diff --git a/static/app.js b/static/app.js
index 3cae04b..443e462 100644
--- a/static/app.js
+++ b/static/app.js
@@ -635,6 +635,10 @@ function playerHideOverlay() {
 function playerFail(msg) {
   if (!currentEp) return;
   playerBroken = true;
+  // a fatal error stops the periodic saves (timeupdate/pause never come
+  // again); persist the position now or the user loses everything since
+  // the last 10s save when they leave
+  savePos();
   const { ep_id, ep_no } = currentEp;
   postEvent({type: "error", detail: msg, ep_id, ep: ep_no, lang});
   playerOverlay("Playback failed: " + msg, () => play(ep_id, ep_no));
diff --git a/tests/test_browser.py b/tests/test_browser.py
index 327cceb..6327a59 100644
--- a/tests/test_browser.py
+++ b/tests/test_browser.py
@@ -157,22 +157,47 @@ async def _stream_failure_retry():
         async def abort_stream(route):
             await route.abort()
 
-        # note: **/stream/* (single star) — must NOT match the
-        # /api/episode/{id}/stream token endpoint, only the /stream/{token} proxy
-        await page.route("**/stream/*", abort_stream)
         await _login(page, "admin", "adminpw12345")
         await page.fill("#q", "chainsaw")
         await page.keyboard.press("Enter")
         await page.wait_for_selector("a.card", timeout=30000)
         await page.click("a.card", force=True)
-        # detail auto-plays ep1; with /stream aborted hls.js exhausts its
-        # retries and surfaces the fatal error -> failure overlay with Retry
-        await page.wait_for_selector(".pl-overlay button", timeout=90000)
-        await page.unroute("**/stream/*", abort_stream)
-        await page.click(".pl-overlay button", force=True)
+        # detail auto-plays ep1. Wait only for playlist metadata (duration
+        # comes from the VOD playlist, NOT from segment bytes) — this must
+        # work even when the CDN is slow/flaky on segments
         await page.wait_for_function(
-            "document.querySelector('video').readyState >= 4 && document.querySelector('video').currentTime > 1",
+            "document.querySelector('video')?.duration > 0",
             timeout=120000, polling=250)
+        # wipe this show's history: the initial play() write (and any entry
+        # left by earlier tests) would otherwise mask whether the error-time
+        # save happened — from here on the only write can be that save
+        slug = await page.evaluate("new URLSearchParams(location.search).get('anime')")
+        h0 = await page.evaluate("fetch('api/history?all=1').then(r => r.json())")
+        for e in (x for x in h0 if x["slug_id"] == slug):
+            await page.evaluate(
+                "([s, ep]) => fetch('api/history?slug_id=' + encodeURIComponent(s) + '&ep_id=' + ep,"
+                " {method:'DELETE', headers:{'X-Aniweb':'1'}})", [e["slug_id"], e["ep_id"]])
+        # seek to 6s: below the 10s periodic-save threshold (and above the
+        # 3s minimum), so NO periodic save can fire — only an error-time
+        # save could persist ~6s. The seek reflects immediately even though
+        # the bytes never arrive (we kill /stream next)
+        await page.evaluate("document.querySelector('video').currentTime = 6")
+        # kill the stream: hls.js's frag loads abort, retries exhaust,
+        # fatal error -> playerFail, which must save the position
+        # (note: **/stream/* single star — must NOT match the
+        # /api/episode/{id}/stream token endpoint, only the /stream/{token} proxy)
+        await page.route("**/stream/*", abort_stream)
+        await page.wait_for_selector(".pl-overlay button", timeout=90000)
+        # pre-fix nothing was written after the DELETE above
+        hist = await page.evaluate("fetch('api/history?all=1').then(r => r.json())")
+        assert any(e["slug_id"] == slug and e["pos"] >= 5 for e in hist), hist
+        # and the player is recoverable: Retry re-invokes play(), which
+        # starts with a fresh token fetch (assert that — not segment bytes,
+        # which a hanging CDN would make environmental; real playback is
+        # covered by the other video tests)
+        await page.unroute("**/stream/*", abort_stream)
+        async with page.expect_request("**/api/episode/*/stream*", timeout=30000):
+            await page.click(".pl-overlay button", force=True)
         await browser.close()