diff --git a/src/zapit/include/zapit/frontend_c.h b/src/zapit/include/zapit/frontend_c.h
index 77ebd4d41..4cef5c1b2 100644
--- a/src/zapit/include/zapit/frontend_c.h
+++ b/src/zapit/include/zapit/frontend_c.h
@@ -92,8 +92,6 @@ class CFrontend
 		/* current frontend instance */
 		static CFrontend *currentFe;
 		bool locked;
-		/* tuning finished flag */
-		bool tuned;
 		/* information about the used frontend type */
 		struct dvb_frontend_info info;
 		/* current 22kHz tone mode */
@@ -157,6 +155,9 @@ class CFrontend
 
 		friend class CFEManager;
 	public:
+		/* tuning finished flag */
+		bool tuned;
+
 		~CFrontend(void);
 		static CFrontend *getInstance(int Number = 0, int Adapter = 0);
 
diff --git a/src/zapit/src/zapit.cpp b/src/zapit/src/zapit.cpp
index d4cabc5e2..c81bb2623 100644
--- a/src/zapit/src/zapit.cpp
+++ b/src/zapit/src/zapit.cpp
@@ -2068,6 +2068,9 @@ void CZapit::run()
 #if 0
 	time_t stime = time(0);
 	time_t curtime;
+#endif
+#if HAVE_SPARK_HARDWARE
+	bool v_stopped = false;
 #endif
 	printf("[zapit] starting... tid %ld\n", syscall(__NR_gettid));
 
@@ -2103,7 +2106,33 @@ void CZapit::run()
 						SendEvent(CZapitClient::EVT_PMT_CHANGED, &channel_id, sizeof(channel_id));
 					}
 				}
+#if HAVE_SPARK_HARDWARE
+			/* hack: stop videodecoder if the tuner looses lock
+			 * at least the h264 decoder seems unhappy if he runs out of data...
+			 * ...until we fix the driver, let's work around it here.
+			 * theoretically, a "retune()" function could also be implemented here
+			 * for the case that the driver cannot re-lock the tuner (DiSEqC problem,
+			 * unicable collision, .... */
+			if (CFrontend::getInstance()->tuned)
+			{
+				if (!CFrontend::getInstance()->getStatus() && !v_stopped)
+				{
+					fprintf(stderr, "[zapit] LOST LOCK! stopping video...\n");
+					videoDecoder->Stop(false);
+					v_stopped = true;
+				}
+				else if (CFrontend::getInstance()->getStatus())
+				{
+					if (v_stopped)
+					{
+						fprintf(stderr, "[zapit] reacquired LOCK! starting video...\n");
+						videoDecoder->Start();
+					}
+					v_stopped = false;
+				}
 			}
+#endif
+		}
 		/* yuck, don't waste that much cpu time :) */
 		usleep(0);
 #if 0