diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/renderChunk.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/renderChunk.ts
index c3127cccd6..a9e60f0c71 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/renderChunk.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/distributed/renderChunk.ts
@@ -483,7 +483,6 @@ export async function renderChunk(
 
     const videoCaptureBeyondViewport = resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(
       planVideos?.videos.length ?? 0,
-      "software",
     );
 
     // ── Per-chunk work + frames directories ──
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.test.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.test.ts
index 7b43c3c143..d97bd02577 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.test.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.test.ts
@@ -3,15 +3,14 @@ import { resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport } from "./captureBeyondViewport.js";
 
 describe("resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport", () => {
   it("leaves no-video renders on the engine default", () => {
-    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(0, "software")).toBeUndefined();
-    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(0, "hardware")).toBeUndefined();
+    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(0)).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
-  it("keeps video renders on the fast viewport-bound path under software rendering", () => {
-    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(1, "software")).toBe(false);
-  });
-
-  it("preserves the beyond-viewport video workaround under hardware rendering", () => {
-    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(1, "hardware")).toBe(true);
+  it("forces beyond-viewport for any video render so the bottom edge is not clipped", () => {
+    // Regression: software hosts (including every distributed chunk render,
+    // which resolves as "software") previously returned false here and clipped
+    // ~87 bottom rows to black on video comps.
+    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(1)).toBe(true);
+    expect(resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(5)).toBe(true);
   });
 });
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.ts
index eaa7a3bdae..6e709df8ce 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/render/captureBeyondViewport.ts
@@ -1,14 +1,23 @@
-export type ResolvedBrowserGpuMode = "software" | "hardware";
-
 /**
- * Native video surfaces can need Chrome's beyond-viewport compositor on
- * hardware-accelerated captures, but that path is a full-surface software
- * re-rasterization tax on SwiftShader/CPU render hosts.
+ * Native video surfaces need Chrome's beyond-viewport screenshot path or the
+ * viewport-bound capture clips the bottom edge of the frame — the same
+ * #1094 tall-portrait guard the alpha capture paths already hardcode
+ * (`captureScreenshotWithAlpha` / `captureAlphaPng`).
+ *
+ * This used to be gated to hardware-GPU captures to skip the full-surface
+ * software re-rasterization tax on SwiftShader/CPU render hosts. But that left
+ * software hosts clipping ~87 bottom rows to black on video comps — and every
+ * distributed chunk render resolves as "software", so the entire distributed
+ * fleet shipped video renders with a black bottom band. Correct output wins
+ * over the software perf optimization: enable beyond-viewport for any render
+ * that has a native video surface, regardless of GPU mode.
+ *
+ * ponytail: blanket-on for video. If the software re-raster tax proves
+ * significant on the distributed fleet, narrow it back to comps whose content
+ * actually reaches the bottom edge — but that needs a reliable clip predictor
+ * first, and a black band is unshippable in the meantime.
  */
-export function resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(
-  videoCount: number,
-  browserGpuMode: ResolvedBrowserGpuMode,
-): boolean | undefined {
+export function resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(videoCount: number): boolean | undefined {
   if (videoCount <= 0) return undefined;
-  return browserGpuMode === "hardware";
+  return true;
 }
diff --git a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
index 74dcb3d17b..018c35d270 100644
--- a/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
+++ b/packages/producer/src/services/renderOrchestrator.ts
@@ -1899,10 +1899,7 @@ export async function executeRenderJob(
       browserTimeout: cfg.browserTimeout,
     });
     updateCaptureObservability({ browserGpuMode: resolvedBrowserGpuMode });
-    const videoCaptureBeyondViewport = resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(
-      composition.videos.length,
-      resolvedBrowserGpuMode,
-    );
+    const videoCaptureBeyondViewport = resolveVideoCaptureBeyondViewport(composition.videos.length);
 
     const captureOptions: CaptureOptions = {
       width,