diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_all.sh b/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_all.sh
index e125bf927ee..174e1b84deb 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_all.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_all.sh
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ if [[ $OSTYPE != 'darwin'* ]]; then
   apt-get install -y libfreetype6-dev pkg-config
 
   apt-get install -y libglfw3 libosmesa6 libglew-dev
-  apt-get install -y libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libglx-mesa0 libegl1 libgles2 xvfb
+  apt-get install -y libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libglx-mesa0 libegl1 libgles2 xvfb ffmpeg
 
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
     apt-get upgrade -y libstdc++6
@@ -205,15 +205,15 @@ git submodule sync && git submodule update --init --recursive
 printf "Installing PyTorch with %s\n" "${CU_VERSION}"
 if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      uv_pip_install --pre torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
+      uv_pip_install --upgrade --pre torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
   else
-      uv_pip_install --pre torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/$CU_VERSION
+      uv_pip_install --upgrade --pre torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/$CU_VERSION
   fi
 elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      uv_pip_install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+      uv_pip_install --upgrade torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
   else
-      uv_pip_install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$CU_VERSION
+      uv_pip_install --upgrade torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$CU_VERSION
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_setup_test.sh b/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_setup_test.sh
index e95ed547a5a..a243b3a8d8c 100644
--- a/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_setup_test.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux/scripts/run_setup_test.sh
@@ -66,9 +66,9 @@ else
 fi
 
 if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
-  uv_pip_install --pre torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
+  uv_pip_install --upgrade --pre torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
 else
-  uv_pip_install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+  uv_pip_install --upgrade torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
 fi
 
 # tensordict is a hard dependency of torchrl; install it explicitly since we test
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_minari/install.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_minari/install.sh
index d9bbee6276f..8febf63dcdc 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_minari/install.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_minari/install.sh
@@ -33,9 +33,9 @@ if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
   fi
 elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
     if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      uv pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+      uv pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu -U
   else
-      uv pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128
+      uv pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128 -U
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vd4rl/install.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vd4rl/install.sh
index 293cf07b8bf..eb1e1c60ba1 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vd4rl/install.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vd4rl/install.sh
@@ -37,7 +37,7 @@ elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
     if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
       pip3 install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu -U
   else
-      pip3 install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128
+      pip3 install torch torchvision --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128 -U
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vmas/install.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vmas/install.sh
index 8a71f05120c..1b717a16e41 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vmas/install.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_libs/scripts_vmas/install.sh
@@ -34,9 +34,9 @@ if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
   fi
 elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
     if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      pip3 install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+      pip3 install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu -U
   else
-      pip3 install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128
+      pip3 install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu128 -U
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_optdeps/scripts/run_all.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_optdeps/scripts/run_all.sh
index 108f52a8527..eaeb4330a9c 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_optdeps/scripts/run_all.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_optdeps/scripts/run_all.sh
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ if [[ $OSTYPE != 'darwin'* ]]; then
   apt-get install -y vim git wget cmake
 
   apt-get install -y libglfw3 libosmesa6 libglew-dev
-  apt-get install -y libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libglx-mesa0 libegl1 libgles2
+  apt-get install -y libglvnd0 libgl1 libglx0 libglx-mesa0 libegl1 libgles2 xvfb ffmpeg
 
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
     # solves version `GLIBCXX_3.4.29' not found for tensorboard
diff --git a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh
index c899dc5f693..20f7bcc4d27 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/linux_sota/scripts/run_all.sh
@@ -115,15 +115,15 @@ git submodule sync && git submodule update --init --recursive
 printf "Installing PyTorch with %s\n" "${CU_VERSION}"
 if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      uv pip install --pre torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
+      uv pip install --upgrade --pre torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu
   else
-      uv pip install --pre torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/$CU_VERSION
+      uv pip install --upgrade --pre torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/$CU_VERSION
   fi
 elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
   if [ "${CU_VERSION:-}" == cpu ] ; then
-      uv pip install torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+      uv pip install --upgrade torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
   else
-      uv pip install torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$CU_VERSION
+      uv pip install --upgrade torch torchvision "numpy==1.26.4" --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/$CU_VERSION
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
diff --git a/.github/unittest/windows_optdepts/scripts/unittest.sh b/.github/unittest/windows_optdepts/scripts/unittest.sh
index 7241d7a53d2..4d4a6f5726f 100755
--- a/.github/unittest/windows_optdepts/scripts/unittest.sh
+++ b/.github/unittest/windows_optdepts/scripts/unittest.sh
@@ -71,15 +71,15 @@ python -m pip install "numpy<2.0"
 printf "Installing PyTorch with %s\n" "${cudatoolkit}"
 if [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "nightly" ]]; then
   if $torch_cuda ; then
-    python -m pip install --pre torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cu118
+    python -m pip install --pre torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cu118 -U
   else
     python -m pip install --pre torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cpu -U
   fi
 elif [[ "$TORCH_VERSION" == "stable" ]]; then
   if $torch_cuda ; then
-      python -m pip install --pre torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/nightly/cu118
+      python -m pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cu118 -U
   else
-      python -m pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu
+      python -m pip install torch --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/cpu -U
   fi
 else
   printf "Failed to install pytorch"
diff --git a/torchrl/envs/batched_envs.py b/torchrl/envs/batched_envs.py
index 8b1b3cd7cd0..bd2a698ac4e 100644
--- a/torchrl/envs/batched_envs.py
+++ b/torchrl/envs/batched_envs.py
@@ -1418,12 +1418,11 @@ class ParallelEnv(BatchedEnvBase, metaclass=_PEnvMeta):
 
     def _start_workers(self) -> None:
         import torchrl
+        from torchrl.envs.env_creator import EnvCreator
 
         self._timeout = 10.0
         self.BATCHED_PIPE_TIMEOUT = torchrl._utils.BATCHED_PIPE_TIMEOUT
 
-        from torchrl.envs.env_creator import EnvCreator
-
         num_threads = max(
             1, torch.get_num_threads() - self.num_workers
         )  # 1 more thread for this proc
@@ -1478,8 +1477,6 @@ def look_for_cuda(tensor, has_cuda=has_cuda):
                 env_fun = self.create_env_fn[idx]
                 if not isinstance(env_fun, (EnvCreator, CloudpickleWrapper)):
                     env_fun = CloudpickleWrapper(env_fun)
-                import torchrl
-
                 kwargs[idx].update(
                     {
                         "parent_pipe": parent_pipe,