HQPlayer kick start guide & feature requests

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Geoff,

 

For me the playlist are not working.. I created my Playlist in iTune then exportated them, All my files are AIFF and playlist mode m3u8 when i tried to drop the playlist or open nothings happen. I tried to export to diferents folder, etc.. perhaps you can shed some light.. or Miska

 

 

Thank you

 

I believe Miska has fixed some problems with exporting iTunes pl's in the latest beta

[fabiodeluca]

I have not experienced such effects with any of my DACs yet...

 

Does it have a driver of it's own or does it work with the OS X built-in UAC driver? Could you please email me HQPlayer log file of session where this happens?

 

 

Misk, it works with the OS X built-in UAC drivers

 

I'll send you the log file once I get back from a business trip

 

Tks

[fabiodeluca]

I have not experienced such effects with any of my DACs yet...

 

Does it have a driver of it's own or does it work with the OS X built-in UAC driver? Could you please email me HQPlayer log file of session where this happens?

 

 

Miska, it works with the OS X built-in UAC drivers

 

I'll send you the log file once I get back from a business trip

 

Tks

[Miska]

For me the playlist are not working.. I created my Playlist in iTune then exportated them, All my files are AIFF and playlist mode m3u8 when i tried to drop the playlist or open nothings happen. I tried to export to diferents folder, etc.. perhaps you can shed some light.. or Miska

 

It should now work on 3.4.0beta7. At least it is working for me...

[jvlata]

It should now work on 3.4.0beta7. At least it is working for me...

 

 

Working! Thank you.

[Superdad]

It should now work on 3.4.0beta7. At least it is working for me...

 

Miska: I'd like to move on from beta 6 to beta 7 (for the fix to opening iTunes playlists), but Geoffrey reported that beta 7 breaks support for NAA. I just got my CuBox-i4Pro running the NAA and plan to compare it to the overkill i7 Mac mini running NAA--so I would not want to loose NAA support.

Once you go NAA you don't want to ever go back!!

 

Thanks,

 

--Alex C.

 

P.S. Just like with Mac NAA (with your boot image), the CuBox-i NAA refuses to take a IP address through my Cisco switch and thus must be connected directly to my DSL router. What I would really like is NAA direct connection from desktop HQP computer (OS X in my case).

[Miska]

Miska: I'd like to move on from beta 6 to beta 7 (for the fix to opening iTunes playlists), but Geoffrey reported that beta 7 breaks support for NAA.

 

Argh, unexpected breakage. I have to check if I my last minute changes for ASIO broke something in terms of NAA...

 

 

Edit: OK, found the problem and fixed it. I will put out beta8 in few of days once I get bunch of other changes done.

[Superdad]

Edit: OK, found the problem and fixed it. I will put out beta8 in few of days once I get bunch of other changes done.

 

Great, thanks!!

[k6davis]

Don't forget you always have playlists. You can use J River to build playlists and smart playlists, making use of of all of its library features. Then export the playlists in one of the formats supported by HQP, such as .m3u8.

 

HQP can open these playlists and play all the files (as long as they point to audio files in an HQP supported audio format).

 

For smart playlists make sure you re-export them periodically after they're likely to have been updated.

 

Playlists are your friend and the next best thing to having J River send the files directly to HQP for playback.

 

Thanks for your thoughtful post, Geoffrey. I'm sending you a PM.

[Miska]

HQP can open these playlists and play all the files (as long as they point to audio files in an HQP supported audio format).

 

For smart playlists make sure you re-export them periodically after they're likely to have been updated.

 

Note, also playlists can be included in HQPlayer's library for easy access. Library system is able to pick those up too.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Note, also playlists can be included in HQPlayer's library for easy access. Library system is able to pick those up too.

Thanks Miska. I hadn't thought of that.

[fabiodeluca]

Misk, it works with the OS X built-in UAC drivers

 

I'll send you the log file once I get back from a business trip

 

Tks

 

 

Miska unfortunately I cannot find the log file under ~/.hqplayer/HQPlayer.log (...where does exactly should I look for it?) despite I flagged the 'Log file' in Preferences: this could be due to the fact that I do not have a HQPlayer folder since I just copied the dog file on the desktop.

 

In the meantime I tried to reproduce the crash with my Playback Designs MPS-5 and as a matter of fact it doesn't happen every time I listen a playlist: it is likely to happen when several files are played in the playlist window and possibly the files are natively at different sampling frequencies.

 

I attach two pictures that better describe the kind of crash I'm talking about

 

[Miska]

Miska unfortunately I cannot find the log file under ~/.hqplayer/HQPlayer.log (...where does exactly should I look for it?) despite I flagged the 'Log file' in Preferences: this could be due to the fact that I do not have a HQPlayer folder since I just copied the dog file on the desktop.

 

That's where it should definitely go... It doesn't matter where it is installed because the settings/log folder is always created under home directory. "~" denotes user's home directory and directories beginning with dot are hidden. So absolute path is "/Users/<username>/.hqplayer".

 

I attach two pictures that better describe the kind of crash I'm talking about

 

I'm not sure what kind of crash you are talking about, but I understood the PBD USB-X adapter crashes for some reason.

[fabiodeluca]

That's where it should definitely go... It doesn't matter where it is installed because the settings/log folder is always created under home directory. "~" denotes user's home directory and directories beginning with dot are hidden. So absolute path is "/Users/<username>/.hqplayer".

 

 

 

I'm not sure what kind of crash you are talking about, but I understood the PBD USB-X adapter crashes for some reason.

 

 

I'm sorry but I cannot find under my 'user's home directory' any log file. Tomorrow I will check whether it is an hidden file...

 

Regarding the type of crash, as you can see in the picture the third box from the left in the main HQPlayer screen is blank and no selection of frequencies is possible. In concomitance to that 'syntom', PBD signal unlocks....and I need to unconnect and reconnect USB cable and then change frequency in the Preferences in order to get again HQPlayer playing music

[Miska]

I'm sorry but I cannot find under my 'user's home directory' any log file. Tomorrow I will check whether it is an hidden file...

 

No, the directory under your home directory where the log file is, is hidden so it is not visible in Finder. You need to go there using terminal.

 

In concomitance to that 'syntom', PBD signal unlocks....and I need to unconnect and reconnect USB cable and then change frequency in the Preferences in order to get again HQPlayer playing music

 

Sounds like the USB interface crashing for some reason.

[fabiodeluca]

Sounds like the USB interface crashing for some reason.

 

Yes, I agree, Miska

 

Unfortunately it only happens with HQP...my best sounding player.

Basically I own all the Mac players (Audirvana, Amarra, Fidelia, Pure Music, JRiver, etc) and apart from occasional crashes with Amarra I do not have any problem at all.

[fabiodeluca]

Sounds like the USB interface crashing for some reason.

 

Yes, I agree, Miska

 

Unfortunately it only happens with HQP...my best sounding player.

Basically I own all the Mac players (Audirvana, Amarra, Fidelia, Pure Music, JRiver, etc) and apart from occasional crashes with Amarra I do not have any problem at all.

 

 

Miska

following is the content of my 'log file':

 

 

* 2014/08/29 18:42:56 Starting...

2014/08/29 18:42:56 Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop v3.4.0beta6

2014/08/29 18:42:56 Engine selected:

2014/08/29 18:43:00 libDSP version 11.0.0

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Audio engine: coreaudio

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set channels: 2 (2)

2014/08/29 18:43:00 SDM packing: 2

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio default device id: 63

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio devices: 3

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio device: Ingresso integrato (56) - Apple Inc.

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio device: Uscita integrata (47) - Apple Inc.

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio device: USB-X (63) - Playback Designs

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio device id changed, trying to find device by name: USB-X

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio selected device: 63

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 44100 - 44100

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 48000 - 48000

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 88200 - 88200

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 96000 - 96000

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 176400 - 176400

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 192000 - 192000

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 352800 - 352800

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio nominal rate: 384000 - 384000

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio number of streams: 1

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio number of output streams: 1

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio virtual formats:

2014/08/29 18:43:00 384000/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 352800/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 192000/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 176400/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 96000/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 88200/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 48000/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 44100/32/2 [ Float ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 384000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 192000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 176400/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 96000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 88200/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 48000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 44100/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio physical formats:

2014/08/29 18:43:00 384000/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 192000/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 176400/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 96000/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 88200/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 48000/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 44100/24/2 [ SignedInteger ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 384000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 192000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 176400/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 96000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 88200/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 48000/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 44100/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:00 CoreAudio device bits: 24

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Volume limit: 0

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Volume control disabled

2014/08/29 18:43:00 SDM conversion parameters (5, 0)

2014/08/29 18:43:00 DSD 6 dB gain disabled

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set filter: 6

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set dither: 5

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set filter: 8

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set oversampling: 0

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set filter: 8

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set dither: 5

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set modulator: 2

& 2014/08/29 18:43:00 Volume control disabled

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Audio engine SDM mode enabled

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set oversampling: 0

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set modulator: 2

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set filter: 8

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set oversampling: 0

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set dither: 5

2014/08/29 18:43:00 Set modulator: 2

& 2014/08/29 18:43:00 Volume control disabled

& 2014/08/29 18:43:15 Playlist add URI: file:///Volumes/My Passport Studio/iTunes Media New/Music/Dexter Gordon/Go!/01 Cheese Cake.aif

& 2014/08/29 18:43:15 Set transport (240):

2014/08/29 18:43:15 Set sampling rate: 6144000 (6144000)

2014/08/29 18:43:18 Set sampling rate: 5644800 (5644800)

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Set convolution: 1

& 2014/08/29 18:43:23 GoTo

& 2014/08/29 18:43:23 Play

+ 2014/08/29 18:43:23 Playback engine running

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Rate or blocksize change triggered

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Rate: 44100, block size: 4704

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Block size: 4704 (sample: 4), raw size: 0

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Playback engine ratio: 128

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Oversampling: poly

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Modulator: seventh order 1-bit

2014/08/29 18:43:23 Integrator: IIR

2014/08/29 18:43:46 Initialization complete, starting audio engine

+ 2014/08/29 18:43:46 CoreAudio engine starting...

2014/08/29 18:43:46 CoreAudio using integer mode

2014/08/29 18:43:46 CoreAudio virtual format: 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:43:46 CoreAudio using non-mixable mode

2014/08/29 18:43:46 CoreAudio physical format: 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

+ 2014/08/29 18:43:46 CoreAudio engine started at: 5644800 (5644800)

2014/08/29 18:43:53 CoreAudio allocate buffers of size 512

- 2014/08/29 18:50:27 Playback engine stopped

& 2014/08/29 18:50:28 Stop

- 2014/08/29 18:50:28 CoreAudio engine stopping...

- 2014/08/29 18:50:28 CoreAudio engine stopped

& 2014/08/29 18:54:38 Playlist clear

& 2014/08/29 18:54:59 Playlist add URI: file:///Volumes/My Passport Studio/iTunes Media New/Music/Mani Padme Trio/A Rainy Day (Um Dia De Chuva)/07 Soldado.aif

2014/08/29 18:54:59 Set sampling rate: 5644800 (5644800)

& 2014/08/29 18:55:19 Playlist add URI: file:///Volumes/My Passport Studio/iTunes Media New/Music/Hugh Masekela/Hope/12 Stimela (The Coal Train).aif

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Set convolution: 1

& 2014/08/29 18:55:23 GoTo

& 2014/08/29 18:55:23 Play

+ 2014/08/29 18:55:23 Playback engine running

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Rate or blocksize change triggered

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Rate: 44100, block size: 4704

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Block size: 4704 (sample: 4), raw size: 0

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Playback engine ratio: 128

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Oversampling: poly

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Modulator: seventh order 1-bit

2014/08/29 18:55:23 Integrator: IIR

2014/08/29 18:55:46 Initialization complete, starting audio engine

+ 2014/08/29 18:55:46 CoreAudio engine starting...

2014/08/29 18:55:46 CoreAudio using integer mode

2014/08/29 18:55:46 CoreAudio virtual format: 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

2014/08/29 18:55:46 CoreAudio using non-mixable mode

2014/08/29 18:55:46 CoreAudio physical format: 352800/24/2 [ SignedInteger NonMixable ]

+ 2014/08/29 18:55:46 CoreAudio engine started at: 5644800 (5644800)

2014/08/29 18:55:53 CoreAudio allocate buffers of size 512

& 2014/08/29 19:07:02 Next

- 2014/08/29 19:17:16 Playback engine stopped

& 2014/08/29 19:17:17 Stop

- 2014/08/29 19:17:17 CoreAudio engine stopping...

- 2014/08/29 19:17:17 CoreAudio engine stopped

& 2014/08/29 19:21:23 Playlist clear

2014/08/29 19:21:27 Shutting down...

* 2014/08/29 19:21:27 Exit

[Miska]

following is the content of my 'log file':

 

Based on the log file everything went OK in this playback session, I didn't spot any problems there...

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

2 Important change requests for HQPlayer on Mac.

1 Important change requests for HQPlayer on Windows.

 

On Mac when I set HQPlayer to be the default app for .m3u8 files and open one of these files in the Finder, the playlist does not appear in HQPlayer's transport area as it should. This probably applies to all playlist type files.

 

On Windows this part is working fine, the playlist is loaded into the transport area.

 

…BUT on both Mac and Windows the playlist should start playing automatically. At the moment when you get the playlist loaded in the Transport area you have to click on the first item to get the playlist to start playing.

 

All other apps (Foobar, J R Media Center, Winamp, VLC; etc) will begin playing automatically when a playlist is opened by using them.

 

The reason this is important to me? Because it would allow me to automatically use HQPlayer desktop as my audio engine for all flac based streaming services (Qobuz, Subsonic, Wimp) as well as files from my Hard Drive. Files from the streaming services or my hard drive would be selected from a remote app on IOS or Android devices and automatically start playing in HQPlayer.

 

I will explain further later; but I really think a lot of people would benefit from these two (simple?) changes to HQPlayer.

 

So thanks in advance Miska ;-)

[Sam Lord]

I've mentioned elsewhere that loading multiple playlists into HQP would be a big advance. They would be ready in a RAM file directly accessed by HQP so you could toggle easily between them. So if you wanted to hear an album you could go to the playlist arranged by album, then you could hear individual songs using another playlist, or composers... see? Just as JRiver has them sitting on the left margin, so could HQP, only the sound would be a lot better

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

I've mentioned elsewhere that loading multiple playlists into HQP would be a big advance. They would be ready in a RAM file directly accessed by HQP so you could toggle easily between them. So if you wanted to hear an album you could go to the playlist arranged by album, then you could hear individual songs using another playlist, or composers... see? Just as JRiver has them sitting on the left margin, so could HQP, only the sound would be a lot better

 

Sure that would also be nice. What I'm asking for would be a lot easier to implement though and effectively would give you the features you're looking for.

 

What I'm doing is using XBMC as a front end for HQPlayer. All my playlists are in XBMC. All I need to do is tap on the name of a playlist using the remote app on my iPad for XBMC and HQPlayer is launched with that playlist ready to play (in Windows).

 

The only problem is that it doesn't start to play automatically as it does with the other apps that I mentioned. So I'm using Foobar with the foo_asio plug-in at the moment.

 

Would much rather use HQPlayer as my audio engine, because yes it does sound better

 

On Mac the situation is worse in that the playlist doesn't load in HQPlayer when you ask the OS to open the playlist using HQPlayer, which I do from a script.

 

So for now I'm locked into foobar on Windows.

 

I believe it could easily work for HQPlayer on both Mac and Windows, if Miska would just make the changes I've proposed.

[Miska]

On Mac the situation is worse in that the playlist doesn't load in HQPlayer when you ask the OS to open the playlist using HQPlayer, which I do from a script.

 

I just verified and everything works the same way as on Windows and Linux. You can give one or more files/playlists/directories as command line arguments to the player and it will open those.

 

I don't know how Finder is passing the selected item to the application when using "Open with", but unsurprisingly it seems to work some different way than on other platforms and I didn't find yet any documentation about how it is supposed happen.

[Miska]

I've mentioned elsewhere that loading multiple playlists into HQP would be a big advance.

 

You can import playlists to the library... You can also simultaneously load multiple playlists - they are combined into one big playlist in the order they are given.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

I just verified and everything works the same way as on Windows and Linux. You can give one or more files/playlists/directories as command line arguments to the player and it will open those.

 

Thanks for your response Miska.

 

When you say it will "open those" do you mean it will begin to play them automatically?

 

That's what I really need. It's the only part that's missing for me in being able to create an integrated solution for choosing and playing back files from both the user's hard drive and from lossless streaming services such as Qobuz and Wimp.

 

I believe an integrated solution is what we really all need, instead of having a collection of different apps for different purposes.

 

We want to be able to play from Lossless streaming services as well as from our hard drives at the best possible sound quality. Which is where you come in, obviously.

 

When you say "You can give one or more files/playlists/directories as command line arguments to the player" do you mean you can pass command line arguments which will cause the playlist to start playing?

If so, I could probably do this from a script. Do you have it documented somewhere?

 

The ability to automatically begin playback of playlists, rather than make the user click on the first playlist item within the transport area, is the crucial part for me. If you can do this I promise I won't ask you for any further changes ;-)

[Miska]

The ability to automatically begin playback of playlists, rather than make the user click on the first playlist item within the transport area, is the crucial part for me. If you can do this I promise I won't ask you for any further changes ;-)

 

...or hitting the play button (on IR remote or such)...

 

I already added automatic playback start when content is given as startup argument. So it'll be included in 3.5.0...