A high-performance combining process has use in sending a trick-mode video stream, of a particular video, from a video server to a viewer network. This combining process--1) sends a series of spaced-apart requests to a computer, with each request being for combining directions which indicate how to generate a respective portion of the trick-mode video stream by combining video data that was previously stored in memory before the sending step with selected items that are generated in the computer in response to the sending step; 2) receives the requested combining directions; and 3) uses the directions to combine the selected items with the video data that was previously stored in the memory.