diff --git a/daemon/media_player.c b/daemon/media_player.c
index 2d4d5ad26..2085e05c9 100644
--- a/daemon/media_player.c
+++ b/daemon/media_player.c
@@ -1255,6 +1255,8 @@ static const rtp_payload_type *media_player_play_init(struct media_player *mp) {
 static bool media_player_play_start(struct media_player *mp, const rtp_payload_type *dst_pt,
 		str_case_value_ht codec_set)
 {
+	int ret = 0;
+
 	// needed to have usable duration for some formats. ignore errors.
 	if (!mp->coder.fmtctx->streams || !mp->coder.fmtctx->streams[0])
 		avformat_find_stream_info(mp->coder.fmtctx, NULL);
@@ -1280,10 +1282,14 @@ static bool media_player_play_start(struct media_player *mp, const rtp_payload_t
 	// if start_pos is positive, try to seek to that position
 	if (mp->opts.start_pos > 0) {
 		ilog(LOG_DEBUG, "Seeking to position %lli", mp->opts.start_pos);
-		av_seek_frame(mp->coder.fmtctx, 0, mp->opts.start_pos, AVSEEK_FLAG_ANY | AVSEEK_FLAG_BACKWARD);
+		ret = av_seek_frame(mp->coder.fmtctx, 0, mp->opts.start_pos, AVSEEK_FLAG_ANY | AVSEEK_FLAG_BACKWARD);
 	}
 	else // in case this is a repeated start
-		av_seek_frame(mp->coder.fmtctx, 0, 0, AVSEEK_FLAG_ANY | AVSEEK_FLAG_BACKWARD);
+		ret = av_seek_frame(mp->coder.fmtctx, 0, 0, AVSEEK_FLAG_ANY | AVSEEK_FLAG_BACKWARD);
+
+	if (ret < 0)
+		ilog(LOG_ERR, "Failed to seek to beginning of media file");
+		// should we return false at this point?
 
 	media_player_read_packet(mp);