_startPlayback and _reloadMediaInPlace each inlined the same ~180-line open sequence around the playback_open.dart helpers — frame-rate prep, display priming, startup gate, external-subtitle plan, open, track manager build, track apply, gate release — with comments instructing that the two copies be kept in sync, and they had already drifted (live _isTranscoding vs result.isTranscoding, Watch Together attach vs detach/reattach).
The sequence now lives once in _openResolvedMedia; the genuine divergences are explicit parameters and caller hooks (transcoding source, WT handling, session-commit boundary, automotive start deferral, resume timing), so a future change to open sequencing lands in both flows by construction. Every await boundary and staleness guard keeps its original position in both flows.
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