diff --git a/public/js/components/VideoPlayer.js b/public/js/components/VideoPlayer.js
index d642a32..cadf9a3 100644
--- a/public/js/components/VideoPlayer.js
+++ b/public/js/components/VideoPlayer.js
@@ -181,7 +181,7 @@ class VideoPlayer {
         btnMute.addEventListener('click', () => {
             this.video.muted = !this.video.muted;
             btnMute.classList.toggle('muted', this.video.muted);
-            
+
             // Update icon
             const icon = btnMute.querySelector('.icon');
             if (this.video.muted) {
@@ -236,13 +236,13 @@ class VideoPlayer {
 
             this.video.addEventListener('click', showControls);
             this.video.addEventListener('touchstart', showControls);
-            
+
             // Keep controls visible when video is paused
             this.video.addEventListener('pause', () => {
                 controls.classList.add('show');
                 clearTimeout(controlsTimeout);
             });
-            
+
             this.video.addEventListener('play', () => {
                 hideControls();
             });
@@ -474,7 +474,9 @@ class VideoPlayer {
                 // Transcoded streams are fragmented MP4 - play directly with <video> element
                 console.log('[Player] Playing transcoded stream directly:', transcodeUrl);
                 this.video.src = transcodeUrl;
-                this.video.play().catch(e => console.log('[Player] Autoplay prevented:', e));
+                this.video.play().catch(e => {
+                    if (e.name !== 'AbortError') console.log('[Player] Autoplay prevented:', e);
+                });
 
                 // Update UI and dispatch events
                 this.updateNowPlaying(channel);
@@ -513,7 +515,9 @@ class VideoPlayer {
                 console.log('[Player] Stream type:', isRawTs ? 'Raw TS' : 'Extension-less (assumed TS)');
                 const remuxUrl = this.getRemuxUrl(streamUrl);
                 this.video.src = remuxUrl;
-                this.video.play().catch(e => console.log('[Player] Autoplay prevented:', e));
+                this.video.play().catch(e => {
+                    if (e.name !== 'AbortError') console.log('[Player] Autoplay prevented:', e);
+                });
 
                 // Update UI and dispatch events
                 this.updateNowPlaying(channel);
@@ -542,7 +546,9 @@ class VideoPlayer {
                 this.hls.attachMedia(this.video);
 
                 this.hls.on(Hls.Events.MANIFEST_PARSED, () => {
-                    this.video.play().catch(e => console.log('Autoplay prevented:', e));
+                    this.video.play().catch(e => {
+                        if (e.name !== 'AbortError') console.log('Autoplay prevented:', e);
+                    });
                 });
 
                 // Re-attach error handler for the new Hls instance
@@ -592,17 +598,22 @@ class VideoPlayer {
                 // Priority 2: Native HLS support (Safari on iOS/macOS where HLS.js may not work)
                 this.video.src = finalUrl;
                 this.video.play().catch(e => {
+                    if (e.name === 'AbortError') return; // Ignore interruption by new load
                     console.log('Autoplay prevented, trying proxy if CORS error:', e);
                     if (!this.isUsingProxy) {
                         this.isUsingProxy = true;
                         this.video.src = this.getProxiedUrl(streamUrl);
-                        this.video.play().catch(err => console.error('Proxy play failed:', err));
+                        this.video.play().catch(err => {
+                            if (err.name !== 'AbortError') console.error('Proxy play failed:', err);
+                        });
                     }
                 });
             } else {
                 // Priority 3: Try direct playback for non-HLS streams
                 this.video.src = finalUrl;
-                this.video.play().catch(e => console.log('Autoplay prevented:', e));
+                this.video.play().catch(e => {
+                    if (e.name !== 'AbortError') console.log('Autoplay prevented:', e);
+                });
             }
 
             // Update now playing info
diff --git a/server/routes/remux.js b/server/routes/remux.js
index 637c1cd..a7ca193 100644
--- a/server/routes/remux.js
+++ b/server/routes/remux.js
@@ -26,10 +26,15 @@ router.get('/', (req, res) => {
     const args = [
         '-hide_banner',
         '-loglevel', 'warning',
-        // Error resilience: discard corrupt packets, generate timestamps
-        '-fflags', '+genpts+discardcorrupt+igndts',
+        // Low-latency startup: reduce probe/analyze time for faster first bytes
+        '-probesize', '32768',
+        '-analyzeduration', '0',
+        // Error resilience: discard corrupt packets, generate timestamps, ignore DTS, no buffering
+        '-fflags', '+genpts+discardcorrupt+igndts+nobuffer',
         // Ignore errors in stream and continue
         '-err_detect', 'ignore_err',
+        // Limit max demux delay to prevent buffering issues with bad timestamps
+        '-max_delay', '5000000',
         // Reconnect settings for network drops
         '-reconnect', '1',
         '-reconnect_streamed', '1',
@@ -40,6 +45,9 @@ router.get('/', (req, res) => {
         // Convert AAC from ADTS format (TS) to ASC format (MP4)
         // Required when remuxing MPEG-TS with AAC audio to MP4
         '-bsf:a', 'aac_adtstoasc',
+        // Handle timestamp discontinuities at output
+        '-fps_mode', 'passthrough',
+        '-max_muxing_queue_size', '1024',
         // Fragmented MP4 for streaming (browser-compatible)
         '-f', 'mp4',
         '-movflags', 'frag_keyframe+empty_moov+default_base_moof',
diff --git a/server/routes/transcode.js b/server/routes/transcode.js
index 6e8eed4..c825eeb 100644
--- a/server/routes/transcode.js
+++ b/server/routes/transcode.js
@@ -25,8 +25,11 @@ router.get('/', (req, res) => {
     const args = [
         '-hide_banner',
         '-loglevel', 'warning',
-        // Error resilience: discard corrupt packets, generate timestamps, ignore DTS
-        '-fflags', '+genpts+discardcorrupt+igndts',
+        // Low-latency startup: reduce probe/analyze time for faster first bytes
+        '-probesize', '32768',
+        '-analyzeduration', '0',
+        // Error resilience: discard corrupt packets, generate timestamps, ignore DTS, no buffering
+        '-fflags', '+genpts+discardcorrupt+igndts+nobuffer',
         // Ignore errors in stream and continue
         '-err_detect', 'ignore_err',
         // Limit max demux delay to prevent buffering issues with bad timestamps