In this paper we propose a framework for the efficient transmission of video traffic through IP-based networks. The IETF's Integrated Services is used to enable the provision of the QoS guarantees required by the video application. Specifically, the Resource ReSerVation Protocol (RSVP) allows the end user to request deterministic QoS guarantees from the network. Since our focus is on pre-recorded video data, the video data is pre-processed through a smoothing operation prior to its transmission. The use of the smoothing algorithm reduces the network resources facilitating the resource reservation process. First, we evaluate the performance of the smoothing algorithm chosen for this study through its sensitivity to processing and network latencies. The second phase of the experimental work consists in evaluating the performance of an RSVP-aware switching point for video transmission supplemented by a smoothing mechanism and a class based queuing (CBQ) scheduler. The overall system evaluation is carried out using various video streams and under different load conditions.