A Headend system comprising a plurality of operationally connected modules including: a video codec to encode a video sequence yielding an encoded video sequence having a plurality of video packets; a multiplexer to receive the video packets of the encoded video sequence and prepare a transport stream including the video packets; and a signal generator to: receive a notification of a splice point in the encoded video sequence, the splice point being a point from which to start rendering the video sequence by a rendering device for output to an output device, where the splice point is at a dependently encoded frame; after the video sequence has been encoded, analyze at least some of the video packets of the encoded video sequence based on the notification of the splice point in order to find a random-access-point-packet of the packets, the random-access-point-packet being the first packet which includes data of the frame of a random-access-point, the random-access-point being a point from which to start decoding the encoded video sequence by the rendering device so that the video sequence may be rendered for output from the splice point; create a timing signal estimating a location of the random-access-point-packet in the encoded video sequence based on original timestamps created by the video codec; and output the timing signal to the multiplexer or a transmission equipment. a video codec to encode a video sequence yielding an encoded video sequence having a plurality of video packets; a multiplexer to receive the video packets of the encoded video sequence and prepare a transport stream including the video packets; and a signal generator to: receive a notification of a splice point in the encoded video sequence, the splice point being a point from which to start rendering the video sequence by a rendering device for output to an output device, where the splice point is at a dependently encoded frame; after the video sequence has been encoded, analyze at least some of the video packets of the encoded video sequence based on the notification of the splice point in order to find a random-access-point-packet of the packets, the random-access-point-packet being the first packet which includes data of the frame of a random-access-point, the random-access-point being a point from which to start decoding the encoded video sequence by the rendering device so that the video sequence may be rendered for output from the splice point; create a timing signal estimating a location of the random-access-point-packet in the encoded video sequence based on original timestamps created by the video codec; and output the timing signal to the multiplexer or a transmission equipment. receive a notification of a splice point in the encoded video sequence, the splice point being a point from which to start rendering the video sequence by a rendering device for output to an output device, where the splice point is at a dependently encoded frame; after the video sequence has been encoded, analyze at least some of the video packets of the encoded video sequence based on the notification of the splice point in order to find a random-access-point-packet of the packets, the random-access-point-packet being the first packet which includes data of the frame of a random-access-point, the random-access-point being a point from which to start decoding the encoded video sequence by the rendering device so that the video sequence may be rendered for output from the splice point; create a timing signal estimating a location of the random-access-point-packet in the encoded video sequence based on original timestamps created by the video codec; and output the timing signal to the multiplexer or a transmission equipment.