A system and method for displaying MPEG-2 packets as a hierarchy of tables within a window of a graphical display. This hierarchial display is updated continuously as new packets are received, thus providing a real time display. When a packet is received, and the location of that packet has not been identified, the packet is placed at the top of the hierarchy. Once a subsequent packet is received wherein the subsequent packet identifies the location of the earlier received packet, the earlier received packet is moved to its correct location within the hierarchy. When a user of the system clicks one of the tables within the hierarchy, the system saves the next data packet or packets containing data for the table into a display table buffer. The system then displays a second window and formats the data from the display table buffer into the second window.