encoderPro/FEATURE-SUMMARY.md

encoderPro Dashboard - New Features Summary

Overview

This document summarizes the new features added to the encoderPro dashboard to enable profile selection and individual movie re-encoding.

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Feature 1: Encoding Profile Selection in Settings

What It Does

Users can now select the default encoding profile directly from the dashboard's Encoding Settings panel, without manually editing the YAML configuration file.

User Interface Changes

• Encoding Settings Panel (formerly "Quality Settings")
  • New section: "📹 Encoding Profile"
  • Profile dropdown with all available profiles
  • Profile description area showing encoder, quality (CRF), preset, and description
  • Combined save button for both profile and quality check settings

How It Works

1. Dashboard loads available profiles from /api/profiles on page load
2. Populates dropdown with profile names
3. Shows default profile as pre-selected
4. When profile is selected, displays detailed information about:
   • Encoder (e.g., cpu_x265, nvidia_nvenc_h265)
   • Quality (CRF value)
   • Preset (e.g., slow, medium, fast)
   • Description (if available)
5. Clicking "💾 Save All Settings" updates the config file with the new default profile

API Endpoint Used

• GET /api/profiles - Get available profiles
• POST /api/config - Save updated configuration

Code Location

• Frontend: templates/dashboard.html lines 411-480 (HTML), lines 927-968 (JavaScript)
• Backend: Existing /api/profiles and /api/config endpoints

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Feature 2: Individual Movie Selection and Re-Encoding

What It Does

Users can select specific movies from the file quality table and queue them for re-encoding with a chosen profile. This allows targeted re-processing without re-encoding the entire library.

User Interface Changes

File Quality Analysis Table

• New checkbox column (first column)
  • "Select All" checkbox in header
  • Individual checkboxes for each file
  • Disabled for files currently processing

Selection Controls (above table)

• Selection counter: Shows "X files selected"
• Profile dropdown: Select encoding profile for re-encoding
• Re-encode button: "🎬 Re-encode Selected"
  • Disabled when no files selected or no profile chosen
  • Enabled when both conditions are met

How It Works

Selection Flow

1. User views files in the quality table
2. Can filter by state (all, pending, completed, failed)
3. Checks boxes next to files they want to re-encode
4. Selection count updates in real-time
5. Uses "Select All" to select all visible files at once

Re-Encoding Flow

1. User selects one or more files
2. Chooses encoding profile from dropdown
3. Clicks "🎬 Re-encode Selected"
4. Confirmation dialog shows:
   • Number of files
   • Selected profile
   • Warning that state will be reset
5. On confirmation:
   • Files reset from completed/failed to pending
   • Profile name assigned to each file
   • Success message shown
   • Table refreshes to show updated states

Background Process

1. API endpoint /api/jobs/reencode-selected receives request
2. Updates database:

   UPDATE files
   SET state = 'pending',
       profile_name = ?,
       updated_at = CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
   WHERE id IN (...)
   

3. Files are now queued for processing
4. When user starts the encoding job, these files will be processed with their assigned profiles

Use Cases

• Quality Upgrade: Re-encode completed files with higher quality profile (lower CRF)
• Failed File Recovery: Re-process failed files with different encoder or settings
• Profile Testing: Test new profiles on specific files before batch processing
• Selective Compression: Re-encode only large files with more aggressive compression
• Format Change: Switch from CPU to GPU encoding for specific files

API Endpoint

New Endpoint: POST /api/jobs/reencode-selected

Request:

{
  "file_ids": [1, 5, 12, 23],
  "profile": "quality_cpu"
}

Response:

{
  "success": true,
  "message": "4 files queued for re-encoding",
  "count": 4
}

Code Location

• Frontend HTML: templates/dashboard.html lines 482-531 (table structure)
• Frontend JavaScript: templates/dashboard.html lines 1033-1189 (selection logic)
• Backend API: dashboard.py lines 575-615 (new endpoint)
• Documentation: DASHBOARD-API.md lines 310-340

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Technical Implementation Details

JavaScript State Management

let selectedFiles = new Set();  // Tracks selected file IDs
let availableProfiles = {};     // Caches profile definitions

Key Functions

loadEncodingProfiles()

• Fetches profiles from API
• Populates both dropdowns (settings and re-encode)
• Updates profile description

toggleFileSelection(fileId)

• Adds/removes file ID from selection set
• Updates selection counter

toggleSelectAll()

• Selects/deselects all non-disabled checkboxes
• Updates selection set

updateSelectedCount()

• Updates "X files selected" text
• Enables/disables re-encode button based on:
  • At least one file selected
  • Profile chosen

reencodeSelected()

• Validates selection and profile
• Confirms with user
• Calls API endpoint
• Refreshes table on success

Database Changes

The /api/jobs/reencode-selected endpoint updates the files table:

• Sets state to pending
• Sets profile_name to chosen profile
• Updates updated_at timestamp

This allows the main encoding script to pick up these files and process them with the specified profile.

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User Workflow Example

Scenario: Re-encode low-quality files with better settings

1. Filter Files

   • Select "Completed Only" from filter dropdown
   • Table shows all completed encodes

2. Review Results

   • User notices some files have poor quality scores
   • Or some files have large file sizes despite encoding

3. Select Files

   • Click checkboxes next to files needing re-encoding
   • Or click "Select All" to choose all visible files
   • Counter shows "5 files selected"

4. Choose Profile

   • Select "quality_cpu" from profile dropdown
   • (This profile uses CRF 19 for higher quality)

5. Queue Re-Encoding

   • Click "🎬 Re-encode Selected"
   • Confirm dialog: "Re-encode 5 file(s) using profile 'quality_cpu'?"
   • Click OK

6. Processing

   • Success message: "✅ 5 file(s) queued for re-encoding!"
   • Files now show as "pending" in table
   • User clicks "▶️ Start Processing" to begin encoding

7. Monitoring

   • Files process with new profile
   • Statistics update in real-time
   • Activity log shows progress

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Benefits

For Users

• No YAML editing required - Configure profiles through UI
• Granular control - Re-encode specific files, not entire library
• Flexibility - Test different profiles on different files
• Recovery - Easy to retry failed files with different settings
• Efficiency - No need to re-encode entire library to change quality

For Workflow

• Iterative improvement - Test and refine encoding settings
• Quality assurance - Upgrade files that didn't meet quality standards
• Resource optimization - Use GPU profiles for some files, CPU for others
• Error recovery - Quickly retry failed encodes with different encoders

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Future Enhancements

Potential improvements for future versions:

1. Bulk Profile Assignment

   • Apply different profiles to different groups of files
   • Profile recommendations based on file characteristics

2. Quality Preview

   • Show estimated file size before re-encoding
   • Compare current vs. target quality scores

3. Scheduled Re-Encoding

   • Queue files for processing during off-peak hours
   • Priority queue for urgent re-encodes

4. Batch Operations

   • Reset multiple files to different states
   • Bulk delete from database
   • Export selection to CSV

5. Advanced Filtering

   • Filter by quality score, file size, encoder used
   • Save custom filter presets
   • Search by filename patterns

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Summary

These two features provide users with:

1. Easy profile management through the UI
2. Precise control over which files to re-encode
3. Flexible workflows for quality improvement and error recovery

The implementation is fully integrated with the existing encoderPro system and requires no changes to the core encoding logic.