diff --git a/backend/app/services/gallery_dl.py b/backend/app/services/gallery_dl.py
index c356908..3e19a69 100644
--- a/backend/app/services/gallery_dl.py
+++ b/backend/app/services/gallery_dl.py
@@ -42,13 +42,16 @@ class ErrorType(StrEnum):
     UNKNOWN_ERROR = "unknown_error"
 
 
-# Pinned to download_source's Celery soft_time_limit (900s, see
-# tasks/download.py:32). Anything larger and Celery kills the task before
-# subprocess.run can raise TimeoutExpired — leaving the DownloadEvent
-# stranded for the recovery sweep instead of capturing a clean timeout
-# error. Per-source bumps live in source.config_overrides for legitimately
-# long syncs. Operator-confirmed 2026-05-30 (~40-min hang investigation).
-_DEFAULT_GDL_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 900
+# 30 seconds shy of download_source's Celery soft_time_limit (900s, see
+# tasks/download.py:32). subprocess.run MUST raise TimeoutExpired before
+# Celery raises SoftTimeLimitExceeded — otherwise Celery wins the race,
+# SIGKILLs the worker, in-memory stdout/stderr is lost, and the
+# DownloadEvent ends up empty-logged with "stranded by recovery sweep"
+# 18 minutes later (operator-flagged 2026-05-31, Knuxy event #38275).
+# The 30s buffer absorbs scheduler jitter / GC pauses without making
+# legitimately-long-running syncs timeout-friendlier. Per-source bumps
+# still live in source.config_overrides for legitimately long syncs.
+_DEFAULT_GDL_TIMEOUT_SECONDS = 870
 
 
 @dataclass
@@ -369,7 +372,17 @@ class GalleryDLService:
         if return_code in (1, 4) and (skip_line_count > 0 or has_skip_text) and not has_actual_error:
             return ErrorType.NO_NEW_CONTENT, "No new content to download"
 
-        if return_code in (1, 4) and not has_actual_error:
+        # Tier-gated classification used to require `return_code in (1, 4)`,
+        # which silently fell through to UNKNOWN_ERROR when gallery-dl
+        # returned a different exit code for mixed-failure runs (e.g.
+        # paywall warnings + a missing yt-dlp dep flipping the exit bits).
+        # The artist then surfaced as "needs attention" purely because a
+        # paywall blocked posts the operator wasn't paying to see —
+        # operator-flagged 2026-05-31. Now: if no source-level error
+        # category fired AND tier-gated warnings are present, classify
+        # as TIER_LIMITED regardless of return code. Same priority order
+        # as before (auth/rate/access/not_found/network/http still win).
+        if not has_actual_error:
             tier_gated_lines = [
                 line for line in combined.split("\n")
                 if "][warning]" in line and "not allowed to view post" in line
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index a6e009b..dc76496 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -22,6 +22,11 @@ imagehash>=4.3,<4.4
 
 # Gallery-dl wrapper (lands in FC-3)
 gallery-dl>=1.32,<1.33
+# Video extractor backend for gallery-dl. Without it, every video post
+# attachment fails with `[downloader.ytdl][error] Cannot import yt-dlp`
+# → `[download][error] Failed to download NN_video.mp4`. Operator-flagged
+# 2026-05-31 after Patreon video posts produced empty downloads.
+yt-dlp>=2025.1
 
 # Utilities
 python-dotenv>=1.2,<2.0
diff --git a/tests/test_gallery_dl_service.py b/tests/test_gallery_dl_service.py
index 35d2d04..af490d1 100644
--- a/tests/test_gallery_dl_service.py
+++ b/tests/test_gallery_dl_service.py
@@ -164,6 +164,58 @@ async def test_validation_quarantines_truncated_files(tmp_path, monkeypatch):
     assert result.error_type == ErrorType.VALIDATION_FAILED
 
 
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_download_tier_limited_classified_as_success(gdl, monkeypatch):
+    """Pure tier-gated stderr (paywall warnings only, no source-level
+    errors). Should be TIER_LIMITED with success=True so the
+    DownloadEvent doesn't surface as 'needs attention' for an operator
+    who's just not paying the top tier. Pre-fix: this fell through to
+    UNKNOWN_ERROR when the return code wasn't 1 or 4."""
+    stderr = (
+        "[patreon][warning] Not allowed to view post 159421258\n"
+        "[patreon][warning] Not allowed to view post 159247879\n"
+        "[patreon][warning] Not allowed to view post 158111214\n"
+    )
+    # Use a non-(1,4) return code to prove the gate widened.
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "backend.app.services.gallery_dl.subprocess.run",
+        lambda *a, **k: _proc(stdout="", stderr=stderr, returncode=128),
+    )
+    result = await gdl.download(
+        url="https://patreon.com/alice", artist_slug="alice", platform="patreon",
+        source_config=SourceConfig(),
+    )
+    assert result.error_type == ErrorType.TIER_LIMITED
+    assert result.success is True
+    assert "3 posts" in (result.error_message or "")
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_download_tier_limited_with_per_item_video_failures(gdl, monkeypatch):
+    """Real operator log shape (2026-05-31): hundreds of paywall warnings
+    + a handful of per-item video errors caused by missing yt-dlp. The
+    video errors are classified as per-item (not source-level), so the
+    classifier should still pick TIER_LIMITED. Once yt-dlp is installed
+    the video errors stop firing; until then, the source-health doesn't
+    flap to 'needs attention' over paywalled content."""
+    stderr = (
+        "[patreon][warning] Not allowed to view post 159421258\n"
+        "[patreon][warning] Not allowed to view post 159247879\n"
+        "[downloader.ytdl][error] Cannot import yt-dlp or youtube-dl\n"
+        "[download][error] Failed to download 02_video.mp4\n"
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(
+        "backend.app.services.gallery_dl.subprocess.run",
+        lambda *a, **k: _proc(stdout="", stderr=stderr, returncode=1),
+    )
+    result = await gdl.download(
+        url="https://patreon.com/alice", artist_slug="alice", platform="patreon",
+        source_config=SourceConfig(),
+    )
+    assert result.error_type == ErrorType.TIER_LIMITED
+    assert result.success is True
+
+
 def test_compute_run_stats(gdl):
     stats = gdl._compute_run_stats(
         return_code=0,