From f7ea06c70adff77b1bc9c673834e50e639653a5d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Deivid Soto <hello@torrentclaw.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2026 19:42:05 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(stream): honor client network-caching in the M3U playlist
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

playlistHandler hardcoded #EXTVLCOPT:network-caching=30000, so VLC pre-buffered
~30 s before starting playback even on a fast, range-served LAN/Tailscale
source — the "VLC loads the whole movie before playing" regression.

Read the value from a networkCaching query param (clamped 500–60000ms) and
default to 3000 when absent. The web sends a network-aware value (small on
LAN/Tailscale, larger on the CF funnel); older web clients fall back to the
modest default instead of the old 30 s wall.
---
 internal/engine/stream_server.go | 17 ++++++++++++++++-
 1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/internal/engine/stream_server.go b/internal/engine/stream_server.go
index dd21862..b8a68cd 100644
--- a/internal/engine/stream_server.go
+++ b/internal/engine/stream_server.go
@@ -790,6 +790,21 @@ func (ss *StreamServer) playlistHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request)
 	resumeSec := sanitize(q.Get("resumeSec"))
 	title := sanitize(q.Get("title"))
 	streamURL := q.Get("streamUrl")
+	// VLC network buffer (ms). The web sends a network-aware value (small on
+	// LAN/Tailscale, larger on the CF funnel); clamp to a sane range. Older web
+	// clients that don't pass it get a modest default — the old flat 30000 made
+	// VLC pre-buffer ~30 s before playback even on a fast, range-served source.
+	networkCaching := 3000
+	if v := sanitize(q.Get("networkCaching")); v != "" {
+		if n, err := strconv.Atoi(v); err == nil {
+			if n < 500 {
+				n = 500
+			} else if n > 60000 {
+				n = 60000
+			}
+			networkCaching = n
+		}
+	}
 	// Only accept http(s) URLs to prevent file:// or other URI schemes in the playlist.
 	if streamURL != "" && !strings.HasPrefix(streamURL, "http://") && !strings.HasPrefix(streamURL, "https://") {
 		streamURL = ""
@@ -819,7 +834,7 @@ func (ss *StreamServer) playlistHandler(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request)
 	if resumeSec != "" && resumeSec != "0" {
 		b.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("#EXTVLCOPT:start-time=%s\n", resumeSec))
 	}
-	b.WriteString("#EXTVLCOPT:network-caching=30000\n")
+	b.WriteString(fmt.Sprintf("#EXTVLCOPT:network-caching=%d\n", networkCaching))
 	b.WriteString(streamURL + "\n")
 
 	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "audio/x-mpegurl")