Regression: video coverage gate aborts renders of a looping video shorter than its slot (#2516 / #2606)

[granganantjyot]

Summary

Follow-up to #2565 / #2606. #2606 taught the video-coverage gate to credit the held tail of a non-looping short video (freeze), so render no longer aborts on those. But the credit is gated on !video.loop, so a looping video shorter than its slot still aborts by default.

This is a regression: the same composition rendered clean by default on 0.7.59 (the last release before the #2516 freeze work), and aborts on 0.7.60–0.7.64.

This is the mainline "loop a short clip to fill a longer scene" use case (source duration < scene duration) — the reason loop exists.

Repro

A non-looping short clip in a longer slot renders fine (thanks to #2606):

<video class="clip" src="short-3s.mp4" data-start="0" data-duration="10" data-track-index="0" muted playsinline></video>

Add loop — same source, same slot — and it aborts:

<video class="clip" src="short-3s.mp4" data-start="0" data-duration="10" data-track-index="0" muted playsinline loop></video>

npx hyperframes@0.7.64 render -c comp.html

Actual

Video "hero-video" captured 90 of expected 300 frames (coverage 30.0%, threshold 95.0%).
check/snapshot may pass while the encoded MP4 renders this clip blank — aborting render
to prevent shipping a wrong MP4. Set HF_VIDEO_COVERAGE_THRESHOLD=0 to disable this gate.

(90 = 3s × 30fps decoded source frames; 300 = the 10s × 30fps authored slot.)

Expected

The render completes. A looping video fills every output frame with real content (the clip repeats), so its real slot coverage is 100% — the low unique-source-frame count is expected and correct, not a blank/truncated clip.

Root cause

packages/producer/src/services/render/videoFrameCoverage.ts — the #2606 source-credit excludes loops via !video.loop:

const sourceFrames   = entry && !video.loop && hasUsableSourceDuration
  ? expectedFramesForClip(0, sourceDuration, fps)
  : slotFrames;
const expectedFrames = entry && !video.loop ? Math.min(slotFrames, sourceFrames) : slotFrames;
const capturedFrames = entry ? entry.framePaths.size : 0;   // unique source frames = 90
const ratio          = capturedFrames / expectedFrames;     // loop: 90 / 300 = 0.30

For a loop, expectedFrames stays slotFrames (300) while capturedFrames is framePaths.size (90 unique source frames, since a loop reuses the same extracted frames). Ratio = 30% < 95% → abort. It's the same false-positive class #2565 fixed for freeze, one branch over.

Why it's a false positive (same as #2565, for loop)

The gate exists to catch genuinely truncated/blank video. As with the held tail, low unique-source-frame coverage inside an explicit slot is now a supported, deliberate state for a looping video too. The gate's unique frames ÷ slot frames metric can't distinguish an intended loop from a blank clip, so every short-source loop is blocked unless the guard is globally disabled via HF_VIDEO_COVERAGE_THRESHOLD=0 — which also disables it for legitimately-broken videos in the same render.

Suggested fix

Extend the #2606 credit to loops — drop the !video.loop exclusion so a looping video also measures coverage against the source portion (Math.min(slotFrames, sourceFrames)), or, more directly, treat a looping clip as always covering 100% of its slot. A truly short/blank clip still trips the gate. (Looping a source longer than its slot is already unaffected — it delivers slotFrames unique frames → 100%.)

Workaround

• HF_VIDEO_COVERAGE_THRESHOLD=0 (disables the gate for the whole render), or a low value like 0.2 (still catches ~0% blank clips).
• Or pre-extend the source to ≥ scene length so it renders as a source-≥-slot loop (100% coverage, no override needed).

Verified

• Regression bisect: pr-loop-test.html (3s clip, data-duration="10", loop) renders clean by default on hyperframes@0.7.59 (10s MP4, no abort); aborts with the message above on 0.7.60, 0.7.64.
• Loop content is correct, only the gate blocks it: with HF_VIDEO_COVERAGE_THRESHOLD=0 on 0.7.64 it renders and genuinely loops — card-region avg RGB ≈ 129,126,116 across the tail (not blank ≈255); PSNR t=4s-vs-t=5.5s ≈ 21.8 dB (moving, not frozen); PSNR t=4s-vs-t=7s ≈ 37.2 dB (same phase on the 3s loop period → replaying).
• Non-loop (freeze) equivalent renders clean by default on 0.7.64, confirming only the loop branch is affected.

Environment

• hyperframes 0.7.64 (regressed in 0.7.60; last-good 0.7.59)
• macOS (arm64), Node v24.15.0