A method for generating thumbnail images for video content navigation, the method comprising: receiving, by a television receiver, video content; determining, by one or more processors of the television receiver, a type of display in communication with the television receiver; adjusting, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a predefined time period based on the type of the display to be used to view the video content, wherein the predefined time period varies for different types of displays; while the video content is being received wherein the received video content includes an I-frame, the I-frame being a type of frame encoding that includes all of the data necessary to create a visual image without any additional information: determining, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, that the predefined time period has expired; waking, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a thumbnail generation process from a sleep state in response to determining that the predefined time period has expired; monitoring, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, for a next occurring I-frame of the received video content after the thumbnail generation process is woken from the sleep state; creating, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a thumbnail image based on the next occurring I-frame, the thumbnail image being a reduced resolution image of the I-frame and being mapped to a timestamp that corresponds to a time at which the thumbnail was created from the received video content; storing, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, the thumbnail image mapped to the timestamp; and in response to storing the thumbnail image, causing the thumbnail generation process to enter the sleep state. receiving, by a television receiver, video content; determining, by one or more processors of the television receiver, a type of display in communication with the television receiver; adjusting, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a predefined time period based on the type of the display to be used to view the video content, wherein the predefined time period varies for different types of displays; while the video content is being received wherein the received video content includes an I-frame, the I-frame being a type of frame encoding that includes all of the data necessary to create a visual image without any additional information: determining, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, that the predefined time period has expired; waking, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a thumbnail generation process from a sleep state in response to determining that the predefined time period has expired; monitoring, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, for a next occurring I-frame of the received video content after the thumbnail generation process is woken from the sleep state; creating, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a thumbnail image based on the next occurring I-frame, the thumbnail image being a reduced resolution image of the I-frame and being mapped to a timestamp that corresponds to a time at which the thumbnail was created from the received video content; storing, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, the thumbnail image mapped to the timestamp; and in response to storing the thumbnail image, causing the thumbnail generation process to enter the sleep state. waking, by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a thumbnail generation process from a sleep state in response to determining that the predefined time period has expired; monitoring, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, for a next occurring I-frame of the received video content after the thumbnail generation process is woken from the sleep state; creating, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, a thumbnail image based on the next occurring I-frame, the thumbnail image being a reduced resolution image of the I-frame and being mapped to a timestamp that corresponds to a time at which the thumbnail was created from the received video content; storing, by the thumbnail generation process being executed by the one or more processors of the television receiver, the thumbnail image mapped to the timestamp; and in response to storing the thumbnail image, causing the thumbnail generation process to enter the sleep state.