Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Should be plenty of cheap flat screens around these days that take the older VGA connection.

I'll order one out of southern China built by them snuff dippin Chinese rednecks... :)

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Most of todays flatscreens have VGA input on top of almost every other input made.

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

I bought mine (26" flat screen monitor [Asus]) a couple of years ago from Staples. I caught it on sale for $149.95...

Heck, no matter the brand, I think they are all made in China. At least, that's where the parts come from even if they are "assembled" in the USA...

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Using the VGA, you would need a converter or something to split out to the house TV's as well as the singer screen correct?

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Lonman,

Definitely! I have one I use at a friend's house to hook up to his TV, but I "never" hook up to the house system of TV's.

I prefer that only the singer see the screen. I don't like the audience singing along and not looking at the singer... (Just a personal preference)

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

The HDMI works OK for me on the extended screen, that is what I use at home but at venues I actually still use the vga converter to rca video to connect up my gear as it doesn't generally involve fiddling around the back of the venue monitors, the rca video is normally on the side or bottom of the sets. :w:)

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Roy,

How did you get the HDMI to work? I couldn't...

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Can't say I do anything special for the video, I just connect the HDMI cable to computer and TV turn them both on then from the TV's source selection choose HDMI, this option only appears on my TV when you have an HDMI cable connected.
The only thing that you have to set up different is the sound card because when you connect the HDMI lead it automatically sends a digital sound signal to the TV so you have to disable the audio from it.
To do that right click the speaker icon on the task bar, select playback devices, right click in the dialog of the playback devices and tick the 2 boxes to show both device items, now right click on the HDMI audio and select disable then apply and OK. This only disables the audio signal not the Video, you might then have to enable the device that you want for your sound source and make that the default device in that same dialog.
The picture is much sharper with this selected than the ordinary video connection.

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

I can agree with some of that, but many singers actually do NOT want to be looked at continuously, then again, most audiences simply shift their eyes back and forth between the screen and singer anyway so someone is always looking at the singer at any given time, and the crowd almost always wants to at least follow along and also get the heads up when they are up. The loud ones in the audience will sing along at their seats whether they see a big screen or not. I get compliments all the time about Hoster's presence on the big screens as comparec to other karaoke programs even. (Just an audience preference I've noticed).

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

My Singers prefer it the way I do it, so the bottom line is, do whatever your audience wants. After all, they are the ones that support you!

I've never had a request to hook up to the Bar's system...

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

I see, cool.

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

How would you know? Take up a poll, or put out a suggestion box?

Also, do you guys allow people to bring in their own disks if they want?
If so, do you have an actual karaoke player with a CD-Rom drive, or maybe an external CD-Rom drive if the one in your laptop won't do CD-G and/or MP3G ?

Just trying to figure out if it's a good idea to have an actual karaoke player on hand, or if I should focus solely on being able to play the occasional disk on the laptop.

I'm going to be all digital, but I wouldn't care of someone wanted to bring their own disk as long as it is a pressed disc not a CDR in an attempt to not violate any copyrights er anything.

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

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Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

I know back in my drinking years hangin out at bars doing karaoke... you never questioned anything the KJ did that was his preference such as not having words on the big screen... lest you find yoselfs no longer in the rotation! :e

Maybe things have changed in mo modern times, but that maybe the reason nobody ever requested the words be put on the big screen out of fear of offending the KJ dude guy... after all, they wanna sing! :g

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

I have a loyal following and I have asked them. I've also had new Singer's to tell me they prefer it that way.

They prefer that if someone in the audience wants to sing, they should put their request in and do their singing on the stage like everyone else...

I actually had to bar a guy from coming to my show once. He would never put in a request, but always tried to sing louder in the audience than the singer on the stage. Not knowing the song lyrics didn't stop him. Imagine what he would have done if he could have seen the words! Talking to him did no good.

I play Singer's discs (or their USB drives) using Hoster. A copy doesn't matter "if" they own the master, but there is really no way to tell for sure...

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Yeah, taking someone's word that they own the original is risky at best.

I know back in the day, I was just a guy that liked to sing (not a KJ) and I had over 1000 songs I obtained by renting them... then burn 'em and return 'em as we used to say. All my songs were hand picked as my collections were just the songs I wanted for me.

It's been more than 7 years, so the statute of limitations has run out :g

I'd imagine now days it's even easier to copy from friends, or even buy illegal hard drives full of music.

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

I've never heard of renting Karaoke discs...

All of my songs (before my KJ days) were obtained the hard way (I paid for them). I eventually had to make some copies because the KJ's didn't take care of my discs.

I lost a bunch of songs to damage, but was able to recover a lot of them when I went to Hoster and purchased one of their CD drives that clean up damaged songs. Believe me, those drives work!

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Yep, some music stores rent karaoke discs and equipment...

I'm starting from scratch with new CDGs (I'm buying new stuff and keeping good records!) that will be ripped using MTU software on to a brand new hard drive... so I'm not anticipating any issues.

I figure I'll use MP3+G... isn't this the format that most KJs use that have gone digital?

Re: Karaoke with Laptop only???
 

Yep, MP3+G is the accepted format.

However, when loading from discs, Hoster converts them for you. It is not necessary to do any converting.

If you have any older discs that have scratches, I highly recommend purchasing one of MTU's drives to clean them up. The CD drive in your laptop won't do it...