HQPlayer kick start guide & feature requests

[4est]

No need to get snarky or be over the top...

 

I am thankful for Miska providing this option. He has been ahead of the field for years, and I trust his general take on things. If you want to play around with Linux in your NAS, then by all means. Expecting him to service this is another thing.

Sure. It's possible to "build" anything.. Like a full blown commercial enterprise Linux Server.. with a 5 RAId array for like 10K.. but these NAS devices are like under a thousand grand..

[wappinghigh]

^ I'm not getting "snarky".. Whatever man.... I'm only suggesting it to improve HQPlayer for mass market appeal..

 

..it's not "Over the top"...NAS storage of Movies/music/etc etc is hardly a new phenomenon and has huge general support out there...

[wappinghigh]

....The one man band guy who runs Minimserver has no problem supporting this for multiple NAS devices..

[Miska]

^ Well it cuts down the no. of "computers" needed to run in the chain to get music to the NAA.. if Miska won't write UPnP into HQplayer ..because he says he hates UPnP.. (to share a library share on a NAS), then maybe he can get HQplayer running direct on the NAS instead..

 

Well, it's not "in", but HQPlayer Embedded can be used as UPnP Renderer by using external UPnP software stack. Of course you can decide to run UPnP Media Server on the same machine as well, but it's unrelated.

 

Naturally if your NAS has enough CPU power and runs Linux, you could run HQPlayer Desktop there too, and since the GUI of course uses X11 you can have the GUI appear anywhere else on the network (as long as you have X11 capability; on Linux and OS X with provided components and on Windows with third party component).

[wappinghigh]

Sure.. the point is.. how do you set this up easily?

 

Compare your "instructions".. with those on the MinimServer website.....

[wappinghigh]

No disrespect.. But nobody is saying your program and ideas aren't awesome..(they are)... it's the delivery of them that is failing you..

[Miska]

....The one man band guy who runs Minimserver has no problem supporting this for multiple NAS devices..

 

It is quite different beast. It is written in Java (IOW it is slow), it doesn't really have much of GUI and it doesn't do any DSP.

 

I'm providing builds for Ubuntu based distributions (32- and 64-bit variants plus iMX6-armhf), Windows (32- and 64-bit variants) and Mac OS X. That is already six different builds of the software. For the current license price it is a bit too much to ask me to maintain a build that only one single customer uses. Of course if someone wants to pay around 500 - 1000€ for each update build for some other distro, then I could consider making such.

 

Minimserver doesn't interface with hardware either. If I test six builds with six different DACs, that's already 36 combinations to test.

[4est]

Since when is running upsampling/converting software on a NAS "mass market"? Of course NASs have been around. You were asking to remove a box in the chain, and I was simply suggesting that you put your NAS in you server box instead of putting your server in your NAS box.

^ I'm not getting "snarky".. Whatever man.... I'm only suggesting it to improve HQPlayer for mass market appeal..

 

..it's not "Over the top"...NAS storage of Movies/music/etc etc is hardly a new phenomenon and has huge general support out there...

[wappinghigh]

@ Miska.. Sure. No problem... I was just suggesting how you might make HQplayer a little more user friendly and work like every other streaming solution out there.. ie Something we all know about and understand.... You know: library on a NAS<>Control point<>Streamer.. thats all.. I'm not sure why this "concept" is such a big deal.. Anyway. Geeezz.

[Miska]

Sure.. the point is.. how do you set this up easily?

 

Compare your "instructions".. with those on the MinimServer website.....

 

If you use HQPlayer Desktop you just install the package and start using it. It's about tree clicks from the browser.

 

For NAA you "wget" the package and "dpkg -i" it and that's it, ready to go.

 

HQPlayer Embedded requires editing couple of text configuration files (since it doesn't have any GUI), but it's pretty easy too.

 

Those MinimServer instructions look much more complex.

[4est]

No disrespect.. But nobody is saying your program and ideas aren't awesome..(they are)... it's the delivery of them that is failing you..

 

Failing him or failing you? With all due respect, his software could use a better manual and instructions. Something like this from Geoffry is a nice first step. It would behoove us all if there was a comprehensive manual of sorts for dummies like me. For instance, I needed to inquire on how to get my NAA running as I had lost the "network" version of the desktop version and forgotten it existed. He has addressed that in the next build, but still, as complex and powerful as the program is, it good use a good 10-20+ page manual.

[wappinghigh]

@ Miska.. Well I know I'm daft. Surest thing.. But I had no trouble setting up Minimserver on a NAS. And I still havent got the faintest clue how to setup your streaming solution (despite following your great work for a couple of years) Anyway.. It's clearly my problem. I'm sure I'm the only one.. Cheerio..

[Miska]

Anyway.. what's the problem? If it will run on a Linux PC.. it can run on these NAS devices with a bit of a tweek and some instructions how to load it..

 

Since the Linux packages of HQPlayer and NAA I provide are standard Debian/Ubuntu .deb packages, I didn't write any further instructions on how to install those, because internet is already full of instructions on how to install such packages...

 

Especially on Ubuntu you can just open the package straight from browser after downloading and click "Install" and that's it.

[4est]

Is that a pout?

@ Miska.. Well I know I'm daft. Surest thing.. But I had no trouble setting up Minimserver on a NAS. And I still havent got the faintest clue how to setup your streaming solution (despite following your great work for a couple of years) Anyway.. It's clearly my problem. I'm sure I'm the only one.. Cheerio..

[Miska]

^.Huh??? What do you mean?? I've got a QNAP with 5 RAM and runs Linux on an i5 processor.. That not enough CPU power for you??

 

(It's powerful enough to process and play 1080p movie files with 7.1 Dolby digital from a RAID array no problems out via HDMI... No stuttering...)

 

...You can upgrade i5 and i7 QNAPS with more RAM no problems.. see .QNAP NAS Community Forum • View topic - [HOW TO] Upgrade TS-x70 CPU and Memory

 

Your NAS has HDMI output? Sounds like strange NAS to me. But anyway if it has such CPU then it should work fine from CPU perspective. You just need to replace the OS in NAS with Ubuntu and then you can install HQPlayer.

 

Most NAS boxes people use are like these:

Reliable and affordable network storage solutions | Buffalo Americas

that really don't have enough CPU power.

[wappinghigh]

Is that a pout?

LOL! Yep. More like a heads up...

[Miska]

With all due respect, his software could use a better manual and instructions.

 

Feedback would be welcome on what specific items are missing from the manual! It currently has about 30 pages about the application use. Naturally it doesn't have installation instructions because it is inside the installation package...

 

My only assumption is that on Linux people know how to install native software packages of the distro. And on OS X my assumption is people know how to deal with a DMG package. (IOW, that I don't need to write instructions for Ubuntu users how to use Ubuntu or for OS X users how to use OS X)

[4est]

I am not sure Jussi, maybe it is a language barrier of sorts or you are just too smart and gloss over the details. For a dummy like myself (even moreso than wappinghigh perhaps), your program is difficult to comprehend from the outset. The more I learn, the more it makes sense, but the learning curve was steep. Please do not think I am critiquing your English, it is excellent. It might be more of a thought processes sort of thing or that in order to understand it requires a better grasp of digital audio in entirety than I have.

 

For starters though, it would help if there was an indicator of the program processing (vs stalling). When making changes for upsampling/converting it is nice knowing you and not waiting for naught. I find myself leaving Task Manager open. Heck, now that I think of it, a CPU % indicator in both views would be great!

 

Feedback would be welcome on what specific items are missing from the manual! It currently has about 30 pages about the application use. Naturally it doesn't have installation instructions because it is inside the installation package...

 

My only assumption is that on Linux people know how to install native software packages of the distro. And on OS X my assumption is people know how to deal with a DMG package. (IOW, that I don't need to write instructions for Ubuntu users how to use Ubuntu or for OS X users how to use OS X)

[4est]

LOL! Yep. More like a heads up...

 

I am glad you have a good attitude and that I did not offend!

[wappinghigh]

I am glad you have a good attitude and that I did not offend!

No problem. I have an excellent attitude to HQPlayer. Jussi seems a *great* guy.. ! I *want* it to succeed. I think it's an awesome concept.. but I agree..It's nothing to do with language. It's just I need simple instructions about what hardware to use, and simple download sites and instructions about how to get the software up and running. If I had those, I might be tempted to take the plunge: because I could work out before hand if the whole concept could work or not. Right now though the lack of an ipad/phone control point and a way of sharing a library from a NAS, is a no go for me... HQplayer seems to be breaking down in the implementation for mere mortals like me... That's all I'm saying..

[wappinghigh]

...You know, I'd be just as happy with a way to feed in Pandora/Spotify and other Music Services into HQPlayer as well (then upconvert the stream on the fly), then have to ability to stream *those* out via an NAA... If UPnP and NAS's are a no go for Jussi, no problem (I understand his attitude to UPnP.. It sucks) Anyway, I'd settle for that.. I've pretty much switched to Pandora and Spotify for *all* my PCM playback anyway...

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

HQPlayer will currently play flac streams, including flac radio streams. All you need is a playlist containing the flac stream URL.

 

Here's an example using the Czech Classical Radio music stream.

 

Place the following in a text file and save the file with an extension of .m3u8

 

#EXTM3U

http://radio.cesnet.cz:8000/cro-d-dur.flac

 

Now load the playlist into HQPlayer either by dragging it to HQP's lower "transport" area or click on the open folder icon at the top of HQP's main window to load it.

 

Voila, you now have probably one of the best quality radio transmissions you've ever heard

 

For other radio streams, Spotify; etc. Miska would need to support the MP3 format, so I'm sneaking in yet another request here for MP3 support as a new feature. I would love to hear what HQP can do with the 320kbps stream from BBC Radion 3.

 

I wouldn't blame him for feeling MP3 was out of place in HQP; but judging by what other players can do to enhance this stream, I think it could be excellent via HQP. Perhaps not quite up to the Czech station; but close.

[4est]

That is great! Do you know if it will do AAC off hand? I am tiring of switching my sMS 100 back to LMS in so that I can play the radio during the day.

HQPlayer will currently play flac streams, including flac radio streams. All you need is a playlist containing the flac stream URL.

 

Here's an example using the Czech Classical Radio music stream.

 

Place the following in a text file and save the file with an extension of .m3u8

 

#EXTM3U

http://radio.cesnet.cz:8000/cro-d-dur.flac

 

Now load the playlist into HQPlayer either by dragging it to HQP's lower "transport" area or click on the open folder icon at the top of HQP's main window to load it.

 

Voila, you now have probably one of the best quality radio transmissions you've ever heard

 

For other radio streams, Spotify; etc. Miska would need to support the MP3 format, so I'm sneaking in yet another request here for MP3 support as a new feature. I would love to hear what HQP can do with the 320kbps stream from BBC Radion 3.

 

I wouldn't blame him for feeling MP3 was out of place in HQP; but judging by what other players can do to enhance this stream, I think it could be excellent via HQP. Perhaps not quite up to the Czech station; but close.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

That is great! Do you know if it will do AAC off hand? I am tiring of switching my sMS 100 back to LMS in so that I can play the radio during the day.

 

No, unfortunately not. Here are the supported formats as per the Signalyst web-site:

 

[h=3]Supported source formats:[/h]

• CDDA (Audio CD)
  
• FLAC
  
• DSDIFF (DFF, non-compressed)
  
• DSF
  
• RIFF (WAV, including DXD)
  
• AIFF
  

[h=3]Supported playlist formats:[/h]

• M3U / M3U8
  
• PLS
  

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

…actually I think the Radio 3 stream is in AAC, so make that a request for both MP3 and AAC and let's hope these are not too difficult to add.