diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/Main.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/Main.java
index e3b51e9..3ae5892 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/Main.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/Main.java
@@ -84,7 +84,6 @@ public class Main {
         TaskDispatcher dispatcher = new TaskDispatcher();
         dispatcher.updateTaskConfig(config.tasks);
         dispatcher.registerTask(crawler);
-
         dispatcher.registerTask(processService);
 
         new Thread(dispatcher).start();
@@ -95,12 +94,10 @@ public class Main {
 
         // start PiIR
         PiIR piir = new PiIR(config.piir);
-        try {
-            piir.spawn();
-
+        if (piir.spawn()) {
             processService.registerProcess(piir);
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            logger.error("failed to spawn piir. fatal. exiting", e);
+        } else {
+            logger.error("failed to spawn piir. exiting");
             System.exit(1);
         }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPV.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPV.java
index ee5172e..2ab1399 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPV.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPV.java
@@ -83,11 +83,13 @@ public class MPV implements TaskProcess {
     private MPVReader reader;
     private Thread readerThread;
 
+    private Float lastPlaybackTime = null;
+
     private static final Path MPV_SOCKET_PATH = Path.of("/tmp/mptv-mpv.sock");
     private static final long WAIT_MILLIS = 250;
     private static final int WAIT_ATTEMPTS = 5;
 
-    private void waitForConnection(Path socketPath) throws IOException {
+    private void waitForConnection(Path socketPath) throws MPVSocketFailure {
         for (int i = 0; i < WAIT_ATTEMPTS; i++) {
             try {
                 Thread.sleep(WAIT_MILLIS);
@@ -101,10 +103,12 @@ public class MPV implements TaskProcess {
                 
                 logger.info(String.format("connected to socket %s", socket.toString()));
             } catch (SocketException e) {
-                logger.error("SocketException", e);
+                logger.info("SocketException.. trying to connect");
                 closeConnection();
+            } catch (IOException e) {
+                throw new MPVSocketFailure(e);
             } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-                break;
+                throw new MPVSocketFailure(e);
             }
         }
     }
@@ -118,19 +122,62 @@ public class MPV implements TaskProcess {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public boolean spawn() throws IOException {
-        process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {
-            "mpv", "--vo=gpu", "--ao=pulse", "--fullscreen", "--input-ipc-server=" + MPV_SOCKET_PATH, url
-        });
+    public boolean spawn() {
+        try {
+            process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {
+                "mpv", "--vo=gpu", "--ao=pulse", "--fullscreen", "--input-ipc-server=" + MPV_SOCKET_PATH, url
+            });
 
-        waitForConnection(MPV_SOCKET_PATH);
+            waitForConnection(MPV_SOCKET_PATH);
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return false;
+        } catch (MPVSocketFailure e) {
+            return false;
+        }
 
-        return isAlive();
+        return process.isAlive();
+    }
+
+    private boolean checkPlayback() {
+        try {
+            // get playback
+            MPVCommandResult result = executeCommand(
+                new MPVGetProperty(MPVProperty.PLAYBACK_TIME));
+            
+            Float playbackTime;
+            try {
+                playbackTime = Float.parseFloat(result.data);
+            } catch (NumberFormatException e) {
+                logger.error("FAILED TO PARSE PLAYBACK DATA: " + result.data);
+                return false;
+            }
+            logger.info("playbackTime " + playbackTime);
+
+            // if we have previous playback - compare them,
+            // if not changed, then player stuck
+            if (lastPlaybackTime != null) {
+                boolean playbackChanged = (playbackTime - lastPlaybackTime) > 0.1;
+                
+                lastPlaybackTime = playbackTime;
+                return playbackChanged;
+            } else { // just set first playback
+                lastPlaybackTime = playbackTime;
+                return true;
+            }
+        } catch (MPVCommandTimeout e) {
+            logger.warn("mpv ipc timeout bruh");
+            return false;
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
     public boolean isAlive() {
-        return process != null ? process.isAlive() : false;
+        // if we have process, check if playback still going on
+        if (process != null) {
+            return checkPlayback();
+        } else {
+            return false;
+        }
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -153,7 +200,7 @@ public class MPV implements TaskProcess {
 
     private static final long COMMAND_TIMEOUT = 2000L;
 
-    public MPVCommandResult writeCommand(MPVCommand command) {
+    public MPVCommandResult executeCommand(MPVCommand command) {
         try {
             commandRequestId = command.setRequestId(requestIdCounter++);
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVCommandResult.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVCommandResult.java
index 0335dbc..0971fab 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVCommandResult.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVCommandResult.java
@@ -1,11 +1,15 @@
 package com.mykola2312.mptv.mpv;
 
+import com.fasterxml.jackson.annotation.JsonProperty;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.core.JsonProcessingException;
 import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
 
 public class MPVCommandResult {
     public int request_id;
     public String error;
+
+    // parse always as string to avoid headache with different types
+    @JsonProperty("data")
     public String data;
 
     public static MPVCommandResult deserialize(String data) throws JsonProcessingException {
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVGetProperty.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVGetProperty.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5401965
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVGetProperty.java
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package com.mykola2312.mptv.mpv;
+
+import java.util.Arrays;
+import java.util.List;
+
+public class MPVGetProperty extends MPVCommand {
+    private final MPVProperty property;
+
+    public MPVGetProperty(MPVProperty property) {
+        this.property = property;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    protected List<String> serializeCommand() {
+        return Arrays.asList("get_property", property.toString());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVProperty.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVProperty.java
index 0184bbc..773d8ee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVProperty.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVProperty.java
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 package com.mykola2312.mptv.mpv;
 
 public enum MPVProperty {
-    VOLUME ("volume");
+    VOLUME ("volume"),
+    PLAYBACK_TIME ("playback-time");
     
     private final String name;
     
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVSocketFailure.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVSocketFailure.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..a047d6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/mpv/MPVSocketFailure.java
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+package com.mykola2312.mptv.mpv;
+
+public class MPVSocketFailure extends RuntimeException {
+    public MPVSocketFailure(Throwable cause) {
+        super("fatal IPC failure. cannot continue");
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/piir/PiIR.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/piir/PiIR.java
index b968843..2345acd 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/piir/PiIR.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/piir/PiIR.java
@@ -117,10 +117,14 @@ public class PiIR implements TaskProcess {
     }
 
     @Override
-    public boolean spawn() throws IOException {
-        process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {
-            "unbuffer", exec, "dump", "--gpio", String.valueOf(gpio)
-        });
+    public boolean spawn() {
+        try {
+            process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec(new String[] {
+                "unbuffer", exec, "dump", "--gpio", String.valueOf(gpio)
+            });
+        } catch (IOException e) {
+            return false;
+        }
         input = process.getInputStream();
 
         reader = new PiIRReader(this, input);
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/ProcessService.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/ProcessService.java
index d55f729..f3e7e81 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/ProcessService.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/ProcessService.java
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ public class ProcessService implements Task {
     public void dispatch() {
         for (TaskProcess process : processes) {
             if (!process.isAlive()) {
+                logger.info("restarting process " + process.toString());
                 try {
                     process.stop();
                     process.spawn();
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/TaskProcess.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/TaskProcess.java
index b492c36..2cfb074 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/TaskProcess.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/task/TaskProcess.java
@@ -1,9 +1,7 @@
 package com.mykola2312.mptv.task;
 
-import java.io.IOException;
-
 public interface TaskProcess {
-    public boolean spawn() throws IOException;
+    public boolean spawn();
     public boolean isAlive();
     public void stop();
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/ui/MenuPanel.java b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/ui/MenuPanel.java
index dd13517..45635ba 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/ui/MenuPanel.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/mykola2312/mptv/ui/MenuPanel.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@ import static com.mykola2312.mptv.tables.Channel.*;
 import java.awt.*;
 import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
 import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
-import java.io.IOException;
 
 public class MenuPanel extends JPanel {
     private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(MenuPanel.class);
@@ -81,14 +80,12 @@ public class MenuPanel extends JPanel {
         }
 
         MPV newPlayer = new MPV(url);
-        try {
-            if (newPlayer.spawn()) {
-                player = newPlayer;
+        if (newPlayer.spawn()) {
+            player = newPlayer;
 
-                Main.processService.registerProcess(player);
-            }
-        } catch (IOException e) {
-            logger.error("failed to spawn player", e);
+            Main.processService.registerProcess(player);
+        } else {
+            logger.error("failed to spawn mpv");
         }
     }