Methods and systems for processing an encoded video stream are disclosed. Aspects of the method may comprise generating a plurality of temporal or spatial prediction pixels based on mode information within the encoded video stream. A plurality of prediction errors may be generated from a plurality of quantized frequency coefficients generated from the encoded video stream. At least one current macroblock may be generated using the generated plurality of temporal or spatial prediction pixels based on the generated plurality of prediction errors. The encoded video stream may be symbol interpreted using context adaptive variable length coding and/or context adaptive binary arithmetic coding. The encoded video stream may be buffered prior to the symbol interpretation. The plurality of quantized frequency coefficients may be generated from the encoded video stream. If the encoded video stream comprises temporal prediction mode information, the plurality of temporal prediction pixels may be generated.