Systems and methods for quick start-up of playback

A method for fast startup of video playback of encoded media content using at least two video streams, where the media is encoded as at least a first video stream and a second video stream, the method comprising:

• receiving information for a quick start-up stream of a piece of media content in a playback device over a network;
• commencing streaming of video content in the quick start-up stream from a content provider system over the network using the playback device;
• determining an event has occurred using the playback device;
• receiving information for a plurality of encrypted alternative streams of the piece of media content in the playback device over the network, where the plurality of encrypted alternative streams are encoded at different bitrates and the quality of video content in the quick start-up stream has a lesser quality than video content in at least some of the plurality of encrypted alternative streams;
• commencing streaming of video content in one of the plurality of alternative streams from the content provider system over the network using the playback device in response to the determining that the event has occurred.