Various arrangements for generating thumbnail images for video content as the video content is being received are presented. Video content may be initially received. A thumbnail generation process may be woken from a sleep state based on a predefined time period elapsing. The received video content may be monitored for a next-received I-frame. A thumbnail image may be created from the I-frame and may be mapped to a timestamp. The thumbnail generation process may then be caused to enter the sleep state for the predefined time period.