diff --git a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/io/HttpConstants.java b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/io/HttpConstants.java
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..72436eb5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/io/HttpConstants.java
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package ctbrec.io;
+
+public class HttpConstants {
+
+    public static final String ACCEPT = "Accept";
+    public static final String ACCEPT_LANGUAGE = "Accept-Language";
+    public static final String CONNECTION = "connection";
+    public static final String KEEP_ALIVE = "keep-alive";
+    public static final String MIMETYPE_APPLICATION_JSON = "application/json";
+    public static final String REFERER = "Referer";
+    public static final String USER_AGENT = "User-Agent";
+    public static final String XML_HTTP_REQUEST = "XMLHttpRequest";
+    public static final String X_CSRF_TOKEN = "X-CSRF-Token";
+    public static final String X_REQUESTED_WITH = "X-Requested-With";
+
+    private HttpConstants() {}
+}
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/AbstractHlsDownload.java b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/AbstractHlsDownload.java
index 9ed1c495..4f056a43 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/AbstractHlsDownload.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/AbstractHlsDownload.java
@@ -8,7 +8,6 @@ import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.List;
-import java.util.concurrent.BlockingQueue;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutorService;
 import java.util.concurrent.LinkedBlockingQueue;
@@ -52,7 +51,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractHlsDownload extends AbstractDownload {
     protected HttpClient client;
     protected volatile boolean running = false;
     protected Model model = new UnknownModel();
-    protected BlockingQueue<Runnable> downloadQueue = new LinkedBlockingQueue<>(50);
+    protected LinkedBlockingQueue<Runnable> downloadQueue = new LinkedBlockingQueue<>(50);
     protected ExecutorService downloadThreadPool = new ThreadPoolExecutor(5, 5, 2, TimeUnit.MINUTES, downloadQueue, createThreadFactory());
     protected State state = State.UNKNOWN;
     private int playlistEmptyCount = 0;
@@ -124,7 +123,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractHlsDownload extends AbstractDownload {
                     throw new HttpException(response.code(), response.message());
                 }
             } catch (Exception e) {
-                LOG.debug("Couldn't download HLS playlist (try {}) {} - {}", tries, segmentsURL, e.getMessage());
+                LOG.debug("Couldn't download HLS playlist (try {}) {} - {}", tries, e.getMessage(), segmentsURL);
                 lastException = e;
             }
             waitSomeTime(100 * tries);
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/HlsDownload.java b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/HlsDownload.java
index 2a8af237..e7c53b7e 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/HlsDownload.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/ctbrec/recorder/download/hls/HlsDownload.java
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 package ctbrec.recorder.download.hls;
 
+import static ctbrec.io.HttpConstants.*;
+
 import java.io.EOFException;
 import java.io.File;
 import java.io.FileInputStream;
@@ -19,6 +21,7 @@ import java.time.ZoneId;
 import java.time.ZonedDateTime;
 import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.concurrent.Callable;
+import java.util.concurrent.RejectedExecutionException;
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
@@ -109,7 +112,20 @@ public class HlsDownload extends AbstractHlsDownload {
                             URL segmentUrl = new URL(segment);
                             String prefix = nf.format(segmentCounter++);
                             SegmentDownload segmentDownload = new SegmentDownload(playlist, segmentUrl, downloadDir, client, prefix);
-                            downloadThreadPool.submit(segmentDownload);
+                            try {
+                                downloadThreadPool.submit(segmentDownload);
+                                if (downloadQueue.remainingCapacity() < 10) {
+                                    LOG.debug("space left in queue {}", downloadQueue.remainingCapacity());
+                                    // if the queue is running full, we might be struggling with timeouts
+                                    // let's check, if the model is still online
+                                    if (!model.isOnline(true)) {
+                                        downloadQueue.clear();
+                                        internalStop();
+                                    }
+                                }
+                            } catch(RejectedExecutionException e) {
+                                LOG.warn("Download queue is full ({}). Skipping segment {} {}", downloadQueue.size(), prefix, segmentUrl);
+                            }
                         }
                     }
 
@@ -278,40 +294,34 @@ public class HlsDownload extends AbstractHlsDownload {
         @Override
         public Boolean call() throws Exception {
             LOG.trace("Downloading segment to {}", file);
-            int maxTries = 5;
-            for (int i = 1; i <= maxTries; i++) {
-                Request request = new Request.Builder().url(url).addHeader("connection", "keep-alive").build();
-                try (Response response = client.execute(request)) {
+            for (int tries = 1; tries <= 3; tries++) {
+                Request request = new Request.Builder()
+                        .url(url)
+                        .header(USER_AGENT, Config.getInstance().getSettings().httpUserAgent)
+                        .header(CONNECTION, KEEP_ALIVE)
+                        .build();
+                InputStream in = null;
+                try (Response response = client.execute(request); FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(file.toFile())) {
                     if (response.isSuccessful()) {
-                        InputStream in = null;
-                        try (FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(file.toFile())) {
-                            in = response.body().byteStream();
-                            if (playlist.encrypted) {
-                                in = new Crypto(playlist.encryptionKeyUrl, client).wrap(in);
-                            }
-                            byte[] b = new byte[1024 * 100];
-                            int length = -1;
-                            while ((length = in.read(b)) >= 0) {
-                                fos.write(b, 0, length);
-                            }
-                            return true;
-                        } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
-                            LOG.debug("Segment does not exist {}", url.getFile());
-                            break;
-                        } catch (Exception e) {
-                            if (i == maxTries) {
-                                LOG.warn("Error while downloading segment. Segment {} finally failed", file.toFile().getName());
-                            } else {
-                                LOG.warn("Error while downloading segment on try {}", i);
-                            }
+                        in = response.body().byteStream();
+                        if(playlist.encrypted) {
+                            in = new Crypto(playlist.encryptionKeyUrl, client).wrap(in);
                         }
+                        byte[] b = new byte[1024 * 100];
+                        int length = -1;
+                        while( (length = in.read(b)) >= 0 ) {
+                            fos.write(b, 0, length);
+                        }
+                        return true;
+                    }
+                } catch(FileNotFoundException e) {
+                    LOG.debug("Segment does not exist {}", url.getFile());
+                    break;
+                } catch(Exception e) {
+                    if (tries == 3) {
+                        LOG.warn("Error while downloading segment. Segment {} finally failed: {}", file.toFile().getName(), e.getMessage());
                     } else {
-                        // wait a bit and retry
-                        try {
-                            Thread.sleep(50 * i);
-                        } catch (InterruptedException e) {
-                            Thread.currentThread().interrupt();
-                        }
+                        LOG.debug("Error while downloading segment on try {} - {}", tries, e.getMessage());
                     }
                 }
             }