diff --git a/lib/screens/video_player_screen.dart b/lib/screens/video_player_screen.dart
index 36a05e72..7a2ecb6c 100644
--- a/lib/screens/video_player_screen.dart
+++ b/lib/screens/video_player_screen.dart
@@ -2602,8 +2602,10 @@ class VideoPlayerScreenState extends State<VideoPlayerScreen> with WidgetsBindin
 
       // For live TV, player position/duration are unreliable (often 0).
       // Use playbackTime as time, and program duration from tune metadata.
+      // Plex rejects timeline pings where time > duration; grow duration to
+      // match — otherwise Tunarr-style short synthetic programs 400 mid-stream.
       final time = playbackTime;
-      final duration = _liveDurationMs ?? 0;
+      final duration = max(_liveDurationMs ?? 0, time);
 
       final updatedBuffer = await client.updateLiveTimeline(
         ratingKey: ratingKey,
diff --git a/lib/services/plex_client.dart b/lib/services/plex_client.dart
index 47f31848..fc54a438 100644
--- a/lib/services/plex_client.dart
+++ b/lib/services/plex_client.dart
@@ -262,11 +262,21 @@ class PlexClient {
   }
 
   bool _shouldAttemptFailover(PlexHttpException e) {
+    if (e.isTransient) return true;
     final sc = e.statusCode;
-    return e.type == PlexHttpErrorType.connectionTimeout ||
-        e.type == PlexHttpErrorType.receiveTimeout ||
-        e.type == PlexHttpErrorType.connectionError ||
-        (sc != null && sc >= 500 && sc <= 599);
+    return sc != null && sc >= 500 && sc <= 599;
+  }
+
+  /// POST the tune endpoint with one retry on transient HTTP failure.
+  Future<PlexResponse> _postTuneWithRetry(String path, String sessionIdentifier) async {
+    final query = {'X-Plex-Session-Identifier': sessionIdentifier};
+    try {
+      return await _http.post(path, queryParameters: query, timeout: ConnectionTimeouts.tune);
+    } on PlexHttpException catch (e) {
+      if (!e.isTransient) rethrow;
+      appLogger.w('Tune channel: transient failure, retrying once', error: e);
+      return await _http.post(path, queryParameters: query, timeout: ConnectionTimeouts.tune);
+    }
   }
 
   /// Fetch /media/providers and parse libraries + EPG providers from the response.
@@ -2658,9 +2668,9 @@ class PlexClient {
     try {
       final sessionIdentifier = generateSessionIdentifier();
 
-      final response = await _http.post(
+      final response = await _postTuneWithRetry(
         '/livetv/dvrs/$dvrKey/channels/$channelIdentifier/tune',
-        queryParameters: {'X-Plex-Session-Identifier': sessionIdentifier},
+        sessionIdentifier,
       );
 
       if (response.statusCode >= 400) {
diff --git a/lib/utils/connection_constants.dart b/lib/utils/connection_constants.dart
index 58049c34..4691aecd 100644
--- a/lib/utils/connection_constants.dart
+++ b/lib/utils/connection_constants.dart
@@ -11,6 +11,10 @@ class ConnectionTimeouts {
   /// HTTP connect timeout for individual HTTP requests to a Plex server.
   static const connect = Duration(seconds: 10);
 
+  /// HTTP timeout for the live-TV tune POST. Matches Plex web's value — the
+  /// default 10s connect budget is too tight on Fire-TV cold starts.
+  static const tune = Duration(seconds: 30);
+
   /// Per-server connection budget: preferred probe + race + HTTPS upgrade attempt + 1s buffer.
   static const perServerConnect = Duration(milliseconds: 1500 + 2000 + 2000 + 1000);
 
diff --git a/lib/utils/plex_http_exception.dart b/lib/utils/plex_http_exception.dart
index 02a952a0..7252f943 100644
--- a/lib/utils/plex_http_exception.dart
+++ b/lib/utils/plex_http_exception.dart
@@ -45,6 +45,12 @@ class PlexHttpException implements Exception {
     return PlexHttpException(type: PlexHttpErrorType.unknown, message: error.toString(), requestUri: uri);
   }
 
+  /// Whether the error looks transient (network/timeout) and worth retrying.
+  bool get isTransient =>
+      type == PlexHttpErrorType.connectionTimeout ||
+      type == PlexHttpErrorType.connectionError ||
+      type == PlexHttpErrorType.receiveTimeout;
+
   @override
   String toString() => 'PlexHttpException(${type.name}: $message)';
 }
diff --git a/test/utils/plex_http_exception_test.dart b/test/utils/plex_http_exception_test.dart
index 2e6cc393..263daf27 100644
--- a/test/utils/plex_http_exception_test.dart
+++ b/test/utils/plex_http_exception_test.dart
@@ -84,4 +84,28 @@ void main() {
       expect(e.toString(), 'PlexHttpException(cancelled: halt)');
     });
   });
+
+  group('PlexHttpException.isTransient', () {
+    PlexHttpException ex(PlexHttpErrorType t) => PlexHttpException(type: t);
+
+    test('connectionTimeout is transient', () {
+      expect(ex(PlexHttpErrorType.connectionTimeout).isTransient, isTrue);
+    });
+
+    test('receiveTimeout is transient', () {
+      expect(ex(PlexHttpErrorType.receiveTimeout).isTransient, isTrue);
+    });
+
+    test('connectionError is transient', () {
+      expect(ex(PlexHttpErrorType.connectionError).isTransient, isTrue);
+    });
+
+    test('cancelled is NOT transient (user-driven abort)', () {
+      expect(ex(PlexHttpErrorType.cancelled).isTransient, isFalse);
+    });
+
+    test('unknown is NOT transient', () {
+      expect(ex(PlexHttpErrorType.unknown).isTransient, isFalse);
+    });
+  });
 }