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Music Assistant

MSX Bridge MSX Bridge icon

Section titled “MSX Bridge ”

Music Assistant has support for streaming music to Smart TVs via the Media Station X (MSX) app. MSX is available on Samsung (Tizen), LG (webOS), Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Xbox, and any modern web browser. This provider is contributed and maintained by TrudenBoy.

CAUTION

Beta

This provider is currently in beta. While functional, some features may change.

NOTE

Full provider documentation: github.com/trudenboy/ma-provider-msx-bridge

Features

Section titled “Features”
  • Dynamic player registration: Each TV is automatically registered as a player when it connects — no manual setup required
  • Multi-TV support: Multiple TVs can play simultaneously, each with independent control
  • Library browsing on TV: Browse albums, artists, playlists, and tracks directly on the TV screen via MSX native UI
  • Search: Full-text search through the Music Assistant library from the TV
  • WebSocket push notifications: Bidirectional real-time communication between MA and the TV (play, pause, resume, stop, seek, position reporting)
  • Player grouping (experimental): Group multiple MSX TVs to play the same track simultaneously
  • Browser web player: Access the provider via any web browser at http://<ma-ip>:8099/web
  • Idle timeout cleanup: Inactive players are automatically unregistered after a configurable timeout
  • Player removal: Players can be manually removed from the MA UI

Requirements

Section titled “Requirements”
  1. A Smart TV (or device) with the Media Station X app installed
  2. The TV and Music Assistant must be on the same network

Supported Platforms

Section titled “Supported Platforms”
PlatformApp Store
Samsung (Tizen)Samsung App Store
LG (webOS)LG Content Store
Amazon Fire TVAmazon Appstore
Android TVGoogle Play Store
Apple TVApp Store
XboxMicrosoft Store
Web BrowserOpen http://<ma-ip>:8099

Configuration

Section titled “Configuration”

Setting Up the TV

Section titled “Setting Up the TV”
  1. Install the Media Station X app on your Smart TV from the platform’s app store
  2. Open the MSX app on the TV
  3. Enter the start URL: http://<ma-ip>:8099/msx/start.json (replace <ma-ip> with your Music Assistant server IP)
  4. The TV will connect and automatically appear as a player in Music Assistant

Provider Settings

Section titled “Provider Settings”

In addition to the Player Provider Settings when setting up this provider the following settings are available:

  • HTTP Server Port. The port for the MSX HTTP server. Default: 8099
  • Audio Output Format. Audio format for streaming to the TV. Options: MP3 (default), AAC, FLAC. Note: FLAC provides lossless quality but some TVs may not support it
  • Player Idle Timeout (minutes). Automatically unregister MSX players after this many minutes of inactivity. Default: 30
  • Show notification before closing player. Show a confirmation dialog on the TV when stopping playback from MA. Default: off
  • Enable player grouping (experimental). Allow grouping multiple MSX TVs to play the same track simultaneously. Default: off
  • Group Stream Mode. How to stream audio to grouped players. Independent (default) creates a separate stream per TV. Shared Buffer uses one ffmpeg process for all group members (less CPU, better sync)

How It Works

Section titled “How It Works”
  1. The provider runs an embedded HTTP server (default port 8099) inside Music Assistant
  2. The MSX app on the TV connects to this server and loads a native JSON-based UI for browsing the MA library
  3. When a track is played, the TV requests the audio stream from the provider, which fetches audio from MA, encodes it via ffmpeg, and streams it to the TV
  4. A WebSocket connection provides real-time bidirectional control: MA can send play/pause/stop/seek commands to the TV, and the TV reports playback position back to MA
  5. The status dashboard is available at http://<ma-ip>:8099/

Known Issues / Notes

Section titled “Known Issues / Notes”
  • Audio format: MP3 is the most compatible format across all TV platforms. AAC offers slightly better quality at the same bitrate. FLAC is lossless but Content-Length cannot be determined in advance, which may cause issues on some TVs
  • Player grouping: This is experimental. The Shared Buffer mode provides better synchronization between TVs but requires all grouped TVs to use the same audio format
  • Network: The TV and MA server must be on the same local network. There is no remote/cloud access support
  • Idle timeout: If a TV is powered off or the MSX app is closed, the player will be automatically removed after the configured idle timeout (default 30 minutes). It will reappear when the TV reconnects
  • Crossfade is not supported — MSX uses its native media player which does not support crossfading between tracks