Live-stream starts 6 seconds from edge not at oldest segment.

Jellyfin.Plugin.SRFPlay/Controllers/StreamProxyController.cs

@@ -58,16 +58,28 @@ public class StreamProxyController : ControllerBase
     /// Livestreams need frequent manifest refresh, VOD can be cached longer.
     /// </summary>
     /// <param name="itemId">The item ID to check.</param>
-    private void AddManifestCacheHeaders(string itemId)
+    /// <param name="isVariantManifest">Whether this is a variant (sub) manifest with segment lists.</param>
+    private void AddManifestCacheHeaders(string itemId, bool isVariantManifest = false)
     {
         var metadata = _proxyService.GetStreamMetadata(itemId);
         var isLiveStream = metadata?.IsLiveStream ?? false;
 
         if (isLiveStream)
         {
-            // Livestreams need frequent manifest refresh (segments rotate every ~6-10s)
-            Response.Headers["Cache-Control"] = "max-age=2, must-revalidate";
-            _logger.LogDebug("Setting livestream cache headers for {ItemId}", itemId);
+            if (isVariantManifest)
+            {
+                // Variant manifests contain the segment list which changes every target duration.
+                // Use no-cache to ensure the player always gets the freshest segment list,
+                // preventing requests for segments that have been rotated out of the sliding window.
+                Response.Headers["Cache-Control"] = "no-cache, no-store";
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                // Master manifest is relatively stable (just lists quality variants)
+                Response.Headers["Cache-Control"] = "max-age=2, must-revalidate";
+            }
+
+            _logger.LogDebug("Setting livestream cache headers for {ItemId} (variant={IsVariant})", itemId, isVariantManifest);
         }
         else
         {
@@ -215,7 +227,8 @@ public class StreamProxyController : ControllerBase
             var rewrittenContent = _proxyService.RewriteVariantManifestUrls(manifestContent, baseProxyUrl, queryParams);
 
             // Set cache headers based on stream type (live vs VOD)
-            AddManifestCacheHeaders(actualItemId);
+            // Variant manifests use stricter no-cache for live streams
+            AddManifestCacheHeaders(actualItemId, isVariantManifest: true);
 
             _logger.LogDebug("Returning variant manifest for item {ItemId} ({Length} bytes)", itemId, rewrittenContent.Length);
             return Content(rewrittenContent, "application/vnd.apple.mpegurl; charset=utf-8");
@@ -253,9 +266,12 @@ public class StreamProxyController : ControllerBase
         {
             // Pass the original query string to preserve segment-specific parameters (e.g., ?m=timestamp)
             var queryString = Request.QueryString.HasValue ? Request.QueryString.Value : null;
-            var segmentData = await _proxyService.GetSegmentAsync(actualItemId, segmentPath, queryString, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
 
-            if (segmentData == null)
+            // Use streaming proxy: starts forwarding data to the client before the full segment
+            // is downloaded from the CDN, reducing time-to-first-byte for live streams
+            using var upstreamResponse = await _proxyService.GetSegmentStreamAsync(actualItemId, segmentPath, queryString, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (upstreamResponse == null)
             {
                 _logger.LogWarning("Segment not found - ItemId: {ItemId}, Path: {SegmentPath}", itemId, segmentPath);
                 return NotFound();
@@ -263,9 +279,18 @@ public class StreamProxyController : ControllerBase
 
             // Determine content type based on file extension
             var contentType = MimeTypeHelper.GetSegmentContentType(segmentPath);
+            Response.ContentType = contentType;
 
-            _logger.LogDebug("Returning segment {SegmentPath} ({Length} bytes, {ContentType})", segmentPath, segmentData.Length, contentType);
-            return File(segmentData, contentType);
+            if (upstreamResponse.Content.Headers.ContentLength.HasValue)
+            {
+                Response.ContentLength = upstreamResponse.Content.Headers.ContentLength.Value;
+            }
+
+            // Stream directly from CDN to client without buffering the entire segment in memory
+            await upstreamResponse.Content.CopyToAsync(Response.Body, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            _logger.LogDebug("Streamed segment {SegmentPath} ({ContentType})", segmentPath, contentType);
+            return new EmptyResult();
         }
         catch (Exception ex)
         {