding loop decodes a syntax data element of a second data class based on the coding modes, wherein reference picture information is decoded in a decoding loop after the later decoding loop based on the coding modes and the syntax data element of the second data class, and wherein a use of the plurality of successive decoding loops is enabled or disabled using at least one syntax data field in a high level syntax element. 12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of successive decoding loops is used for slice syntax decoding.