diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift
index bd7e9d52..17e54014 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/Stage2Pipeline.swift
@@ -57,6 +57,8 @@ let presentDebug = ProcessInfo.processInfo.environment["PUNKTFUNK_PRESENT_DEBUG"
 /// to Console.app wirelessly with no env var / Xcode attach. Always on for deadline pacing (the
 /// stats are a few arrays + one log line per second); other pacings keep the env-gated print.
 private let presentLog = Logger(subsystem: "io.unom.punktfunk", category: "present")
+/// Pump-side events (loss recovery, format seeding) — the stage-2 sibling of StreamPump's log.
+private let pumpLog = Logger(subsystem: "io.unom.punktfunk", category: "pump")
 
 /// Decoded-frame hand-off between the decode half and the render thread. The POLICY is the
 /// user's presentation intent (design/apple-presentation-rebuild.md — the 2026-07 rebuild that
@@ -932,6 +934,21 @@ public final class Stage2Pipeline {
                         }
                         awaitingIDR = false // a fresh IDR re-anchored decode — recovery complete
                     }
+                    if format == nil {
+                        // No decodable format yet: the opening IDR's parameter sets never
+                        // arrived (or never parsed), and under the host's infinite GOP nothing
+                        // re-delivers them unless we ASK. Without this the guard below drops
+                        // every AU silently, forever — the field "black stream, zero recovery
+                        // requests" state (2026-08-12): the host streams perfectly, the client
+                        // shows nothing and says nothing. awaitingIDR routes through the same
+                        // 100 ms-throttled recovery.request() at the top of the loop.
+                        if !awaitingIDR {
+                            pumpLog.warning(
+                                "video: received AUs but no decodable format (missing/unparsed parameter sets) — requesting an IDR until one seeds it"
+                            )
+                        }
+                        awaitingIDR = true
+                    }
                     guard let f = format, !token.isStopped else { return true }
                     if decoder.decode(au: au, format: f) {
                         decodeFailRun = 0
diff --git a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/StreamPump.swift b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/StreamPump.swift
index e647f44f..215a5aea 100644
--- a/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/StreamPump.swift
+++ b/clients/apple/Sources/PunktfunkKit/Video/StreamPump.swift
@@ -116,6 +116,21 @@ final class StreamPump {
                         }
                         awaitingIDR = false // a fresh IDR re-anchored decode — recovery complete
                     }
+                    if format == nil {
+                        // No decodable format yet: the opening IDR's parameter sets never
+                        // arrived (or never parsed), and under the host's infinite GOP nothing
+                        // re-delivers them unless we ASK. Without this the format guard below
+                        // drops every AU silently, forever — the field "black stream, zero
+                        // recovery requests" state (2026-08-12). awaitingIDR routes through the
+                        // same 100 ms-throttled recovery.request() at the top of the loop.
+                        if !awaitingIDR {
+                            awaitingSince = Date()
+                            pumpLog.warning(
+                                "video: received AUs but no decodable format (missing/unparsed parameter sets) — requesting an IDR until one seeds it"
+                            )
+                        }
+                        awaitingIDR = true
+                    }
                     let failed = layer.status == .failed
                     if failed {
                         // Decode wedged hard (the cold-first-connect case — a lost/corrupt opening