diff --git a/compiler/src/validate/interactionGate.ts b/compiler/src/validate/interactionGate.ts
index 50db554..a34305d 100644
--- a/compiler/src/validate/interactionGate.ts
+++ b/compiler/src/validate/interactionGate.ts
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import type { InteractionCapture } from "../capture/interactions.js";
 import { buildRuntimeSpecs, specKey } from "../generate/interactive.js";
 import { buildMenuSpecs } from "../generate/menu.js";
 import type { GateResult } from "./gates.js";
+import { gotoAndSettle } from "./render.js";
 
 /**
  * Stage 4 interaction gate. Drives the SAME interactions in the built clone that
@@ -61,7 +62,10 @@ export async function driveInteractionGate(opts: {
     const ctx = await browser.newContext({ viewport: { width: vp, height: vh }, deviceScaleFactor: 1 });
     const page = await ctx.newPage();
     await page.addInitScript("globalThis.__name = globalThis.__name || ((fn) => fn);");
-    await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: "networkidle", timeout: 45000 });
+    // `load` + bounded network-quiet wait (not strict `networkidle`) so an autoplaying
+    // long hero video — which keeps issuing bounded range fetches — can't make navigation
+    // time out and fail the interaction gate before any interaction is even driven.
+    await gotoAndSettle(page, url);
     await page.waitForTimeout(300);
 
     const styleOf = (cid: string, props: string[]): Promise<Record<string, string> | null> =>
diff --git a/compiler/src/validate/render.ts b/compiler/src/validate/render.ts
index 4502418..aabfa57 100644
--- a/compiler/src/validate/render.ts
+++ b/compiler/src/validate/render.ts
@@ -146,6 +146,50 @@ async function readLimited(p: string): Promise<Buffer> {
   }
 }
 
+/** Result of interpreting a `Range` header against a known resource size.
+ *  - `kind: "full"`  → no (usable) Range header; answer with a normal 200 full body.
+ *  - `kind: "range"` → a single satisfiable `bytes=start-end`; answer 206 with [start,end].
+ *  - `kind: "unsatisfiable"` → a syntactically valid range wholly past EOF; answer 416. */
+export type RangeResolution =
+  | { kind: "full" }
+  | { kind: "range"; start: number; end: number }
+  | { kind: "unsatisfiable" };
+
+/** Parse a single-range HTTP `Range` header ("bytes=start-end", "bytes=start-",
+ *  "bytes=-suffix") against a resource of `size` bytes. Multi-range ("a-b,c-d") is
+ *  intentionally collapsed to a full 200 (Chromium's media element only ever asks for a
+ *  single range, and RFC 7233 lets a server ignore Range and reply 200). Anything the
+ *  spec calls malformed (missing "bytes=", non-numeric, inverted, both bounds empty) is
+ *  also treated as "full" — the safe fallback. A well-formed range that starts at or past
+ *  EOF is "unsatisfiable" → 416. `end` is inclusive and clamped to size-1. */
+export function parseRangeHeader(header: string | undefined, size: number): RangeResolution {
+  if (!header) return { kind: "full" };
+  const m = /^bytes=(\d*)-(\d*)$/.exec(header.trim());
+  if (!m) return { kind: "full" }; // absent/malformed/multi-range → serve full body
+  const startStr = m[1]!;
+  const endStr = m[2]!;
+  if (startStr === "" && endStr === "") return { kind: "full" }; // "bytes=-" is malformed
+  if (size <= 0) return { kind: "unsatisfiable" };
+  let start: number;
+  let end: number;
+  if (startStr === "") {
+    // Suffix range: "bytes=-N" → last N bytes.
+    const suffix = Number(endStr);
+    if (!Number.isFinite(suffix) || suffix <= 0) return { kind: "full" };
+    start = Math.max(0, size - suffix);
+    end = size - 1;
+  } else {
+    start = Number(startStr);
+    if (!Number.isFinite(start)) return { kind: "full" };
+    if (start >= size) return { kind: "unsatisfiable" }; // start past EOF
+    end = endStr === "" ? size - 1 : Number(endStr);
+    if (!Number.isFinite(end)) return { kind: "full" };
+    if (end < start) return { kind: "full" }; // inverted → ignore Range
+    end = Math.min(end, size - 1);
+  }
+  return { kind: "range", start, end };
+}
+
 export function serveStatic(rootDir: string): Promise<{ url: string; close: () => Promise<void> }> {
   const server: Server = createServer(async (req, res) => {
     try {
@@ -168,8 +212,32 @@ export function serveStatic(rootDir: string): Promise<{ url: string; close: () =
         if (existsSync(fallback)) { res.writeHead(404, { "content-type": "text/html" }); res.end(await readLimited(fallback)); return; }
         res.writeHead(404); res.end("not found"); return;
       }
+      const contentType = CONTENT_TYPES[extname(filePath).toLowerCase()] ?? "application/octet-stream";
+      const size = statSync(filePath).size;
+      // HTTP Range support (RFC 7233). Chromium requests <video>/<audio> with `Range: bytes=0-`
+      // and, absent a 206, holds the single progressive stream open throttled to playback — a
+      // long autoplay hero (76s) then means `waitUntil:"networkidle"` can mathematically never
+      // fire. Answering 206 with bounded chunks lets Chromium fetch in pieces so the network
+      // goes idle between reads. A HEAD-style range far past EOF gets a 416.
+      const range = parseRangeHeader(req.headers.range as string | undefined, size);
+      if (range.kind === "unsatisfiable") {
+        res.writeHead(416, { "content-type": contentType, "content-range": `bytes */${size}`, "accept-ranges": "bytes" });
+        res.end();
+        return;
+      }
       const data = await readLimited(filePath);
-      res.writeHead(200, { "content-type": CONTENT_TYPES[extname(filePath).toLowerCase()] ?? "application/octet-stream" });
+      if (range.kind === "range") {
+        const chunk = data.subarray(range.start, range.end + 1);
+        res.writeHead(206, {
+          "content-type": contentType,
+          "content-range": `bytes ${range.start}-${range.end}/${size}`,
+          "accept-ranges": "bytes",
+          "content-length": String(chunk.length),
+        });
+        res.end(chunk);
+        return;
+      }
+      res.writeHead(200, { "content-type": contentType, "accept-ranges": "bytes", "content-length": String(data.length) });
       res.end(data);
     } catch {
       res.writeHead(500); res.end("error");
@@ -194,6 +262,54 @@ export type RenderResult = {
   failedResources: string[];
 };
 
+/** Navigate with `waitUntil:"load"` then wait for a bounded window of network quiet, so
+ *  validation NEVER hard-fails on media that trickles requests. `waitUntil:"networkidle"`
+ *  is a hard timeout: an autoplaying long video (even chunked via 206) keeps issuing bounded
+ *  range fetches, so a strict networkidle can miss its 500ms-idle window and throw at 45s,
+ *  leaving validation reportless. Instead we (1) `goto load` (fires on DOM+subresources, not
+ *  on ongoing media), then (2) poll for `maxQuietMs` of 500ms network silence up to a
+ *  `settleCapMs` ceiling, then proceed regardless. Normal pages reach quiet in well under a
+ *  second, so total time stays comparable; only trickle-media pages spend the extra budget and
+ *  then continue (the video is frame-0-normalized before the screenshot, so determinism holds).
+ *  Returns the goto response (for httpStatus). */
+export async function gotoAndSettle(
+  page: import("playwright").Page,
+  url: string,
+  opts?: { gotoTimeout?: number; settleCapMs?: number; quietMs?: number; pollMs?: number },
+): Promise<import("playwright").Response | null> {
+  const gotoTimeout = opts?.gotoTimeout ?? 45000;
+  const settleCapMs = opts?.settleCapMs ?? 10000;
+  const quietMs = opts?.quietMs ?? 500;
+  const pollMs = opts?.pollMs ?? 500;
+  const resp = await page.goto(url, { waitUntil: "load", timeout: gotoTimeout });
+  // Count in-flight requests so we can detect network quiet without relying on the
+  // strict networkidle heuristic (which throws on trickle-media).
+  let inflight = 0;
+  const onReq = (): void => { inflight++; };
+  const onDone = (): void => { inflight = Math.max(0, inflight - 1); };
+  page.on("request", onReq);
+  page.on("requestfinished", onDone);
+  page.on("requestfailed", onDone);
+  try {
+    const deadline = Date.now() + settleCapMs;
+    let quietSince = inflight === 0 ? Date.now() : 0;
+    while (Date.now() < deadline) {
+      if (inflight === 0) {
+        if (quietSince === 0) quietSince = Date.now();
+        if (Date.now() - quietSince >= quietMs) break; // sustained quiet reached
+      } else {
+        quietSince = 0;
+      }
+      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, pollMs));
+    }
+  } finally {
+    page.off("request", onReq);
+    page.off("requestfinished", onDone);
+    page.off("requestfailed", onDone);
+  }
+  return resp;
+}
+
 async function mapLimit<T, R>(items: T[], limit: number, fn: (item: T, i: number) => Promise<R>): Promise<R[]> {
   const out: R[] = new Array(items.length);
   let next = 0;
@@ -227,7 +343,7 @@ export async function renderApp(opts: {
         page.on("pageerror", (e) => runtimeErrors.push(String(e)));
         page.on("response", (r) => { if (r.status() >= 400) failedResources.add(`${r.status()} ${r.url()}`); });
         page.on("requestfailed", (r) => failedResources.add(`failed ${r.url()}`));
-        const resp = await page.goto(opts.url, { waitUntil: "networkidle", timeout: 45000 });
+        const resp = await gotoAndSettle(page, opts.url);
         if (resp) httpStatus = resp.status();
         try { await page.evaluate(() => (document as Document).fonts?.ready); } catch { /* ignore */ }
         // Scroll to settle any lazy effects, then back to top.
@@ -308,7 +424,7 @@ export async function measureProbeWidths(opts: { url: string; widths: number[] }
         const ctx = await browser.newContext({ ignoreHTTPSErrors: true, viewport: { width: w, height: viewportHeight(w) }, deviceScaleFactor: 1 });
         const page = await ctx.newPage();
         await page.addInitScript(ESBUILD_SHIM);
-        await page.goto(opts.url, { waitUntil: "networkidle", timeout: 45000 });
+        await gotoAndSettle(page, opts.url);
         try { await page.evaluate(() => (document as Document).fonts?.ready); } catch { /* ignore */ }
         await page.evaluate(() => {
           const win = window as unknown as { __dittoMotionStopped?: boolean; __dittoMotionStop?: () => void };
diff --git a/compiler/src/validate/validate.ts b/compiler/src/validate/validate.ts
index 7e173db..0be55b4 100644
--- a/compiler/src/validate/validate.ts
+++ b/compiler/src/validate/validate.ts
@@ -122,6 +122,13 @@ export async function validateRun(runDir: string, opts?: { harnessDir?: string;
         motionGate = await driveMotionGate({ url: server.url + "/", viewports, ir, motion: capture.motion });
         log({ event: "motion_gate", pass: motionGate.pass, metrics: motionGate.metrics });
       }
+    } catch (e) {
+      // A render crash (e.g. a page.goto timeout on trickling media, or a Playwright fault)
+      // must NOT escape reportless — otherwise validation/ stays empty and the run looks
+      // un-validated. Record the error as a runtime error so httpStatus stays 0, gate 0 fails
+      // with a visible issue, and the normal downstream path writes report.json as usual.
+      runtimeErrors.push(`render error: ${e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)}`);
+      log({ event: "render_error", error: e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e) });
     } finally {
       await server.close();
     }
diff --git a/compiler/test/serveRange.test.ts b/compiler/test/serveRange.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6bb6ee0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/compiler/test/serveRange.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,118 @@
+import { describe, it, before, after } from "node:test";
+import assert from "node:assert/strict";
+import { mkdtempSync, rmSync, writeFileSync, mkdirSync } from "node:fs";
+import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
+import { join } from "node:path";
+import { serveStatic, parseRangeHeader } from "../src/validate/render.js";
+
+// ---- Pure helper: parseRangeHeader ----
+describe("parseRangeHeader", () => {
+  const SIZE = 1000;
+
+  it("no header → full 200", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader(undefined, SIZE), { kind: "full" });
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("", SIZE), { kind: "full" });
+  });
+
+  it("bytes=0- (Chromium's open-ended media probe) → whole file as a range", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=0-", SIZE), { kind: "range", start: 0, end: 999 });
+  });
+
+  it("bounded range bytes=100-199 → [100,199] inclusive", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=100-199", SIZE), { kind: "range", start: 100, end: 199 });
+  });
+
+  it("end past EOF is clamped to size-1", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=900-5000", SIZE), { kind: "range", start: 900, end: 999 });
+  });
+
+  it("suffix range bytes=-100 → last 100 bytes", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=-100", SIZE), { kind: "range", start: 900, end: 999 });
+  });
+
+  it("suffix larger than file → whole file", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=-5000", SIZE), { kind: "range", start: 0, end: 999 });
+  });
+
+  it("start at or past EOF → unsatisfiable (416)", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=1000-", SIZE), { kind: "unsatisfiable" });
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=2000-3000", SIZE), { kind: "unsatisfiable" });
+  });
+
+  it("zero-length resource → unsatisfiable for any range", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=0-", 0), { kind: "unsatisfiable" });
+  });
+
+  it("malformed / multi-range / inverted → full (safe fallback, never throws)", () => {
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=abc-def", SIZE), { kind: "full" });
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("items=0-10", SIZE), { kind: "full" });
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=0-10,20-30", SIZE), { kind: "full" }); // multi-range collapsed
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=-", SIZE), { kind: "full" });
+    assert.deepEqual(parseRangeHeader("bytes=500-100", SIZE), { kind: "full" }); // inverted
+  });
+});
+
+// ---- Integration: serveStatic answers real Range requests with 206/416 ----
+describe("serveStatic Range support (integration)", () => {
+  let rootDir = "";
+  let base = "";
+  let close: (() => Promise<void>) | null = null;
+  const BODY = Buffer.alloc(5000, 0x41); // 5000 'A' bytes stands in for a media file
+
+  before(async () => {
+    rootDir = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), "ditto-serve-"));
+    mkdirSync(join(rootDir, "assets"), { recursive: true });
+    writeFileSync(join(rootDir, "assets", "hero.webm"), BODY);
+    writeFileSync(join(rootDir, "index.html"), "<!doctype html><html><body>ok</body></html>");
+    const s = await serveStatic(rootDir);
+    base = s.url;
+    close = s.close;
+  });
+
+  after(async () => {
+    await close?.();
+    rmSync(rootDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+  });
+
+  it("open-ended Range bytes=0- → 206 with a bounded body + Content-Range/Accept-Ranges", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(base + "/assets/hero.webm", { headers: { Range: "bytes=0-" } });
+    assert.equal(res.status, 206);
+    assert.equal(res.headers.get("accept-ranges"), "bytes");
+    assert.equal(res.headers.get("content-range"), `bytes 0-4999/5000`);
+    assert.equal(res.headers.get("content-type"), "video/webm");
+    const buf = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());
+    assert.equal(buf.length, 5000);
+  });
+
+  it("bounded Range bytes=100-199 → 206 returning exactly those 100 bytes", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(base + "/assets/hero.webm", { headers: { Range: "bytes=100-199" } });
+    assert.equal(res.status, 206);
+    assert.equal(res.headers.get("content-range"), `bytes 100-199/5000`);
+    const buf = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());
+    assert.equal(buf.length, 100);
+    assert.ok(buf.equals(BODY.subarray(100, 200)));
+  });
+
+  it("Range past EOF → 416 with Content-Range: bytes */size", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(base + "/assets/hero.webm", { headers: { Range: "bytes=9000-" } });
+    assert.equal(res.status, 416);
+    assert.equal(res.headers.get("content-range"), `bytes */5000`);
+    // Drain the (empty) body so the socket is released.
+    await res.arrayBuffer();
+  });
+
+  it("no Range header → full 200 with Accept-Ranges advertised", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(base + "/assets/hero.webm");
+    assert.equal(res.status, 200);
+    assert.equal(res.headers.get("accept-ranges"), "bytes");
+    const buf = Buffer.from(await res.arrayBuffer());
+    assert.equal(buf.length, 5000);
+  });
+
+  it("HTML routes still serve a normal 200 (Range logic doesn't disturb pages)", async () => {
+    const res = await fetch(base + "/");
+    assert.equal(res.status, 200);
+    const text = await res.text();
+    assert.match(text, /<body>ok<\/body>/);
+  });
+});