diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 7a02bd69e5f46ded24881183f8722e55ce98ef0f..9c53be7cae9ab555b9d164321a198b3907fc95d2 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -564,12 +564,6 @@ renderer-smoke-test:
   before_script:
     - cmake -B cmake-build -G "Unix Makefiles" -DCLANG=$SANITIZER_BUILD_STRING -DCOPY_EXECUTABLES_FROM_BUILD_DIR=true
     - cmake --build cmake-build -- -j
-    # rename files to fit naming convention
-    # en- and decoder needed because of split rendering testcases
-    - mv IVAS_cod IVAS_cod_ref
-    - mv IVAS_dec IVAS_dec_ref
-    - mv IVAS_rend IVAS_rend_ref
-    - mv ISAR_post_rend ISAR_post_rend_ref
     - testcase_timeout=180
 
 # test renderer executable with cmake + asan
@@ -579,7 +573,7 @@ renderer-asan:
   variables:
     SANITIZER_BUILD_STRING: "asan"
   script:
-    - python3 -m pytest -q --tb=no -n auto --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml tests/renderer/test_renderer.py tests/split_rendering/test_split_rendering.py --create_ref --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
+    - python3 -m pytest -q --tb=no -n auto --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml tests/renderer/test_renderer.py tests/split_rendering/test_split_rendering.py --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
   artifacts:
     expose_as: "renderer asan result"
 
@@ -591,7 +585,7 @@ renderer-msan:
   variables:
     SANITIZER_BUILD_STRING: "msan"
   script:
-    - python3 -m pytest -q --tb=no -n auto --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml tests/renderer/test_renderer.py tests/split_rendering/test_split_rendering.py --create_ref --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
+    - python3 -m pytest -q --tb=no -n auto --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml tests/renderer/test_renderer.py tests/split_rendering/test_split_rendering.py --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
   artifacts:
     expose_as: "renderer msan result"
 
@@ -603,7 +597,7 @@ renderer-usan:
   variables:
     SANITIZER_BUILD_STRING: "usan"
   script:
-    - UBSAN_OPTIONS=suppressions=scripts/ubsan.supp,report_error_type=1 python3 -m pytest -q --tb=no -n auto --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml tests/renderer/test_renderer.py tests/split_rendering/test_split_rendering.py --create_ref --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
+    - UBSAN_OPTIONS=suppressions=scripts/ubsan.supp,report_error_type=1 python3 -m pytest -q --tb=no -n auto --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml tests/renderer/test_renderer.py tests/split_rendering/test_split_rendering.py --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
   artifacts:
     expose_as: "renderer usan result"
 
@@ -1122,113 +1116,115 @@ be-2-evs-windows:
     - cd evs_be_win_test
     - python ../ci/run_evs_be_win_test.py
 
+# TODO: turn into manual job if needed
 # check bitexactness to EVS
-be-2-evs-linux:
-  extends:
-    - .test-job-linux
-    - .rules-main-push
-  tags:
-    - be-2-evs-temp
-  stage: test
-  needs: ["build-codec-linux-cmake"]
-  timeout: "20 minutes" # To be revisited
-  script:
-    - bash "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/ivas-codec-ci/snippets/print-common-info.sh
-
-    - mkdir build
-    - cd build
-    - cmake ..
-    - make -j
-    - cd ..
-
-    # copy over to never change the testvector dir
-    - cp -r $EVS_BE_TEST_DIR ./evs_be_test
-    - cp build/IVAS_cod ./evs_be_test/bin/EVS_cod
-    - cp build/IVAS_dec ./evs_be_test/bin/EVS_dec
-
-    - cd evs_be_test
-    - python3 ../ci/run_evs_be_test.py
-
-codec-comparison-on-main-push:
-  extends:
-    - .test-job-linux-needs-testv-dir
-    - .rules-main-push
-  stage: compare
-  needs: ["build-codec-linux-cmake"]
-  timeout: "30 minutes" # To be revisited
-  script:
-    - bash "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/ivas-codec-ci/snippets/print-common-info.sh
-    - latest_commit=$(git rev-parse HEAD) # Latest commit
-    - previous_merge_commit=$(git --no-pager log --merges HEAD~1 -n 1 --pretty=format:%H)
-    - echo "Comparing changes from $previous_merge_commit to $latest_commit"
-    - git --no-pager diff --stat $previous_merge_commit..$latest_commit
-
-    # Rest is more or less placeholder adapted from MR self test. This should be replaced with more complex tests.
-
-    ### build test binaries, initial clean for paranoia reasons
-    - make clean
-    - mkdir build
-    - cd build
-    - cmake ..
-    - make -j
-    - mv IVAS_cod ../IVAS_cod_test
-    - mv IVAS_dec ../IVAS_dec_test
-    - cd ..
-    - rm -rf build/*
-
-    ### compare to the previous merge commit in the main branch
-    - git fetch origin main
-    - git checkout $previous_merge_commit
-    - echo "Building reference codec at commit $previous_merge_commit"
-
-    ### build reference binaries
-    - cd build
-    - cmake ..
-    - make -j
-    - mv IVAS_cod ../IVAS_cod_ref
-    - mv IVAS_dec ../IVAS_dec_ref
-    - cd ..
-
-    # helper variable - "|| true" to prevent failures from grep not finding anything
-    # write to temporary file as workaround for failures observed with piping echo
-    - echo $CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE > tmp.txt
-    - non_be_flag=$(grep -c --ignore-case "\[non[ -]*be\]" tmp.txt) || true
-    - ref_using_main=$(grep -c --ignore-case "\[ref[ -]*using[ -]*main\]" tmp.txt) || true
-
-    ### re-checkout the latest commit in the main branch, if ref_using_main is not set
-    - if [ $ref_using_main == 0 ]; then git checkout $latest_commit;fi
-
-    ### prepare pytest
-    # rename test binaries back
-    - mv IVAS_cod_test IVAS_cod
-    - mv IVAS_dec_test IVAS_dec
-    # create references
-    - testcase_timeout=60
-    - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --update_ref 1 --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
-
-    ### re-checkout the latest commit here, if ref_using_main is set
-    - if [ $ref_using_main -eq 1 ]; then git checkout $latest_commit;fi
-
-    ### run pytest
-    - exit_code=0
-    - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout || exit_code=$?
-    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $non_be_flag == 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures and non-BE flag not present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
-    - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
-    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $zero_errors == 1 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures, but no errors and non-BE flag present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
-    - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had errors"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi;
-  allow_failure:
-    exit_codes:
-      - 123
-  artifacts:
-    name: "main-push--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA--job-$CI_JOB_NAME--results"
-    expire_in: 1 week
-    when: always
-    paths:
-      - report-junit.xml
-      - report.html
-    expose_as: "Results of comparison to previous merge commit"
-    reports:
-      junit: report-junit.xml
+# be-2-evs-linux:
+#   extends:
+#     - .test-job-linux
+#     - .rules-main-push
+#   tags:
+#     - be-2-evs-temp
+#   stage: test
+#   needs: ["build-codec-linux-cmake"]
+#   timeout: "20 minutes" # To be revisited
+#   script:
+#     - bash "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/ivas-codec-ci/snippets/print-common-info.sh
+#
+#     - mkdir build
+#     - cd build
+#     - cmake ..
+#     - make -j
+#     - cd ..
+#
+#     # copy over to never change the testvector dir
+#     - cp -r $EVS_BE_TEST_DIR ./evs_be_test
+#     - cp build/IVAS_cod ./evs_be_test/bin/EVS_cod
+#     - cp build/IVAS_dec ./evs_be_test/bin/EVS_dec
+#
+#     - cd evs_be_test
+#     - python3 ../ci/run_evs_be_test.py
+
+# TODO: do we still need this?
+# codec-comparison-on-main-push:
+#   extends:
+#     - .test-job-linux-needs-testv-dir
+#     - .rules-main-push
+#   stage: compare
+#   needs: ["build-codec-linux-cmake"]
+#   timeout: "30 minutes" # To be revisited
+#   script:
+#     - bash "${CI_PROJECT_DIR}"/ivas-codec-ci/snippets/print-common-info.sh
+#     - latest_commit=$(git rev-parse HEAD) # Latest commit
+#     - previous_merge_commit=$(git --no-pager log --merges HEAD~1 -n 1 --pretty=format:%H)
+#     - echo "Comparing changes from $previous_merge_commit to $latest_commit"
+#     - git --no-pager diff --stat $previous_merge_commit..$latest_commit
+#
+#     # Rest is more or less placeholder adapted from MR self test. This should be replaced with more complex tests.
+#
+#     ### build test binaries, initial clean for paranoia reasons
+#     - make clean
+#     - mkdir build
+#     - cd build
+#     - cmake ..
+#     - make -j
+#     - mv IVAS_cod ../IVAS_cod_test
+#     - mv IVAS_dec ../IVAS_dec_test
+#     - cd ..
+#     - rm -rf build/*
+#
+#     ### compare to the previous merge commit in the main branch
+#     - git fetch origin main
+#     - git checkout $previous_merge_commit
+#     - echo "Building reference codec at commit $previous_merge_commit"
+#
+#     ### build reference binaries
+#     - cd build
+#     - cmake ..
+#     - make -j
+#     - mv IVAS_cod ../IVAS_cod_ref
+#     - mv IVAS_dec ../IVAS_dec_ref
+#     - cd ..
+#
+#     # helper variable - "|| true" to prevent failures from grep not finding anything
+#     # write to temporary file as workaround for failures observed with piping echo
+#     - echo $CI_COMMIT_MESSAGE > tmp.txt
+#     - non_be_flag=$(grep -c --ignore-case "\[non[ -]*be\]" tmp.txt) || true
+#     - ref_using_main=$(grep -c --ignore-case "\[ref[ -]*using[ -]*main\]" tmp.txt) || true
+#
+#     ### re-checkout the latest commit in the main branch, if ref_using_main is not set
+#     - if [ $ref_using_main == 0 ]; then git checkout $latest_commit;fi
+#
+#     ### prepare pytest
+#     # rename test binaries back
+#     - mv IVAS_cod_test IVAS_cod
+#     - mv IVAS_dec_test IVAS_dec
+#     # create references
+#     - testcase_timeout=60
+#     - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --update_ref 1 --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout
+#
+#     ### re-checkout the latest commit here, if ref_using_main is set
+#     - if [ $ref_using_main -eq 1 ]; then git checkout $latest_commit;fi
+#
+#     ### run pytest
+#     - exit_code=0
+#     - python3 -m pytest $TESTS_DIR_CODEC_BE_ON_MR -v --html=report.html --self-contained-html --junit-xml=report-junit.xml --testcase_timeout=$testcase_timeout || exit_code=$?
+#     - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $non_be_flag == 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures and non-BE flag not present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi
+#     - zero_errors=$(cat report-junit.xml | grep -c 'errors="0"') || true
+#     - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ] && [ $zero_errors == 1 ]; then echo "pytest run had failures, but no errors and non-BE flag present"; exit $EXIT_CODE_NON_BE; fi
+#     - if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then echo "pytest run had errors"; exit $EXIT_CODE_FAIL; fi;
+#   allow_failure:
+#     exit_codes:
+#       - 123
+#   artifacts:
+#     name: "main-push--sha-$CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA--job-$CI_JOB_NAME--results"
+#     expire_in: 1 week
+#     when: always
+#     paths:
+#       - report-junit.xml
+#       - report.html
+#     expose_as: "Results of comparison to previous merge commit"
+#     reports:
+#       junit: report-junit.xml
 
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------