Hey @gmaskfx! The advice given in your older thread and as you recapped above still holds true as your best current option.
I agree what you’re asking to do would be helpful, but I can’t think of a way to achieve it given how the web overlay player is built to be called on demand and sits on top of your page. Outside the thumbnail filmstrip preview, there’s no other on-page playback support across SG. Would be a good idea to submit to our roadmap portal if you haven’t already.