In a specific embodiment of the present invention, a system and method is disclosed having a plurality of modes for providing and/or receiving compressed video data at a frame buffer memory. The modes include providing compressed video data directly from a system host system or through a direct memory access controller; or indirectly from a system host through a demultiplexer portion using one or more registers to receive and handle a transport stream. Another mode of operation includes receiving a transport stream containing compressed video data from a head end system. The compressed video data is subsequently processed through a demultiplexer portion.