diff --git a/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/Cuda/CudaSoftwareFallbackUploadFilter.cs b/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/Cuda/CudaSoftwareFallbackUploadFilter.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..69bf8fea9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/Cuda/CudaSoftwareFallbackUploadFilter.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+namespace ErsatzTV.FFmpeg.Filter.Cuda;
+
+public class CudaSoftwareFallbackUploadFilter : BaseFilter
+{
+    public override string Filter => "hwupload";
+
+    public override FrameState NextState(FrameState currentState) =>
+        currentState with { FrameDataLocation = FrameDataLocation.Hardware };
+}
diff --git a/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/HardwareUploadCudaFilter.cs b/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/Cuda/HardwareUploadCudaFilter.cs
similarity index 82%
rename from ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/HardwareUploadCudaFilter.cs
rename to ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/Cuda/HardwareUploadCudaFilter.cs
index 6f5a4f71a..4921de270 100644
--- a/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/HardwareUploadCudaFilter.cs
+++ b/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Filter/Cuda/HardwareUploadCudaFilter.cs
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
-namespace ErsatzTV.FFmpeg.Filter;
+namespace ErsatzTV.FFmpeg.Filter.Cuda;
 
 public class HardwareUploadCudaFilter(FrameDataLocation frameDataLocation) : BaseFilter
 {
     public override string Filter => frameDataLocation switch
     {
         FrameDataLocation.Hardware => string.Empty,
-        FrameDataLocation.Unknown => "hwupload",
         _ => "hwupload_cuda"
     };
 
diff --git a/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Pipeline/NvidiaPipelineBuilder.cs b/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Pipeline/NvidiaPipelineBuilder.cs
index cfab05adf..2aaf2a8de 100644
--- a/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Pipeline/NvidiaPipelineBuilder.cs
+++ b/ErsatzTV.FFmpeg/Pipeline/NvidiaPipelineBuilder.cs
@@ -135,9 +135,12 @@ public class NvidiaPipelineBuilder : SoftwarePipelineBuilder
         {
             videoInputFile.AddOption(decoder);
 
+            // sometimes cuda fails to decode in hardware and falls back to software
+            // in that case, we need to upload to get the frame in hardware as expected
+            // this *should* no-op when frames are already in hardware
             if (ffmpegState.DecoderHardwareAccelerationMode is HardwareAccelerationMode.Nvenc)
             {
-                videoInputFile.FilterSteps.Add(new HardwareUploadCudaFilter(FrameDataLocation.Unknown));
+                videoInputFile.FilterSteps.Add(new CudaSoftwareFallbackUploadFilter());
             }
 
             return Some(decoder);