HQPlayer 3 and 4 - multimedia keys don't work in Linux

[Rizlaw]

I own HQPlayer 3 and 4. I use Ubuntu 18.04LTS. My keyboard is a Corsair K-70 Rapidfire. The keyboard has multimedia keys for "stop", "play/pause", "forward" and "backward" plus volume control wheel and mute button.

 

I have never been able to get HQP to work with these keyboard buttons. The HQP software manuals state:

Quote

User interface also supports standard multimedia keys and equivalent remote controls.

 

Since the manual does not define what "standard" multimedia keys means, nor does it state what keyboards are supported under what OSs, I'd like to know if my keyboard can be made to work and, if so, how? I've got the same problem with JRiver Media Center 25. JRiver's unacceptable explanation is that Ubuntu must be intercepting - at some low level - the keypress codes and not allowing JRiver to see them. They haven't fixed this basic functionality in over two years!

 

Media players for Linux like: Guayadeque, Gmusicbrowser, Quod Libet, DeadBeef work just fine with my keyboard (but they also support MPRIS - https://specifications.freedesktop.org/mpris-spec/latest/) which HQP and JRiver,  as far as I can tell,  do not. This may be the problem.

 

Thanks for any helpful info on the problem.

 

P.S. Forgot to mention that "random playback" on HQP4 is badly broken for Linux; not so with HQP3.

[Miska]

58 minutes ago, Rizlaw said:

Since the manual does not define what "standard" multimedia keys means, nor does it state what keyboards are supported under what OSs, I'd like to know if my keyboard can be made to work and, if so, how? I've got the same problem with JRiver Media Center 25. JRiver's unacceptable explanation is that Ubuntu must be intercepting - at some low level - the keypress codes and not allowing JRiver to see them. They haven't fixed this basic functionality in over two years!

 

On macOS keys don't work for this reason and there are alternative keys. macOS is hooking multimedia keys to iTunes (now Music) application. If the application is not started, macOS starts it when you press play...

 

58 minutes ago, Rizlaw said:

Media players for Linux like: Guayadeque, Gmusicbrowser, Quod Libet, DeadBeef work just fine with my keyboard (but they also support MPRIS - https://specifications.freedesktop.org/mpris-spec/latest/) which HQP and JRiver,  as far as I can tell,  do not. This may be the problem.

 

HQPlayer Embedded supports MPRIS. HQPlayer Desktop doesn't.

 

58 minutes ago, Rizlaw said:

P.S. Forgot to mention that "random playback" on HQP4 is badly broken for Linux; not so with HQP3.

 

This has been reported earlier and is already fixed, pending next release.

 

58 minutes ago, Rizlaw said:

I own HQPlayer 3 and 4. I use Ubuntu 18.04LTS. My keyboard is a Corsair K-70 Rapidfire. The keyboard has multimedia keys for "stop", "play/pause", "forward" and "backward" plus volume control wheel and mute button.

 

Precondition is that the HQPlayer window has input focus (is the active window). If the key codes don't end up in HQPlayer as key presses (just like any other keyboard input), they don't work. So it may depend on desktop environment used. I've been testing this mostly on Ubuntu Studio (XFCE desktop) which is what I use.

 

[Rizlaw]

Miska,

 

Thanks for the quick reply. I use Gnome, not XFCE, as my desktop so I don't know why the keyboard keys don't work when the HQP window has the focus (MPRIS notwithstanding).

 

IMO, multimedia keyboard keys should work with any Linux desktop, but I say that not being a programmer - hence the level of difficulty involved in supporting multiple desktop environments.