The described technology is directed towards generating a new video image sequence (e.g., for playback at 30 frames per second) based on an existing video image sequence (e.g., originated for playback at 24 frames per second). The technology is based on processing frames, e.g., adjacent pairs of frames in a four-frame sequence, to obtain candidate frames for selecting a similar candidate frame to insert into the original sequence to create the new sequence (e.g., a five-frame sequence). Aspects include selecting a repeated frame to insert or creating a new frame from existing frames to insert, to generate the new sequence based on a difference/scoring comparison.