The payloads of IP packets are checked to actually determine if a packet contains MPEG-2 video rather than using predefined streams or priority levels that are assumed to contain such information as is done in the prior art. More specifically, the "sync" bytes of the MPEG-2 stream are searched for within the IP packet payload, and when a pattern indicative of the sync bytes is found the sync bytes are identified and the packet is determined to contain MPEG-2 video. The sync byte was defined in MPEG-2 for over-the-air broadcasting in order that a television receiver be able to synchronize the MPEG-2 transport stream packets. Note that the MPEG-2 video, e.g., the MPEG-2 transport stream packets, may or may not be incorporated within real time protocol (RTP) packets before being incorporated into the IP packets.