diff --git a/kiosk/src/main.rs b/kiosk/src/main.rs
index 8d2f8d7..0aa2cda 100644
--- a/kiosk/src/main.rs
+++ b/kiosk/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ mod pipeline;
 mod ui;
 
 use gtk4::prelude::{ApplicationExt, ApplicationExtManual};
+use tracing::info;
 use tracing_subscriber::EnvFilter;
 
 fn main() {
@@ -12,6 +13,12 @@ fn main() {
         .init();
 
     gstreamer::init().expect("Failed to init GStreamer");
+
+    // Demote Pi5 hw H265 decoder — rejects non-standard resolutions like 960x1080
+    if let Some(factory) = gstreamer::ElementFactory::find("v4l2slh265dec") {
+        factory.set_rank(gstreamer::Rank::NONE);
+        info!("demoted v4l2slh265dec to NONE (sw fallback)");
+    }
     let app = ui::build_app();
     // Pass empty args to GTK — server URL handled via env or argv directly
     app.set_flags(gtk4::gio::ApplicationFlags::NON_UNIQUE);