- Improved the upload/edit flow to auto-grab thumbnails.

What changed:
Added shared thumbnail helpers in 
[includes/db.php](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/includes/db.php):YouTube 
direct thumbnails
Dailymotion direct thumbnails
oEmbed thumbnails for Vimeo, Wistia, TikTok, SoundCloud, Spotify, etc.
optional first-frame thumbnail generation for local uploads when ffmpeg 
is installed

Added an “Auto-grab thumbnail” checkbox to 
[admin/add.php](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/admin/add.php) 
and 
[admin/edit.php](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/admin/edit.php).
Reused the new shared downloader in 
[admin/youtube_import.php](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/admin/youtube_import.php).
Documented the behavior in 
[README.md](/Users/tyemeclifford/Documents/GH/mediaplayer/README.md).

README.md

@@ -78,6 +78,8 @@ Styled to match the existing `gate.php` / `index.php` dark theme exactly.
 
 External URLs must use `http://` or `https://`. Uploaded files and remote URLs can be mixed on the same video. Recognized provider URLs such as YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Twitch, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, X/Twitter, SoundCloud, Spotify, Google Drive, Wistia, Streamable, and Loom render through their embed players.
 
+If no thumbnail image is uploaded, the add/edit forms can auto-grab one from the first supported source. YouTube and Dailymotion use direct thumbnail URLs; Vimeo, Wistia, TikTok, SoundCloud, and Spotify use oEmbed when available. Local uploaded videos can generate a first-frame thumbnail when `ffmpeg` is installed on the server.
+
 ### Importing YouTube Channels
 
 Use **Admin → YouTube Importer** to paste a YouTube channel URL, `@handle`, or `UC...` channel ID. The importer scrapes the channel's `/videos` page, extracts video data from `ytInitialData`, previews the results, and imports selected videos as remote YouTube embed sources. Duplicate YouTube watch URLs are skipped.

admin/add.php

@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
     $duration    = (int)($_POST['duration'] ?? 0);
     $sort_order  = (int)($_POST['sort_order'] ?? 0);
     $published   = isset($_POST['published']) ? 1 : 0;
+    $auto_thumb  = isset($_POST['auto_thumbnail']);
 
     if (!$title) {
         $error = 'Title is required.';
@@ -112,8 +113,15 @@ if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
                 if ($thumbnail && file_exists(MEDIA_DIR . $thumbnail)) unlink(MEDIA_DIR . $thumbnail);
                 $db->prepare("DELETE FROM videos WHERE id=?")->execute([$video_id]);
             } else {
-            header('Location: edit.php?id=' . $video_id . '&saved=1');
+                if ($thumbnail === '' && $auto_thumb) {
-            exit;
+                    $thumbnail = media_auto_thumbnail_for_video($video_id, $slug);
+                    if ($thumbnail !== '') {
+                        $db->prepare("UPDATE videos SET thumbnail=? WHERE id=?")->execute([$thumbnail, $video_id]);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                header('Location: edit.php?id=' . $video_id . '&saved=1');
+                exit;
             }
         }
     }
@@ -247,7 +255,11 @@ render_head('Add Video — Admin', '
               <label class="form-label" for="thumbnail">Thumbnail Image</label>
               <input class="form-input" type="file" id="thumbnail" name="thumbnail"
                      accept="image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/gif" style="padding:.45rem .6rem;">
-              <span class="hint">JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF. Shown as 16:9 preview.</span>
+              <label style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:.55rem;margin-top:.55rem;cursor:pointer;">
+                <input type="checkbox" name="auto_thumbnail" value="1" <?= isset($_POST['auto_thumbnail']) || $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] !== 'POST' ? 'checked' : '' ?>>
+                <span style="font-size:.78rem;color:var(--text-2);">Auto-grab thumbnail from source if no image is uploaded</span>
+              </label>
+              <span class="hint">JPG, PNG, WebP or GIF. Auto-grab supports YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and other oEmbed providers; local uploads use ffmpeg when available.</span>
             </div>
             <div class="form-group" style="justify-content:flex-end;padding-bottom:.2rem;">
               <label style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:.6rem;cursor:pointer;">

admin/edit.php

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
         $duration    = (int)($_POST['duration'] ?? 0);
         $sort_order  = (int)($_POST['sort_order'] ?? 0);
         $published   = isset($_POST['published']) ? 1 : 0;
+        $auto_thumb  = isset($_POST['auto_thumbnail']);
 
         if (!$title) {
             $error = 'Title is required.';
@@ -51,6 +52,7 @@ if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
 
             // Handle thumbnail replacement
             $thumbnail = $video['thumbnail'];
+            $uploaded_thumbnail = false;
             if (!empty($_FILES['thumbnail']['tmp_name'])) {
                 $ext = strtolower(pathinfo($_FILES['thumbnail']['name'], PATHINFO_EXTENSION));
                 $allowed = ['jpg','jpeg','png','webp','gif'];
@@ -62,6 +64,7 @@ if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
                     $fname = $slug . '_thumb_' . time() . '.' . $ext;
                     if (move_uploaded_file($_FILES['thumbnail']['tmp_name'], $thumb_dir . $fname)) {
                         $thumbnail = 'thumbs/' . $fname;
+                        $uploaded_thumbnail = true;
                     }
                 } else {
                     $error = 'Thumbnail must be JPG, PNG, WebP, or GIF.';
@@ -178,6 +181,15 @@ if ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] === 'POST') {
                             if (file_exists($moved)) unlink($moved);
                         }
                     } else {
+                        if ($auto_thumb && !$uploaded_thumbnail) {
+                            $auto_thumbnail = media_auto_thumbnail_for_video($id, $slug);
+                            if ($auto_thumbnail !== '') {
+                                if ($thumbnail && file_exists(MEDIA_DIR . $thumbnail)) unlink(MEDIA_DIR . $thumbnail);
+                                $thumbnail = $auto_thumbnail;
+                                $db->prepare("UPDATE videos SET thumbnail=?, updated_at=datetime('now') WHERE id=?")->execute([$thumbnail, $id]);
+                            }
+                        }
+
                         header('Location: edit.php?id=' . $id . '&saved=1');
                         exit;
                     }
@@ -329,7 +341,11 @@ render_head('Edit Video — Admin', '
               <?php endif; ?>
               <input class="form-input" type="file" id="thumbnail" name="thumbnail"
                      accept="image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/gif" style="padding:.45rem .6rem;">
-              <span class="hint">Upload new image to replace current thumbnail.</span>
+              <label style="display:flex;align-items:center;gap:.55rem;margin-top:.55rem;cursor:pointer;">
+                <input type="checkbox" name="auto_thumbnail" value="1" <?= isset($_POST['auto_thumbnail']) || ($_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] !== 'POST' && !$video['thumbnail']) ? 'checked' : '' ?>>
+                <span style="font-size:.78rem;color:var(--text-2);">Auto-grab/refresh thumbnail from source on save</span>
+              </label>
+              <span class="hint">Upload a new image to override auto-grab. Auto-grab supports YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and other oEmbed providers; local uploads use ffmpeg when available.</span>
             </div>
           </div>
         </div>

admin/youtube_import.php

@@ -464,20 +464,7 @@ function yt_scrape_channel_videos(string $input, int $limit): array {
 }
 
 function yt_download_thumbnail(string $url, string $slug): string {
-    if ($url === '') return '';
+    return media_download_thumbnail($url, $slug, 'yt');
-    $fetch = yt_http_get($url, 12);
-    if ($fetch['body'] === '' || $fetch['error']) return '';
-    if (function_exists('getimagesizefromstring') && !@getimagesizefromstring($fetch['body'])) return '';
-
-    $content_type = strtolower((string)$fetch['content_type']);
-    $ext = 'jpg';
-    if (str_contains($content_type, 'png')) $ext = 'png';
-    elseif (str_contains($content_type, 'webp')) $ext = 'webp';
-
-    $thumb_dir = MEDIA_DIR . 'thumbs/';
-    if (!is_dir($thumb_dir)) mkdir($thumb_dir, 0755, true);
-    $fname = $slug . '_yt_' . time() . '.' . $ext;
-    return file_put_contents($thumb_dir . $fname, $fetch['body']) !== false ? 'thumbs/' . $fname : '';
 }
 
 function yt_import_videos(PDO $db, array $videos, array $selected_ids, bool $published): array {

includes/db.php

@@ -306,6 +306,70 @@ function media_append_query(string $base, array $params): string {
     return $base . (strpos($base, '?') === false ? '?' : '&') . $query;
 }
 
+function media_http_get(string $url, int $timeout = 12): array {
+    $url = normalize_media_url($url);
+    if ($url === '') return ['body' => '', 'code' => 0, 'content_type' => '', 'error' => 'Invalid URL.'];
+
+    $headers = [
+        'User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; TyCliffordMedia/1.0)',
+        'Accept: image/avif,image/webp,image/png,image/jpeg,image/*;q=0.9,application/json;q=0.8,text/html;q=0.7,*/*;q=0.5',
+    ];
+
+    if (function_exists('curl_init')) {
+        $ch = curl_init($url);
+        curl_setopt_array($ch, [
+            CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
+            CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
+            CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 5,
+            CURLOPT_CONNECTTIMEOUT => $timeout,
+            CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => $timeout,
+            CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => $headers,
+            CURLOPT_HEADER => true,
+        ]);
+        $raw = curl_exec($ch);
+        $err = curl_error($ch);
+        $code = (int)curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_RESPONSE_CODE);
+        $header_size = (int)curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HEADER_SIZE);
+        $content_type = (string)curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_CONTENT_TYPE);
+        curl_close($ch);
+
+        if (!is_string($raw) || $raw === '') {
+            return ['body' => '', 'code' => $code, 'content_type' => $content_type, 'error' => $err ?: 'Empty response.'];
+        }
+
+        return [
+            'body' => substr($raw, $header_size),
+            'code' => $code,
+            'content_type' => $content_type,
+            'error' => $code >= 400 ? 'HTTP ' . $code : '',
+        ];
+    }
+
+    $context = stream_context_create([
+        'http' => [
+            'method' => 'GET',
+            'header' => implode("\r\n", $headers),
+            'timeout' => $timeout,
+            'ignore_errors' => true,
+        ],
+    ]);
+    $body = @file_get_contents($url, false, $context);
+    $response_headers = $http_response_header ?? [];
+    $code = 0;
+    $content_type = '';
+    foreach ($response_headers as $header) {
+        if (preg_match('#^HTTP/\S+\s+(\d+)#', $header, $m)) $code = (int)$m[1];
+        if (stripos($header, 'Content-Type:') === 0) $content_type = trim(substr($header, 13));
+    }
+
+    return [
+        'body' => is_string($body) ? $body : '',
+        'code' => $code,
+        'content_type' => $content_type,
+        'error' => $code >= 400 ? 'HTTP ' . $code : (!is_string($body) ? 'Unable to fetch URL.' : ''),
+    ];
+}
+
 function media_parse_youtube_time(string $value): int {
     $value = trim($value);
     if ($value === '') return 0;
@@ -334,6 +398,170 @@ function media_twitch_parent_host(): string {
     return is_string($host) && $host !== '' ? $host : 'localhost';
 }
 
+function media_youtube_id_from_url(string $url): string {
+    $host = strtolower((string)(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_HOST) ?? ''));
+    $path = (string)(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_PATH) ?? '');
+    $segments = media_path_segments($url);
+    $query = media_query_values($url);
+
+    $id = '';
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'youtu.be') && isset($segments[0])) $id = $segments[0];
+    if ($id === '' && isset($query['v'])) $id = media_scalar_string($query['v']);
+    if ($id === '' && preg_match('#/(?:embed|shorts|live|v)/([^/?#]+)#', $path, $m)) $id = $m[1];
+    return media_clean_token($id);
+}
+
+function media_provider_oembed_endpoint(string $url, string $host): string {
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'youtube.com') || media_host_matches($host, 'youtu.be') || media_host_matches($host, 'youtube-nocookie.com')) {
+        return 'https://www.youtube.com/oembed?format=json&url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'vimeo.com')) {
+        return 'https://vimeo.com/api/oembed.json?url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'dailymotion.com') || media_host_matches($host, 'dai.ly')) {
+        return 'https://www.dailymotion.com/services/oembed?url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'tiktok.com')) {
+        return 'https://www.tiktok.com/oembed?url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'soundcloud.com')) {
+        return 'https://soundcloud.com/oembed?format=json&url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'open.spotify.com')) {
+        return 'https://open.spotify.com/oembed?url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'wistia.com') || media_host_matches($host, 'wi.st')) {
+        return 'https://fast.wistia.com/oembed?url=' . rawurlencode($url);
+    }
+    return '';
+}
+
+function media_oembed_thumbnail_url(string $url, string $host): string {
+    $endpoint = media_provider_oembed_endpoint($url, $host);
+    if ($endpoint === '') return '';
+
+    $fetch = media_http_get($endpoint, 8);
+    if ($fetch['body'] === '' || $fetch['error'] !== '') return '';
+
+    $data = json_decode($fetch['body'], true);
+    if (!is_array($data)) return '';
+
+    $thumb = normalize_media_url((string)($data['thumbnail_url'] ?? ''));
+    return $thumb;
+}
+
+function media_provider_thumbnail_url(string $url): string {
+    $url = normalize_media_url($url);
+    if ($url === '') return '';
+
+    $host = strtolower((string)(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_HOST) ?? ''));
+    $path = (string)(parse_url($url, PHP_URL_PATH) ?? '');
+    $segments = media_path_segments($url);
+
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'youtu.be') || media_host_matches($host, 'youtube.com') || media_host_matches($host, 'youtube-nocookie.com')) {
+        $id = media_youtube_id_from_url($url);
+        return $id !== '' ? 'https://i.ytimg.com/vi/' . rawurlencode($id) . '/hqdefault.jpg' : '';
+    }
+
+    if (media_host_matches($host, 'dailymotion.com') || media_host_matches($host, 'dai.ly')) {
+        $id = '';
+        if (media_host_matches($host, 'dai.ly') && isset($segments[0])) $id = $segments[0];
+        if ($id === '' && preg_match('#/(?:embed/)?video/([^/?#_]+)#', $path, $m)) $id = $m[1];
+        $id = media_clean_token($id);
+        if ($id !== '') return 'https://www.dailymotion.com/thumbnail/video/' . rawurlencode($id);
+    }
+
+    return media_oembed_thumbnail_url($url, $host);
+}
+
+function media_thumbnail_extension(string $url, string $content_type): string {
+    $content_type = strtolower($content_type);
+    if (str_contains($content_type, 'png')) return 'png';
+    if (str_contains($content_type, 'webp')) return 'webp';
+    if (str_contains($content_type, 'gif')) return 'gif';
+
+    $ext = media_extension_from_url($url);
+    return in_array($ext, ['jpg', 'jpeg', 'png', 'webp', 'gif'], true) ? ($ext === 'jpeg' ? 'jpg' : $ext) : 'jpg';
+}
+
+function media_download_thumbnail(string $url, string $slug, string $label = 'auto'): string {
+    $url = normalize_media_url($url);
+    if ($url === '') return '';
+
+    $fetch = media_http_get($url, 12);
+    if ($fetch['body'] === '' || $fetch['error'] !== '') return '';
+    if (function_exists('getimagesizefromstring') && !@getimagesizefromstring($fetch['body'])) return '';
+
+    $thumb_dir = MEDIA_DIR . 'thumbs/';
+    if (!is_dir($thumb_dir)) mkdir($thumb_dir, 0755, true);
+
+    $label = media_clean_token($label);
+    if ($label === '') $label = 'auto';
+    $ext = media_thumbnail_extension($url, (string)$fetch['content_type']);
+    $fname = $slug . '_' . $label . '_' . time() . '_' . substr(sha1($url), 0, 8) . '.' . $ext;
+
+    return file_put_contents($thumb_dir . $fname, $fetch['body']) !== false ? 'thumbs/' . $fname : '';
+}
+
+function media_disabled_function(string $name): bool {
+    $disabled = array_map('trim', explode(',', (string)ini_get('disable_functions')));
+    return in_array($name, $disabled, true);
+}
+
+function media_ffmpeg_path(): string {
+    $configured = trim((string)getenv('FFMPEG_PATH'));
+    if ($configured !== '' && is_executable($configured)) return $configured;
+
+    if (!function_exists('shell_exec') || media_disabled_function('shell_exec')) return '';
+    $path = trim((string)@shell_exec('command -v ffmpeg 2>/dev/null'));
+    return $path !== '' && is_executable($path) ? $path : '';
+}
+
+function media_thumbnail_from_local_video(string $file_path, string $slug): string {
+    $ffmpeg = media_ffmpeg_path();
+    if ($ffmpeg === '') return '';
+
+    $source = MEDIA_DIR . ltrim($file_path, '/');
+    if ($file_path === '' || !is_file($source) || !is_readable($source)) return '';
+
+    $thumb_dir = MEDIA_DIR . 'thumbs/';
+    if (!is_dir($thumb_dir)) mkdir($thumb_dir, 0755, true);
+    $fname = $slug . '_frame_' . time() . '_' . substr(sha1($file_path), 0, 8) . '.jpg';
+    $target = $thumb_dir . $fname;
+
+    if (!function_exists('exec') || media_disabled_function('exec')) return '';
+    $cmd = escapeshellarg($ffmpeg) . ' -y -ss 00:00:01 -i ' . escapeshellarg($source) . ' -frames:v 1 -vf ' . escapeshellarg('scale=1280:-2') . ' ' . escapeshellarg($target) . ' 2>/dev/null';
+    @exec($cmd, $output, $code);
+
+    if ($code === 0 && is_file($target) && filesize($target) > 0 && (!function_exists('getimagesize') || @getimagesize($target))) {
+        return 'thumbs/' . $fname;
+    }
+
+    if (is_file($target)) unlink($target);
+    return '';
+}
+
+function media_auto_thumbnail_for_video(int $video_id, string $slug): string {
+    $stmt = get_db()->prepare("SELECT * FROM video_sources WHERE video_id=? ORDER BY sort_order ASC, id ASC");
+    $stmt->execute([$video_id]);
+    $sources = $stmt->fetchAll();
+
+    foreach ($sources as $source) {
+        if (!source_is_remote($source)) continue;
+        $thumb_url = media_provider_thumbnail_url($source['source_url'] ?? '');
+        $thumbnail = media_download_thumbnail($thumb_url, $slug, 'auto');
+        if ($thumbnail !== '') return $thumbnail;
+    }
+
+    foreach ($sources as $source) {
+        if (!source_is_local($source)) continue;
+        $thumbnail = media_thumbnail_from_local_video($source['file_path'] ?? '', $slug);
+        if ($thumbnail !== '') return $thumbnail;
+    }
+
+    return '';
+}
+
 function media_provider_embed(string $url): ?array {
     $parts = @parse_url($url);
     if (!is_array($parts) || empty($parts['host'])) return null;
@@ -344,12 +572,7 @@ function media_provider_embed(string $url): ?array {
     $query = media_query_values($url);
 
     if (media_host_matches($host, 'youtu.be') || media_host_matches($host, 'youtube.com') || media_host_matches($host, 'youtube-nocookie.com')) {
-        $id = '';
+        $id = media_youtube_id_from_url($url);
-        if (media_host_matches($host, 'youtu.be') && isset($segments[0])) $id = $segments[0];
-        if ($id === '' && isset($query['v'])) $id = media_scalar_string($query['v']);
-        if ($id === '' && preg_match('#/(?:embed|shorts|live|v)/([^/?#]+)#', $path, $m)) $id = $m[1];
-
-        $id = media_clean_token($id);
         if ($id !== '') {
             $params = ['rel' => '0', 'modestbranding' => '1', 'playsinline' => '1'];
             $start = isset($query['start'])