Systems and methods for error resilient transmission and for random access in video communication systems are provided. The video communication systems are based on single-layer, scalable video, or simulcast video coding with temporal scalability, which may be used in video communication systems. A set of video frames or pictures in a video signal transmission is designated for reliable or guaranteed delivery to receivers using secure or high reliability links, or by retransmission techniques. The reliably-delivered video frames are used as reference pictures for resynchronization of receivers with the transmitted video signal after error incidence and for random access.