diff --git a/src/video/actors.rs b/src/video/actors.rs
index faad727..22ec1ac 100644
--- a/src/video/actors.rs
+++ b/src/video/actors.rs
@@ -159,8 +159,16 @@ pub async fn probe_video_stream_meta(video_path: &str) -> VideoStreamMeta {
         .arg("v:0")
         .arg("-print_format")
         .arg("json")
+        // NOTE: request `stream_side_data_list` (stream-level side data, read
+        // from the moov atom), NOT the bare `side_data_list` section. On modern
+        // ffprobe the latter is the *frame* side-data section, which forces
+        // ffprobe to enumerate every frame — reading the entire mdat over the
+        // network. For non-faststart phone clips on an SMB mount that turned a
+        // metadata probe into a full-file read (tens of seconds per open). The
+        // Display Matrix rotation we need is present at stream level, so this
+        // keeps codec/fps/rotation while reading only the header.
         .arg("-show_entries")
-        .arg("stream=codec_name,r_frame_rate,avg_frame_rate:stream_tags=rotate:side_data_list")
+        .arg("stream=codec_name,r_frame_rate,avg_frame_rate:stream_tags=rotate:stream_side_data_list")
         .arg(video_path)
         .output()
         .await;