diff --git a/video/decode/vd_lavc.c b/video/decode/vd_lavc.c
index 8c5c7e8af5..96b6b2ca7b 100644
--- a/video/decode/vd_lavc.c
+++ b/video/decode/vd_lavc.c
@@ -174,6 +174,8 @@ typedef struct lavc_ctx {
     AVPacket *avpkt;
     bool use_hwdec;
     struct hwdec_info hwdec; // valid only if use_hwdec==true
+    bstr *attempted_hwdecs;
+    int num_attempted_hwdecs;
     AVRational codec_timebase;
     enum AVDiscard skip_frame;
     bool flushing;
@@ -500,6 +502,18 @@ static void select_and_set_hwdec(struct mp_filter *vd)
                     continue;
                 hwdec_name_supported = true;
 
+                bool already_attempted = false;
+                for (int j = 0; j < ctx->num_attempted_hwdecs; j++) {
+                    if (bstr_equals0(ctx->attempted_hwdecs[j], hwdec->name)) {
+                        MP_DBG(vd, "Skipping previously attempted hwdec: %s\n",
+                               hwdec->name);
+                        already_attempted = true;
+                        break;
+                    }
+                }
+                if (already_attempted)
+                    continue;
+
                 const char *hw_codec = mp_codec_from_av_codec_id(hwdec->codec->id);
                 if (!hw_codec || strcmp(hw_codec, codec) != 0)
                     continue;
@@ -509,6 +523,16 @@ static void select_and_set_hwdec(struct mp_filter *vd)
 
                 MP_VERBOSE(vd, "Looking at hwdec %s...\n", hwdec->name);
 
+                /*
+                 * Past this point, any kind of failure that results in us
+                 * looking for a new hwdec should not lead to use trying this
+                 * hwdec again - so add it to the list, regardless of whether
+                 * initialisation will succeed or not.
+                 */
+                MP_TARRAY_APPEND(ctx, ctx->attempted_hwdecs,
+                                 ctx->num_attempted_hwdecs,
+                                 bstrdup(ctx, bstr0(hwdec->name)));
+
                 if (hwdec_auto_copy && !hwdec->copying) {
                     MP_VERBOSE(vd, "Not using this for auto-copy.\n");
                     continue;
@@ -599,7 +623,9 @@ static void force_fallback(struct mp_filter *vd)
 
     uninit_avctx(vd);
     int lev = ctx->hwdec_notified ? MSGL_WARN : MSGL_V;
-    mp_msg(vd->log, lev, "Falling back to software decoding.\n");
+    mp_msg(vd->log, lev, "Attempting next decoding method after failure of %.*s.\n",
+           BSTR_P(ctx->attempted_hwdecs[ctx->num_attempted_hwdecs - 1]));
+    select_and_set_hwdec(vd);
     init_avctx(vd);
 }
 
@@ -609,6 +635,16 @@ static void reinit(struct mp_filter *vd)
 
     uninit_avctx(vd);
 
+    /*
+     * Reset attempted hwdecs so that if the hwdec list is reconfigured
+     * we attempt all of them from the beginning. The most practical
+     * reason for this is that ctrl+h toggles between `no` and
+     * `auto-safe`, and we want to reevaluate from a clean slate each time.
+     */
+    TA_FREEP(&ctx->attempted_hwdecs);
+    ctx->num_attempted_hwdecs = 0;
+    ctx->hwdec_notified = false;
+
     select_and_set_hwdec(vd);
 
     bool use_hwdec = ctx->use_hwdec;
@@ -1116,7 +1152,6 @@ static void send_queued_packet(struct mp_filter *vd)
     vd_ffmpeg_ctx *ctx = vd->priv;
 
     assert(ctx->num_requeue_packets);
-    assert(!ctx->hw_probing);
 
     if (send_packet(vd, ctx->requeue_packets[0]) != AVERROR(EAGAIN)) {
         talloc_free(ctx->requeue_packets[0]);