Long story short, some time back I got a PC from MTU with Hoster, and had problems with it...getting it to do what it was supposed to do, so I eventually gave up on it. Some time later, I switched to laptop to DJ from, and attempted to use Compuhost to run my karaoke shows from the laptop. While I love that product, I cannot find time to re-rip all my discs to the proper format. 85-90% of my discs are already ripped to KMA format on the old Hoster machine.
My laptop has Vista...and in an attempt to thwart having to rerip my discs, I am considering coming back to MTU. I know a couple of users who are having no problems, so I am assuming maybe my issues were unique to me, and starting over may result in different results.
Currently I have Hoster 3.31 installed. Here are my questions:
1. If I am going to use a Vista installed laptop (Toshiba Satellite A135-s4727... Pentium Dual Core T2080 / 1.73 GHz - RAM : 2 GB - HD : 160 GB - DVD/R) what is the best version of Hoster for me to consider?
If you meet these criteia:
"Hoster 3.321a - To install and run requires that you have bought Hoster 3.x or an upgrade AFTER May 30, 2006"
Click on this link and download 3.321a which runs on vista:
http://download.mtu.com/hos4xu9rk120...3321asetup.exe
2. What kind of cash outlay is it going to cost to upgrade?
If you meet the criteria, this upgrade is free.
3. Is it going to be a hassle to put the new version on a laptop if the old version is on the desktop I got from MTU? (Mini cube).
You paid for a license to put Hoster on two computers. You should have no problem installing on your laptop.
4a. If I decide to upgrade my laptop anytime soon, how hard is it to move Hoster to my new laptop from the old one? Is that a big deal?
Again, you have the right to put Hoster on two computers.
4b. Is it possible to cheaply license a second laptop as a backup? I carry a backup PC generally, but it wont do me any good if I cant play the karaoke files on it, LOL. I am seriously considering a new laptop for this project and using the old laptop as a backup.
You have a second licence. Give us some details on your shuttle Harry and I bet we can get it going for you. Them you could use the shuttle as your back-up machine..
5. Are there any obstacles in this thought that I am not seeing?
Be sure to:
1. Get all custom updates for your vesion of windows.
2. Get Internet Explorer 7
3. Get the latest drivers for your video card.
This is the first step. If Hoster still doesn't run right, we'll look at the problem closer.
Thanks in advance for the info and advice and direction.