A system and method for monitoring a sequence of video packets for quantifying video quality includes a video picture monitor that accesses data in a header of a video packet included in the sequence of video packets. The header is separate from video content stored in the video packet. The video picture monitor also determines from the accessed data, a relationship between a portion of a picture included in the video packet and at least a portion of a picture included in another video packet. Both video packets are included in the sequence of video packets. This relationship indicates whether to use the video content stored in the first video packet to quantify video quality.