# Feature Request / Bug: Missing Visual Trick Play (Thumbnail Seeking) for Local USB Media and DVR Recordings

**URL:** <https://community.amazondeveloper.com/t/feature-request-bug-missing-visual-trick-play-thumbnail-seeking-for-local-usb-media-and-dvr-recordings/28448>\
**Category:** Q&A\
**Tags:** appstore-feedback\
**Created:** [May 30, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.amazondeveloper.com/t/feature-request-bug-missing-visual-trick-play-thumbnail-seeking-for-local-usb-media-and-dvr-recordings/28448 "2026-05-30T15:40:06Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sacharja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@sacharja](https://community.amazondeveloper.com/u/sacharja)\
**Post date:** [May 30, 2026, 3:40pm UTC](https://community.amazondeveloper.com/t/feature-request-bug-missing-visual-trick-play-thumbnail-seeking-for-local-usb-media-and-dvr-recordings/28448/1 "2026-05-30T15:40:06Z")

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Hello Fire TV Developer Team,

I am using a high-end Panasonic Smart TV running Fire OS 8. While I highly appreciate the system performance, there is a major limitation regarding local media playback and DVR recordings that standard, much cheaper TVs or basic media players (like VLC) do not have.

**Issue:**  
Visual Trick Play (Thumbnail Seeking / Timeline Previews while fast-forwarding or rewinding) is completely unavailable for locally connected USB media (own movies) and standard DVR/PVR recordings. It only works for commercial streaming apps that fetch pre-generated thumbnails from a server.

**Why this is a flaw:**

1. **No Performance Bottleneck:** The TV hardware and modern high-speed USB drives are more than capable of rendering local previews on the fly.

2. **No Legal Restrictions:** This occurs on DRM-free personal movies and standard SD-resolution television recordings where no copyright flags block seeking.

3. **Poor User Experience:** Standard low-end media players and third-party apps like VLC can easily generate live seeking previews from local storage. Fire OS completely lacks this on a system level for local files.

**Requested Solution:**  
Please implement native, on-the-fly thumbnail generation (Visual Trick Play) for the built-in media player and DVR components in Fire OS so that local USB storage and personal recordings benefit from the same fluid navigation as streaming apps.

Thank you.

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**Author:** ![Emma](https://dhm3gbtzu79o6.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.amazondeveloper.com/emma/32/880_2.png) [@Emma](https://community.amazondeveloper.com/u/Emma)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2026, 9:35am UTC](https://community.amazondeveloper.com/t/feature-request-bug-missing-visual-trick-play-thumbnail-seeking-for-local-usb-media-and-dvr-recordings/28448/3 "2026-06-01T09:35:56Z")

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Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to send us your feedback.

We’ve passed it along to the appropriate internal team for consideration.