diff --git a/app.py b/app.py
index 44508ca..7ddb58a 100644
--- a/app.py
+++ b/app.py
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 from contextvars import ContextVar
 
 log = logging.getLogger("butler")
-VERSION = "2.4.8"
+VERSION = "2.4.9"
 
 API_DIR = os.environ.get("API_KEY_DIR", "/data/api")
 VAULT_CACHE_DIR = os.environ.get("VAULT_CACHE_DIR", "/data/vault-cache")
@@ -1558,7 +1558,7 @@ MEDIA_VERIFY_PROBES = {
 class MediaVerifyRequest(BaseModel):
     host: str = Field(..., max_length=64)
     path: str = Field(..., max_length=1000)
-    expected_minutes: float | None = Field(None, gt=0, le=1440)
+    expected_minutes: float | None = Field(None, ge=0, le=1440)
     tolerance_pct: float = Field(20.0, gt=0, le=100)
 
 
@@ -1588,6 +1588,21 @@ async def media_verify(payload: MediaVerifyRequest, _=Depends(_verify)):
     if not target:
         raise HTTPException(404, f"Host {payload.host} not found in inventory")
 
+    # expected_minutes == 0 or None: no reference runtime available, skip verification gracefully
+    if not payload.expected_minutes or payload.expected_minutes <= 0:
+        return {
+            "host": payload.host,
+            "path": payload.path,
+            "duration_seconds": None,
+            "duration_minutes": None,
+            "expected_minutes": payload.expected_minutes,
+            "verified": False,
+            "suspect": False,
+            "skipped": True,
+            "skip_reason": "no_reference_runtime",
+            "deviation_pct": None,
+        }
+
     probe_cmd = (
         f"docker exec {container} ffprobe -v error "
         f"-show_entries format=duration -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 {shlex.quote(payload.path)}"
diff --git a/tests/test_app.py b/tests/test_app.py
index 1bc0857..45011c2 100644
--- a/tests/test_app.py
+++ b/tests/test_app.py
@@ -1006,7 +1006,7 @@ def test_media_verify_returns_502_on_unparsable_ffprobe_output(monkeypatch):
         response = client.post(
             "/media/verify",
             headers={"Authorization": "Bearer test-token"},
-            json={"host": "arrapps", "path": "/data/UHD/serien/ep.mkv"},
+            json={"host": "arrapps", "path": "/data/UHD/serien/ep.mkv", "expected_minutes": 49.5},
         )
     assert response.status_code == 502