HQplayer the friendly way (and stream Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify...)

[Miska]

Does the Rygel renderer support gapless playback when used with a gapless supporting UPnP control point, such as the BubbleUPnP Android app?

 

With HQPlayer as renderer it is gapless for me and it doesn't need special gapless support to be gapless...

 

There could be a gap in some situations at the point when DSP algorithm reinitialization in HQPlayer takes a long time (as depending on settings it can take ~20 seconds).

 

Also, have you tried, or are aware of the Rygel renderer being able to be used by the BubbleUPnP Server helper software to create an OpenHome renderer for, thus giving HQPlayer embedded the ability to be 'controlled' by OpenHome control points, such as the Linn Kazoo and Lumin apps, which natively support TIDAL & Qobuz?

 

I don't have any information about such, I'm not interested on OpenHome. Only on the standard UPnP stuff.

 

When you use Rygel + HQPlayer combination, Rygel is not doing any rendering, it is merely translates UPnP commands to MPRIS commands. But it is not involved with the actual media content at all.

[victor]

Hi,

 

I've been trying to configure HQPlayer Embedded but I cannot get it to work.

 

I have a laptop with Debian Stretch, Rygel, etc., as explained in the post and per Jussi's instructions, a uRendu configured as NAA, MinimServer in my NAS, and BubbleUPnP in my cellphone.

 

If I configure the uRendu as MPD player everything works so MinimServer, network connection, etc., is OK. All devices are connected to the same switch and I can ping all of them.

 

If I use the following configuration <output type="alsa"/>

 

 

then it seems that hqplayerd starts well but I guess that the output is the local audio card in my Debian and not the uRendu because I hear no sound at all when I select the HQPlayer renderer in BubbleUPnP.

 

 

If I change the configuration so <output type="network"/> then it seems that the initialization looks more like trying to find the NAA:

 

 

but I cannot see the HQPlayer renderer in BubbleUPnP.

 

Anyone knows the proper way to configure HQPlayer in Embedded mode and connected to a NAA player?

 

Cheers,

 

Victor.

[victor]

I forgot to say that if I configure hqplayerd.xml as other examples (output type = alsa and then "engine cd_drive...... type="network" " then I get the same behaviour as the first one explained. Initialization looks OK as alsa, I see the renderer in BubbleUPnP but I hear no sound like if NAA is not being used:

 

[Miska]

but I cannot see the HQPlayer renderer in BubbleUPnP.

 

You should first make sure you have HQPlayer playback fine locally, without NAA. If you cannot see HQPlayer in BubbleUPnP, do you have Rygel running properly and configured with the provided config file? If you run the components manually on console or over ssh, do you see the two running fine and Rygel finding HQPlayer?

 

Anyone knows the proper way to configure HQPlayer in Embedded mode and connected to a NAA player?

 

Easiest way is to use HQPlayer Desktop to configure things and then use the produced configuration and basis the HQPlayer Embedded config file.

 

At least you can copy the correct network line (element) from the HQPlayer Desktop config to the HQPlayer Embedded config.

[victor]

You were right. Starting from the HQPlayer Desktop config file I got it working.

 

Still, in my Debian Stretch system after following the instructions in Signalyst - Installing HQPlayer Embedded I did not get it to work because rygel and hqplayerd did not start properly, I have no idea why. It is working now but I have to execute "manually" hqplayerd and rygel after the OS starts up. It does not bother me at all because I do it using "Cluster snippets"/"JuiceSSH" apps from Android which is very convenient.

 

The result is %*+$%& amazing because now I am able to convert PCM to DSD 2822400 with no problem and even to 5644800 though I got glitches after a few seconds that might be due to power or network, I need to check my network before testing again. It might be network because one song was played completely fine but everything after that started glitching. It is amazing because using HQPlayer Desktop I was not able to do it, I could not convert PCM to DSD at all.

 

Thanks!

[tboooe]

Victor, any pointers you can give for getting embedded set up and running with Bubbl

 

You were right. Starting from the HQPlayer Desktop config file I got it working.

 

Still, in my Debian Stretch system after following the instructions in Signalyst - Installing HQPlayer Embedded I did not get it to work because rygel and hqplayerd did not start properly, I have no idea why. It is working now but I have to execute "manually" hqplayerd and rygel after the OS starts up. It does not bother me at all because I do it using "Cluster snippets"/"JuiceSSH" apps from Android which is very convenient.

 

The result is %*+$%& amazing because now I am able to convert PCM to DSD 2822400 with no problem and even to 5644800 though I got glitches after a few seconds that might be due to power or network, I need to check my network before testing again. It might be network because one song was played completely fine but everything after that started glitching. It is amazing because using HQPlayer Desktop I was not able to do it, I could not convert PCM to DSD at all.

 

Thanks!

[Carl Mawer]

For a touch-screen oriented GUI in Desktop version, there's the fullscreen-mode which has cover flow and GUI design optimized for touch screens.

 

Does anybody use full screen mode with an iPad/iPhone?

I find it more difficult to use than the standard mode on my iPad using Screens VNC, particularly swiping between the 3 screens, and scrolling through the album covers

[victor]

Victor, any pointers you can give for getting embedded set up and running with Bubbl

 

I'm sorry I am working abroad with very limited internet connection and I could not reply before.

 

What do you mean exactly?

[tboooe]

I'm sorry I am working abroad with very limited internet connection and I could not reply before.

 

What do you mean exactly?

Just wanted some tips other than what is listed on the HQP website on how to get embedded working with BubbleUPnP.

[victor]

Just wanted some tips other than what is listed on the HQP website on how to get embedded working with BubbleUPnP.

 

The only tip that I can give you is to check the hqplayerd log file after hqplayerd starts as this can let you know how HQPlayerd is configured and you can try to see if it started properly. The log file is located in /tmp/hqplayerd

 

Also, like I said, in my case I need to execute "manually" hqplayerd and rygel after the OS starts up. I cannot get it to work automatically as the instructions in the Signalyst website.

 

Let me know if it works for you, cheers.

[Miska]

Good starting point is to first start hqplayerd manually and check that it runs OK. Then starting Rygel and checking that it reports finding hqplayerd.

 

Then you can try finding the combination using BubbleUPnP.

 

Once the setup works you can try to run things automatically as instructed under header "Running the renderer as headless background task" on my web page. If something doesn't work, check the journal log using typical "journalctl -a | less" to see where things go wrong.

 

There are generally three things needed:

1) Having user session with dbus session bus (daemon running)

2) Having hqplayerd running

3) Having rygel running

 

My instructions utilize "tlm" (one of the open source components I'm working on) to automatically create a session and run the three things inside the session. For me this works seamlessly, when I press power button on the machine the OS boots and starts everything in couple of seconds. And when I press power button again it shuts down and powers off the system nicely in couple of seconds too.

[victor]

I didn’t manage to have hqplayerd & Rygel to start automatically yet but, like I said, this is a very minor issue not bothering me at all. Still I find it difficult to try the different filters/modulators available.

 

Would it be possible to get a mapping between the oversampling filters/modulators/... and values to set in the hqplayerd.xml properties? Otherwise it is really difficult to select which filter/modulator to try.

 

Example: I’d like to know the meaning of the different possible values that I can set in “filter”, “dither” “oversampling”, and “modulator” in the following lines:

 

<pcm filter=”9” dither=”2” samplerate=”...../>

<sdm oversampling=”3” modulator=”2” bitrate=”...../>

 

Cheers,

 

Victor.

[Miska]

Would it be possible to get a mapping between the oversampling filters/modulators/... and values to set in the hqplayerd.xml properties?

 

It is all documented in the readme.txt included in the hqplayerd package...

[victor]

It is all documented in the readme.txt included in the hqplayerd package...

 

Are you really implying that readme.txt files are supposed to be read? I'm sorry, I didn't realize it was there.

 

Thanks!

[maskone9]

For a touch-screen oriented GUI in Desktop version, there's the fullscreen-mode which has cover flow and GUI design optimized for touch screens.

 

Hi Miska:

I am sorry to say:fullscreen-mode is very inconvenient for smart phone user.

Why don't you develep a APP like foobar2000 ?

It's a very good way to control。

[Miska]

I am sorry to say:fullscreen-mode is very inconvenient for smart phone user.

Why don't you develep a APP like foobar2000 ?

It's a very good way to control。

 

It is not designed for smart phones, it is designed for running HQPlayer on devices like Microsoft Surface Pro or ASUS Transformer Pro.

 

What do you exactly mean by "like foobar2000", so far what I've seen screenshots it is ancient style half-copy of Windows Explorer. For that there's no need to add anything to HQPlayer but you can use Windows File Explorer instead and just drag-and-drop files on HQPlayer.

 

If you like foobar2000, use it.

 

 

P.S. I'm not planning to do anything that needs to go through Apple's AppStore or Google's Play Store.

[maskone9]

I think there are many people like me，want remote control via smart phone。

so bye HQplayer!

[bibo01]

I think there are many people like me，want remote control via smart phone。

so bye HQplayer!

 

If you want remote control via smartphone, you can use Roon or Muso

[maskone9]

i know，but just want remote control function，these two is expensive and complexity for me

[huaklom]

Hi Miska

 

I'm using Hqplayer (Mac) via iPad with Chrome Remote Desktop plugged-in. Is it possible to have vertical scroll bar in album view? Using gesture throuh ipad is very painful.

 

Thanks a lot

[Miska]

i know，but just want remote control function，these two is expensive and complexity for me

 

Plain old IR remote works too, if you want something simple. I've used the Apple's IR remote with my Mac Mini (running Windows 8.1 with Boot Camp).

[Miska]

I'm using Hqplayer (Mac) via iPad with Chrome Remote Desktop plugged-in. Is it possible to have vertical scroll bar in album view? Using gesture throuh ipad is very painful.

 

I have to check, but overall the full screen mode relies on gestures like switching between the three views. Most other touch GUIs are such as well.

[lucser]

Hi Miska,

I was looking for some time for a solution to have a distance between my Mac and the rest of audio eq. As there are several solutions all around based on UPnP, DLNA .... using a combination of different software packages (servers, renders, players ...) HQPlayer proved to be the most elegant solution plus the enhanced sound quality. All these plus the multitude of positive feedback on different forums convinced me finally to purchase HQPlayer. I said finally because I was aware of the restrictive interface but I thought that I will overcome this kind of discomfort. It seems that I was wrong. Searching and selecting the music to be played became a really stressful and annoying task. I listen many type of music of different genres and the only interface to this is an alphabetic list of artists. This list could not be customized in any way and lacks also the advantages of Cover arts visuals that help the brain to make faster associations when you are looking for something. I will not go further even if there are many things to be said and/or explained. I will like to kindly ask you to consider looking more deeply to the library interface. There are many things to be improved or features to be introduced and I think that could be almost as important as sound quality. Listening music is finally an act of pleasure. Looking for the type of music through your collection (vinyl, cds, files etc) is part of this. As I said for sure there are many things that you could do to improve the HQ player interface to make the experience of use it as pleasant as it is the sound that it produce. You have confronted with far more complicated and challenging problems in developing the HQPlayer in this unique (at this moment) product. Having said that I would like to point several features that probably are not so difficult to be implemented but could be a good start to easy the burden of finding the music that we are looking in an easier and more systematic way:

1. Presently the library is represented in an alphabetic order of the artists. As the interface show I think that is supposed to group them in albums. As in most of the cases is working, it fails for the albums that have more than 1 artist. I suppose that grouping in albums is made using the "Artist" tag instead of using the "Album artist" tag. The result is that for albums with Various artists the Album is listed to the artist name that is performing the first track of the album. This makes very difficult to locate the album. Could you modify the grouping in albums to be made based on "Album artist" tag instead of "Artist" Tag?

2. Above the library list there are 4 text fields for filtering by: Artist, Performer, Album and probably Song (the 4th field has no label).

Could you please make these configurable so we can choose what to use for filtering. If this is difficult maybe you can change some of them. I'm interested in Genres filtering. For instance the Artist and performer are somehow not needed as long as now the list could be displayed only as alphabetic list of Artists so is easy to locate the artist. The Genre filtering will be very useful! Very often I (and I think I'm not the only one) want to listen a certain genre. Filtering that one only will make easier to choose one album or song.

3. It will be also very useful if the list appearance could be customized as to group by genres for instance (like Audirvana. sorry:))

4. It would be nice to be able to add more than 1 album or 1 track to the listening queue. Maybe in the future at list a basic playlist functionality?

6. Could you please introduce a function for scanning the library for the eventual changes? Now if we change something we need to remove the modified albums and add them again or remove all of them and adding them again. Also new ones need to be added manual even if they are in a folder added previously. At least a manual re scan function of the already added folders?

Not a feature request but one small problem:

In full screen mode only some of the cover art are displayed. Others are missing or a grey image is displayed. I have all the albums with the cover art files as jpg with same name (Cover.jpg) and same image size (800x800).

I would like to finish by saying that at this moment HQPlayer is the most capable software player with advanced and some unique features (the strongest one that in my opinion makes the difference is the NAA!) given the best sound quality but unfortunately the worst user interface. It is really pity. As I understand from your posts (and I've read a lot of them) you didn't considered the interface as important. For you probably not, but now due to the big success of your software you have a big number of users/fans. I hope that you will also see the importance of the interface in the whole process of music listening as to transform it in a pleasant experience from the beginning to the end.

I also hope that you will not feel offended in any way. If there is something with a bad understanding in my post, is not intentional (English is not my native language) .

Thank you

[maskone9]

Plain old IR remote works too, if you want something simple. I've used the Apple's IR remote with my Mac Mini (running Windows 8.1 with Boot Camp).

Why not implement Linux embeded mode on windows?Then I can use BubbleUPND to control it?

[Distinctive]

What confuses me with HQPlayer is that it supposedly gives unmatched sound quality, but at the same time it appears very DIY and complex in nature. It seems to be made by a computer guy for other computer guys to use. I really would like to see a user friendly and intuitive one box solution for us audiophiles that just works. I am willing to pay extra for this, but not in the region of the SGMS. What I would like to see is a seamless integration with a IOS control point with the control point as the main interface.