Former Labour shadow minister Eric Joyce pleaded guilty on Tuesday to making child pornography images.
The 59-year-old ex-MP for Falkirk in Scotland from 2000 and 2015, has also been ordered by Judge Emma Peters to sign the Sex Offenders register.
While at the Ipswich Crown Court, he admitted to making an indecent photograph of a child between August 7, 2013, and November 6, 2018.
Judge Peters said that a single 51-second film, discovered on a device, "depicts a number of children".
"Some are quite young, one is said to be 12 months old," she said. "Clearly a category A movie", she said.
Joyce, who was arrested for the charges in 2018, claimed that the video was "spam" accessed through an email
"At the time he was drinking heavily and he has now undergone work with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and a psychotherapist," she added.
Joyce is due sentenced on August 7 and Judge Peters warned the former shadow minister, of Worlingworth, Suffolk, that the offence will receive a custody sentence
"It's going to be a question of whether it's immediate or suspended," she said.
She said that the court takes similar incidents seriously as they "fuel" the abuse of children.
Joyce had previously pled guilty to four charges of assault in 2012 at Westminster magistrates' court following a punch-up in the Commons Strangers' Bar.
He attacked a group of Tory MPs on 22 February 2012, around 10.30 pm. Following their startled glances in response to his friend singing loudly.
Mr Joyce swung at Conservative MP Shelbrooke, who dodged his attack. Joyce then hit Tory councillor Luke Mackenzie, giving him a split lip, and head-butting another, Ben Maney.
Labour whip Phillip Wilson put his Joyce's shoulder telling him to calm down and asked what was going on - Joyce succeeded to punch him in the face too.
The police arrived to find him smelling strongly of alcohol and arrested him.
"You can't touch me, I'm an MP", he yelled as he was dragged away.
He left the Labour Party to continue serving as an independent MP for Falkirk in 2012, before announcing he would not contest the seat at the 2015 general election.