A method and system are provided in which a processor may perform fast source switching and/or automatic source switching by keeping active the signals from multiple sources. The processor may determine which received video signals are locked-in within a front-end portion of the processor. A video signal may be locked-in when a demodulator is locked to a carrier in the video signal or when a decoder is programmed to decode the video signal. During operation, the processor may switch from processing a current video signal to processing a video signal selected from those determined to be locked-in. The processor may maintain active a portion of a back-end portion of the processor to handle the switch from the current video signal to the selected video signal. The processor may switch to process between video signals when a predetermined content and/or metadata is detected within one of the video signals.