Input Queue Management and Process Queue Management Improvements

Topaz Video AI Ideas
1

The processing would be much more user friendly if the following functionality was added:

For an easy to find example refer to how Handbrake’s process queue management works.
This is pretty much what I’m asking for. If you haven’t used Handbrake (I find it hard to believe with this crowd) I’m going to state the following for the record.

  1. Stop/Start processing either immediately or at the end of the current file processing (I know this has already been beaten to death but it needs to be implemented to support this request for better queue management). Note: I would be satisficed if the processing stop/start would be only after the current fille process completes if mid process start/stop is problematic.

  2. Don’t start the queue processing automatically as soon as a file is added. Kind of goes with the above but is important to the following functionality so I’m giving its own item.
    Provide a separate start processing button or control. Allow things to be queued up without jumping off to the races.

  3. Allow me to drag and reorder the input queue items (the input queue needs to be optionally displayed as a list like the process queue).

  4. Allow me to drag and reorder the process queue items.

  5. Let me export the process queue.

  6. Let me import an exported process queue.

Justification:
Items 1,2.
Pretty much redundant of other feedback but needs to be there to support my and many other requests to better control the computer processing if other stuff you have needs priority over the long duration video processing.
Also required for queue management in general.

Items 3,4.
I often find the queue processing order is not prioritized to my satisfaction, partly due at the moment because the input queue provides little queue order control and doesn’t even allow an alphanumeric sort that I’m aware (if I’m wrong here please let me know).

Items 4,5.
Once things are in the process queue (especially if there are quite a few items), there’s a lot of detail associated with the process selection for each item that must be re-entered if you find another job or set of files that becomes more timely or higher priority and you have to dump the queue to do something else.
Being able to stop the queue processing (even if after the current file) would save a lot of hassle if you needed to change horses midstream as it were, and being able to export and import later once the higher priority job is completed would be a time and effort savings.

2

Great feedback! It is always best to post the ideas individually instead of all together. The point of this thread is to vote for the ideas you want to see implemented and if you do not already see the idea you have listed, to add it :slight_smile:

  1. Are you referring to pause and resume? If so, this on the roadmap already for a major release.

  2. The queue will not be auto-started until the user presses preview or export. I may be misunderstanding your feedback.

3 + 4. Good idea! Should already be in the ideas section :slight_smile:

5 + 6. Can you please clarify?

3

I thought this was the idea section.

Regarding 5 & 6.
So if you have spent time building a process list and for some priority reason you need to switch to another job, then it is convenient to save the process list, import a new job and once that it done, import the processing list after the higher priority tasks are finished.

Also just to re-state.

Great on the pause and resume and I would suggest that the export not start the queue or at least provide an option not to start the queue immediately when an export item is added.

With respect to the Queue ORDER which is really what my comment was about, not so much the pause although I want that also.

*** I want to be able to sort and REORDER both the input list and the processing Queue ***

When I add to the processing queue sometimes my priorities change after I add the export. During processing or otherwise after pausing the queue I would like to move the order of items in the queue (drag and drop).

So from my perspective there are actually two queues. The input list and the processing list.

So right now the fact that I can not re-order the input list or the processing list forces a somewhat random ordering of the processing based on what order the input is determined when I import (I assume by the underlying OS file directory) if I add a group of files in a directory (example a TV episode list). Even though the OS shows me a sorted list when I import to Topaz the input list is not sorted. So if I select all the input and Export, the process queue also ends up in a messed up sorted order the same as the input list. There’s no way to change the order without exporting file-by-file to get the order I want in the process queue (very tedious).

So I would like to control the order of both input and output processing lists manually (like drag and drop) and by sorting (usually by alphanumeric on the file name).

So to recap.

Two reasons to re-order the queue.

**1 Priority

Processing takes a long time. Maybe having something further down in the queue becomes more important than what is queued up before it.
Think about it, now you have to delete what is between what you want which is down in the queue to get what you want up higher in the queue. Then you have to re-export what you deleted after the priority item finishes. This is a real pain.

**2 Process ordering

Maintaining control of the order of processing.

Processing an ordered list of files is not easily queued up due to neither the input or the processing queue order being immutable after being added.

Most other software has some sort of queue management. I cited the free Handbrake application for ripping BD and DVD tracks. It lets you queue the tracks up for processing but allows for re-ordering the process list as well as pausing and saving and importing the queue… Also, it does does not enforce start processing as soon as tracks are added to the queue unless you want to do that.

Regards.