J River to HQPlayer

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

4 hours ago, liwario said:

Got the following error after installation:

 

Transcript started, output file is C:\jr-hqp\log.text
Exception calling "Substring" with "1" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: startIndex"
At C:\jr-hqp\jrexp.ps1:132 char:1
+ $sub =  $correctfile.Substring($filename.IndexOf(":\", $correctfile.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentOutOfRangeException
Exception calling "Substring" with "1" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: startIndex"
At C:\jr-hqp\jrexp.ps1:132 char:1
+ $sub =  $correctfile.Substring($filename.IndexOf(":\", $correctfile.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentOutOfRangeException
 

Any solution to the above ?

 

Thanks !

Thanks for providing the log, that's useful.

 

The error indicates that my script doesn't recognize the file you're trying to play from J River.

 

Can you provide a full path to the file you're trying to play? There's something about the file path the script isn't liking, so I need to try to figure out what that is.

 

Also please post here the argument string you're using in J River's file associations for passing to my script. I just want to check you're sending the correct argument string.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

9 minutes ago, liwario said:

This is the full filepath:

 

C:\WINDOWS\System32>set filepath=\\NAS\music\DSD ISO\Air Supply - The Definitive Collection (1999) [SACD] (2003 Remaster ISO)\ARISTA - The Definitive Collection.iso;2,,2,[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]

 

FYI, I am playing from a SACD ISO file.

 

And the argument string is 

 

"Replace([Filename], &, ^&),[Disc #],[Track #],[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]"

 

Thanks !

J River to HQPlayer can only support files which HQPlayer itself can play and files which it can send to ffmpeg (bundled) for conversion to an HQPlayer supported format. This means that you can play Apple Lossless. Apple Lossy, MP3 and many other formats; but not SACD ISO, I'm afraid.

 

See this post from Miska (HQPlayer developer):

 

That's an old post; but I don't think the situation has changed, looking at supported formats on the Signalyst web-site

 

https://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html

 

If it has changed, I'm sure he will let us know.

 

If there is a program I could call for making temp dsf/dff files from an ISO, it could be an interesting feature for me to add.

 

Also assuming you are using my latest version of J River to HQPlayer, your arguments list should be:

 

"Replace([Filename], &, ^&),[Disc #],[Track #],[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer

Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[HQPlayer

Settings],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]"

 

You are missing the new "HQPlayer Settings" argument.

 

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

24 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

@bogi 's ISO2DSF is very nice tool for converting SACD ISO's to DSF. Probably same tooling could be called for temporary conversions too. IIRC you need to call sacd_extract to convert files to DFF and then my dff2dsf tool to further convert to DSF. The latest release of sacd_extract is supposed to have the DSF writing bug fixed, but I have not checked. You could also leave it at intermediate DFF. The very nice extra bogi's tool does is to extract metadata from the SACD ISO and also put that into DSF.

 

But in my opinion, it is certainly best to run ISO2DSF once and then use the DSF files and just archive the ISO's for possible future need...

 

For my ISO's I have extracted two file sets. One set of stereo DSF's and one set of multichannel DSF's. Btw, sometimes it is interesting to listen also stereo downmix, processed in HQPlayer, of the multichannel DSF's instead of the stereo versions... I feel that sometimes I get better sound that way.

 

Thanks Miska and I agree; much better to extract once and use the DSF files, keeping the ISO for back-up, if desired.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

On 5/3/2020 at 1:59 PM, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Hi, Geoffrey:  I have been using J River for several years but recently was introduced to HQPlayer.  I am really impressed with the sounds from HQPlayer but feel lost in my own music library in the platform. I see this topic is relevant to my decision to purchase HQPlayer,  and I have read through the entire progress you guys post over the years.  Whereas I am really impressed with work, I found it works for PC.  Do you know or plan a parallel effort can enable J River/HQ Player in a network environment using MacBook.  I am currently using J River/DLNA through SotM sMS 200.

 

Thank you very much for your help!

Apologies for the late response. My J River to HQPlayer solution will only work on Windows. The reason for this is that J River only supports handing off to a different app on the Win platform, not on Mac.

 

I have iTunes, Music app and Swinsian solutions for Mac.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

13 hours ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Hi, Geoffrey: just realized your effort of iTune to HQPlayer Server.  I am assuming that effort will enable me to manage the music library using Apple Music but direct HQPlayer4Desktop to play music through a network streamer such as UltraRendu or SotM SMS 200?  

 

Thank you you very much!

Yes, that should work if the UltraRendu or SotM SMS 200 is running the NAA.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

38 minutes ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Hi, Geoffrey, thank you very much for your advice.  For DSD file, based on your user guide, it looks like it will be copied into some DSD-in-ALAC file, similarly done as DSD Master App?  Will I get two copies of DSD files for each music identity I have?  I just purchased HQPlayer and try to understand the path forward.  Thank you again.

HI, that's a very old user guide by now. I've completely re-written the app since then and I have to check if I kept that feature.

 

In fact the alac files were just acting as proxies for the real DSD files which sat alongside them in your iTunes music folder. With those proxies in place, I sent the actual DSDs to HQPlayer.

 

It was a bit of a hack/work-around and I was never that fond of it. It also required a separate script to create the proxies. I will check if that part is still working.

 

In the meantime, here is the latest version of the main app.

This should work for all your non-dsd files. Of course iTunes (or the Music app) will not support flac. So your music files will have to be in aif or Apple Lossless format.

 

iTunes - HQPlayer Server.app.zip

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

9 hours ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Hi, Geoffrey:  Apologize for being slow taking on information since I have been too complacent with JRIver until now.  By following your different threads, I noticed Swinsian maybe even a better choice over Apple Music because it takes DSF and FLAC?  Thank you very much for your advice!

 

The only limitation with Swinsian is that you can't remote control it from IOS, which you can with both iTunes and the Catalina music apps by using the iTunes remote app.

 

JRiver is a terrific application. If you wanted to stay with J River you could use any windows machine, that's capable of running J River and my app. Neither J River or my app are very demanding of resources, when used just for serving. HQPlayerDesktop itself can be running on a different machine, which is capable of running the filters; etc. you wish to use.

 

Even a Windows laptop or Surface Pro should probably be fine for J River plus my app.

 

Having said that, I will also take this opportunity to mention that I have been working intensely on a new version of my app, which currently has the working title of "HQAV"

 

This has many improvements and new features which I will briefly summarize below:

 

1/ It is now an .exe with a main GUI interface for setting preferences.

2/ It can now handle any music files you choose to play (previously certain file names/paths were not getting passed to HQPlayer) @ted_b in particular had this problem.

3/ Video playback is now supported, with the video being first split by my app into separate audio and video components. The audio part is sent as a .flac file to HQPlayer and a new temporary Video file is also created and played by J River (without the audio). A separate GUi can optionally appear as a player control on the PC running J River. This GUI allows to correct for any out of sync situations that may occur between the audio and video. It also allows for Previous, Next, Stop,Play and Pause functionality.

4/ Video and audio may be sent to separate machines and still kept in perfect sync. Allowing for one machine being dedicated and optimized for audio and the other for Video.

5/ J River playlists are now correctly handled for playback by j River.

 

This has been a lot of work for me and I am no longer prepared to give it away for free. If I decide to release it as a paid for app, I need to determine a reasonable price for it. I also need to work out licensing issues.

 

It will probably need to be licensed on a per machine basis using the MAC address of the machine for identification.

 

Any comments will be welcome, including from people with more experience on licensing applications than I have.

 

 

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

2 hours ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Thank you very much for your advice!  For HQAV, is it a PC-based system or Mac-based system.  I dreamed to play opera blu-Ray with audio signals being set through network-based Player for better SQ.  Will it handle Blu-Ray from a rom-drive?  Your excellent work deserve rewards.  

It is PC based only, as it's an evolution of my original JRiver to HQPlayer script.

 

It works well with Blu-Ray sourced content. You have to rip the Blu-Ray first though, using a combination of MakeMKV and HandBrake. Then it's the MKV that is used as the source.

 

I'll be able to provide instructions for this, including the settings that are giving me the best results. The idea is to create a video "JukeBox" so each video will play after a tap on the source video in JRemote.

 

There is a wait time for the separate audio and video files to be created; but these can optionally be saved to a location of choice. That way they'll play almost instantaneously on subsequent plays.

 

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

1 hour ago, Alvane said:

Geoffrey, I'm running your JRiver to HQPlayer solution for windows and I got this error according to the attached log file. Do you know what can be

log.text 1.87 kB · 3 downloads

Hi Alvane,

 

The error you're getting in the log file tells me the source file/url you're trying to play doesn't exit in your file system or is not recognised.

 

"May be a streaming URL"

 

Can you tell me exactly what you were trying to play?

 

Thanks,

 

Geoff

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Alvane,

 

Has it worked for you with other albums or was this the first album you attempted to play using my app?

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Alvane,

I know this free app doesn't work for everyone. It depends on how your library is set up.

 

I've re-written it from the ground up and I'm confident the new app will handle just about all situations, as it's been thoroughly tested.

 

However, I'm sorry; but I'm not prepared to give away the new app for free.

 

The new app has a lot more features including support for video. I am working on putting the finishes touches on it at the moment.

 

If you are interested in the new app please let me know.

 

Geoff

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Ok, can you PM me?

 

Thanks

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

It’s never too late. So thanks for your thanks 😊.

Concerning the problem you pointed out; I am aware of it and I know exactly what causes it. I am not prepared to go back over any free scripts I uploaded here to fix these problems though.

 

That is because all my efforts are going into buidling “true” apps on Windows and MacOS.

 

The free J River script has been used as the basis for a .exe app I’m calling HQAV.

 

I’ve mentioned it here before. It fixes the problem you mentioned, so that all files/albums will play without the need to re-name any folders.

 

It also adds the following features:

 

1/ Support for video, whereby the audio track is split off and sent to HQPlayer, while a new, video only, track is created and played through J River at the same time.
 

The two can be brought into perfect sync, by means of a pop-up control. You can even send the audio to HQPlayer running on a different machine. This allows you to have one machine dedicated to audio and another optimised for video, if you wish.

 

The audio and video soundtracks are still brought into perfect sync.

 

I became hyper critical of a/v sync issues whilst developing this, and noticed that not all releases on disc have the two properly synced. Whilst playing a Blu-ray one evening, my wife said, “sorry Geoff; but it’s not syncing properly.  Then I told her, I was just playing it through our Oppo Blu-ray player.

 

3/ Incorporation of Tilt control correction, when temp files are created from locally stored files.

 

2/ Support for Qobuz and Tidal streams when sent to J River via UPnP.

 

I need to charge $45 for this app. I developped it during the COVID-19 lock-down, and I cannot continue this kind of development work without financing.

 

I have a lot of ideas for future app development, and two apps on MacOS are already near completion.

 

Geoff

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Hi Kal, Please pm me. Thanks Geoff

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

8 hours ago, aguycalledsimon said:

Hi Geoffrey,

 

I just joined the forum so I could thank you and add my name to the long list of users who are grateful to you for the work you are doing

 

In my case, i have just brought the entire digital side of my system up to date by building a new PC, and updating the ADC (mytek Brooklyn) & DAC (Chord Qutest), and have been using that to revisit my SW choices, including JRiver, which I preferred over anything else from a GUI perspective, but a recent evaluation of HQPlayer with the higher upcoming rates that my new DAC can accept have shown that much better sound is available----but at the cost of losing the JRIver GUI - or so I thought.

 

You script works great - will have to do some housekeeping on my directory structure to get everything working as needed (all files are at the root of a drive - no sub-directories) but I have a little VBA code that can do that for me (unlike you, my limits stop at simple VBA) 

 

Please keep us informed of the progress of the paid version - I'm using Amazon music right now but would gladly switch to Tidal/Qobuz if the routing ended up going via HQPlayer

 

Again, big thanks for all the effort you put into writing and supporting this 

Simon 

Hi Simon,

 

Thank you for your positive feedback and I'm glad the original script is working out for you.

 

As you know this has evolved into what I'm calling "HQAV". If you would like to try HQAV just PM me.

 

Geoff

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Hi,

 

Not quite sure what you mean. It still comes in the form of a zip file, and once uncompressed, you have a folder full of files, which need to be kept together as you receive them.

 

You the place the unzipped folder wherever you want and point to the main app, HQAV.exe from within J River, so. J River will use it as an external app for the files types you specify.

 

I hope that’s clear, unless I mis-understood you.

 

Geoff

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

10 hours ago, bilboda said:

 

I was under the impression yo will have a paid app

The situation with HQAV is that I haven’t had time to put licensing in place, since I’ve been concentrating on developing Mac apps, which will be paid apps.

 

So I’m asking for anybody whose interested enough to send me an email expressing their interest. I will then send them a download link to HQAV.

 

I am asking those who find it useful to also send me donations via PayPal to [email protected]

 

I’m keeping a list of those who’ve donated and when I revisit HQAV to make it a fully licensed app, I’ll deduct any donation I’ve received from each user from the cost of their license.