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jrobbins50 · 01-02-2017, 23:25

Hello, Simon. Is there a way to access and play TIDAL Masters (i.e., the new MQA-encoded files) through MinimServer? I'm running your software on a Synology 1813+ NAS and using BubbleuPnP as my control. Thanks for your help! JCR

Pepsican · (This post was last modified: 02-02-2017 09:29 by Pepsican.)

(01-02-2017 23:25)jrobbins50 Wrote: Hello, Simon. Is there a way to access and play TIDAL Masters (i.e., the new MQA-encoded files) through MinimServer? I'm running your software on a Synology 1813+ NAS and using BubbleuPnP as my control. Thanks for your help! JCR

First of all, streaming would be done through MinimStreamer rather than MinimServer. Secondly, TIDAL Masters can currently only be played through TIDAL's own PC app client. Any other APIs have not been opened up yet. Last but not least, there are not that many MQA songs yet in the catalogue. TIDAL is still converting.

That said, usually integration of TIDAL or Qobuz happens in the control apps rather than the streamer; so in apps like Lumin, Bubble, Kazoo, etc.

As an aside, I'm currently not clear whether MQA playback will require a (paid) license.

simoncn · (This post was last modified: 02-02-2017 11:43 by simoncn.)

MinimServer (not MinimStreamer) can play from a network URL if you put the URL in a .m3u playlist. In this case, the URL is passed to the renderer and it is up to the renderer whether or not it can handle it. This is currently working for qobuz: URLs and it could work for TIDAL if they decide to expose MQA streams as (for example) tidal: URLs that are playable by your renderer. This would be transparent to MinimServer as it is just passing the URL to the renderer for playing.

MinimStreamer adds additional features to this basic capability of MinimServer. For example, MinimStreamer knows how to handle HLS streams as used by BBC radio and this can be useful if your renderer doesn't support HLS natively. I don't have any plans to add TIDAL MQA support to MinimStreamer.

Cebolla · (This post was last modified: 02-02-2017 14:13 by Cebolla.)

(02-02-2017 11:43)simoncn Wrote: MinimServer (not MinimStreamer) can play from a network URL if you put the URL in a .m3u playlist. In this case, the URL is passed to the renderer and it is up to the renderer whether or not it can handle it. This is currently working for qobuz: URLs and it could work for TIDAL if they decide to expose MQA streams as (for example) tidal: URLs that are playable by your renderer. This would be transparent to MinimServer as it is just passing the URL to the renderer for playing.

The implication is that the OP would be able to obtain the URLs to stream from TIDAL in the first place. That is currently not possible from the OP's current setup, as it's all handled internally by BubbleUPnP.

Pepsican · (This post was last modified: 03-02-2017 08:50 by Pepsican.)

(02-02-2017 14:10)Cebolla Wrote:
(02-02-2017 11:43)simoncn Wrote: MinimServer (not MinimStreamer) can play from a network URL if you put the URL in a .m3u playlist. In this case, the URL is passed to the renderer and it is up to the renderer whether or not it can handle it. This is currently working for qobuz: URLs and it could work for TIDAL if they decide to expose MQA streams as (for example) tidal: URLs that are playable by your renderer. This would be transparent to MinimServer as it is just passing the URL to the renderer for playing.
The implication is that the OP would be able to obtain the URLs to stream from TIDAL in the first place. That is currently not possible from the OP's current setup, as it's all handled internally by BubbleUPnP.

I don't know the exact details, but it seems the TIDAL URLs are not so easy to grab. They are certainly not stable over a longer period from what I understand. Also, TIDAL have stated that the MQA stream can only be listened to on their PC App. So, there may be something on the client side to do some work on the MQA stream.

Based on what you are saying, it may be best to check with the Bubble developer whether it can be updated to deal with the MQA side of things. But that would also mean TIDAL release their MQA API.

Edit: found it. It seems that when MQA arrives on the client, there is an "unfolding process" that happens. That's what the client does and at the moment, neither the web browser extensions, nor any mobile versions of the app, do this. So, I guess Bubble could do it, although I have no idea how intensive the unfolding process is.