--- a/mpeg_encode/parallel.c
+++ b/mpeg_encode/parallel.c
@@ -586,6 +586,8 @@
  * SIDE EFFECTS:    none
  *
  *===========================================================================*/
+/* internal hook into the ReadFrame function */
+void _ReadFrame(MpegFrame *frame, char *fileName, FILE *fileHook, char *conversion, boolean addPath);
 void
   GetRemoteFrame(frame, frameNumber)
 MpegFrame *frame;
@@ -615,8 +617,13 @@
 
   if ( frameNumber != -1 ) {
     if ( separateConversion ) {
-      sprintf(fileName, "/tmp/foobar%d", machineNumber);
-      filePtr = fopen(fileName, "wb");
+      int fd;
+      snprintf(fileName, sizeof(fileName), "/tmp/mpeg_encode_foobar%dXXXXXX", machineNumber);
+      fd = mkstemp(fileName);
+      if (fd == -1 || (filePtr = fdopen(fd, "wb")) == NULL) {
+	perror("ERROR: mpeg_encode->GetRemoteFrame");
+	exit(1);
+      }
 
       /* read in stuff, SafeWrite to file, perform local conversion */
       do {
@@ -628,10 +635,12 @@
 	fwrite(smallBuffer, 1, numBytes, filePtr);
       } while ( numBytes == 1000 );
       fflush(filePtr);
-      fclose(filePtr);
+      rewind(filePtr);
 
       /* now do slave conversion */
-      ReadFrame(frame, fileName, slaveConversion, FALSE);
+      _ReadFrame(frame, NULL, filePtr, slaveConversion, FALSE);
+      /* _ReadFrame() will close the file pointer for us */
+      /* fclose(filePtr); */
     } else {
       Frame_AllocYCC(frame);
 
--- a/mpeg_encode/readframe.c
+++ b/mpeg_encode/readframe.c
@@ -227,14 +227,22 @@
  * SIDE EFFECTS:    none
  *
  *===========================================================================*/
+void _ReadFrame(MpegFrame *frame, char *fileName, FILE *fileHook, char *conversion, boolean addPath);
+
+void ReadFrame(MpegFrame *frame, char *fileName, char *conversion, boolean addPath)
+{
+    _ReadFrame(frame, fileName, NULL, conversion, addPath);
+}
+
 void
-ReadFrame(frame, fileName, conversion, addPath)
+_ReadFrame(frame, fileName, fileHook, conversion, addPath)
     MpegFrame *frame;
     char *fileName;
+    FILE *fileHook;
     char *conversion;
     boolean addPath;
 {
-    FILE    *ifp;
+    FILE    *ifp = fileHook;
     char    command[1024];
     char    fullFileName[1024];
     MpegFrame    tempFrame;
@@ -274,6 +282,9 @@
     }
 #endif
 
+    if (fileHook)
+      goto file_is_already_opened;
+
     if ( fileType == ANY_FILE_TYPE ) {
     char *convertPtr, *commandPtr, *charPtr;
 
@@ -325,6 +336,7 @@
       exit(1);
     }
 
+file_is_already_opened:
     switch(baseFormat) {
     case YUV_FILE_TYPE: