Which Laptop?

[WaltR]

Dale please feel free to delete this if it is out of line.

It looks like I am close to having to replace my laptop. With all the problems many have had with getting Hoster to run correctly, I am curious to know what some of you are using that has been pretty much trouble free. It appears that nobody offers "s" video out anymore including MTU on their laptop. I don't know why everyone now offers vga output but their must be a reason. I have pretty much ruled out the MTU laptop because of the price and I don't need the Hoster program that comes with it since I already have Hoster. I presently have a Emachine purchased in 2003. It has a AMD processor and is maxed out at 1.25gb and has a ATI Radeon 9600 display card. This machine has served me very well over the years. I know many of you seem to lean away from AMD but I personally have had great success with AMD on several computers over the years. Having stated this, I am not opposed to Intel and would like to especially hear from those that are presently using Windows 7 since it looks like we will all be going that way or further down the road. I have looked at several brands over the last week or so and I would prefer not to buy one that has many of the canned programs that one is stuck with in buying these products. Ideally, I would line to have just the Windows7 program and nothing else on the machine so that I can add just the minimum needs I may have. Also, Windows 7, 32 bit or 64 bit? Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Walt

[ddouglass]

I personally like Dell as you can customize quite extensively. When you look at them don't look in the Home section , but go to the Small Business tab instead. More customization, operating system choices and less junk programs.
Two things for sure. Get Intel as the AMD cannot do some of the processes that are required because Intel holds the copyright/patent on those. Second It doesn't matter which you go with for Windows 7 as All MTU programs can now run on both 32 and 64 bit.
Unfortunately the computer manufacturers have decide that having HDMI for wide screen TVs is the only way to go now instead of S-Video. Even the Video cards for desktops are getting very scarce with S-Video. Progress marches on.

[WaltR]

Thanks Dale. I'll check the Dell site.

[billyo]

Dale is right, all my laptops/pc's are all Dell except for my netbook that i used just strictly for djing..( all XP os ).easy to work on..

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by billyo

Dale is right, all my laptops/pc's are all Dell except for my netbook that i used just strictly for djing..( all XP os ).easy to work on..

I'm not sure I want to purchase a new computer and use XP. I'm not sure how long MTU will support XP so it seems to me if I am going to purchase a new laptop, I should go with Window 7. I'm not sure Windows 7 and Hoster is problem free yet. I'm also thinking maybe it is time to go back to a hardware type sytem with all the new products out. There is onethat has two of everything; hard drives, players, key change and tempo control, usg, sd. It is priced about the same as a computer. The major trade off for me would be losing the silence removal which I dearly love. I am getting beat up now at my shows for not having tempo control. I have downloaded a free karaoke program that has tempo control but obviously, it won't play kma files to I have to convert files to use this for the known songs and singers that I know want tempo changes for select songs. It is amazing how many karaoke producers don't pay attention to the tempo of a song when they produce it. Thank God most songs are close but there are far too many that aren't.

Thanks,

Walt

[ddouglass]

I am not sure it is necessarily the tempo being off on the song as it is the alchohol level in the singer. Yes some of the brands do produce different versions (tempo) of the songs and finding the right one can be a chore.
MTU has been trying to find a tempo/keychange code setup that will work, but have not been able to get one as yet. They are still looking for the right one.
As far as MTU dropping support for XP I don't see that happening for quite a while. Mainly because it is such a stable operating system unlike the previous version they had. Even Microsoft can't completely get away from XP for a number of years. But it is your choice and the longer Microsoft stays with Windows 7 the better it and their support for developers will get. It would really be nice if Microsoft will stay with Windows 7 for a long time adding new features as they go via service packs the way they did XP.
The good thing with Dell is it is your choice.

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

I am not sure it is necessarily the tempo being off on the song as it is the alchohol level in the singer. Yes some of the brands do produce different versions (tempo) of the songs and finding the right one can be a chore.
MTU has been trying to find a tempo/keychange code setup that will work, but have not been able to get one as yet. They are still looking for the right one.
As far as MTU dropping support for XP I don't see that happening for quite a while. Mainly because it is such a stable operating system unlike the previous version they had. Even Microsoft can't completely get away from XP for a number of years. But it is your choice and the longer Microsoft stays with Windows 7 the better it and their support for developers will get. It would really be nice if Microsoft will stay with Windows 7 for a long time adding new features as they go via service packs the way they did XP.
The good thing with Dell is it is your choice.

The alcohol level definetly has something to do with it at times (ha,ha). There are many others out there that have a very good working tempo. I don't understand why MTU can't obtain one unless it is a copyright thing or they don't want to spend the money for the rights. I obviously don't know what goes on behind the scenes but I posted once before that Sunfly offers a free basic download for a karaoke player with tempo and key control. It works very well. If they can offer it free, where is the problem? Maybe MTU can contact them and see if there is any option there for them.

Walt

[ddouglass]

The problem is getting it to work with the existing programming. They had one they tried from a European programmer. Unfortunately the programmer had set it up to require a change in Tempo and in Keychange. MTU needs them to be able to work independent and not having to change both.
Sunfly being a music production company most likely bought the rights to the program completely done and give it away as a promotional item.

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by ddouglass

The problem is getting it to work with the existing programming. They had one they tried from a European programmer. Unfortunately the programmer had set it up to require a change in Tempo and in Keychange. MTU needs them to be able to work independent and not having to change both.
Sunfly being a music production company most likely bought the rights to the program completely done and give it away as a promotional item.

I wonder how key change and tempo is done in hard ware equipment? It must me some sort of programming flashed to the electronic devices. Again, as you mentioned, it may not be compatible with Hoster's programming. Oh well, enough of this, I am sure they will work it out.

Walt

[admin]

Originally Posted by WaltR

I'm not sure I want to purchase a new computer and use XP. I'm not sure how long MTU will support XP so it seems to me if I am going to purchase a new laptop, I should go with Window 7. I'm not sure Windows 7 and Hoster is problem free yet. I'm also thinking maybe it is time to go back to a hardware type sytem with all the new products out. There is onethat has two of everything; hard drives, players, key change and tempo control, usg, sd. It is priced about the same as a computer. The major trade off for me would be losing the silence removal which I dearly love. I am getting beat up now at my shows for not having tempo control. I have downloaded a free karaoke program that has tempo control but obviously, it won't play kma files to I have to convert files to use this for the known songs and singers that I know want tempo changes for select songs. It is amazing how many karaoke producers don't pay attention to the tempo of a song when they produce it. Thank God most songs are close but there are far too many that aren't.

Thanks,

Walt

We use Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 for our developments... the latest. We MUST use their latest or random crashing problems will creep in as your computers/Windows do auto-updates. If our code is expecting WMP 9.0 for example, and you have 11.0, problems can happen.

It's not a matter of whether "we" will discontinue XP support. It is TOTALLY CONTROLLED by Microsoft's development tools. If THEY discontinue support in their tools, the next release we have will discontinue support also... by default of our code being compiled on their Visual Studio. Will they? Wouldn't put it past them. They've done stupider things since we've worked with them since 1978. Also, that is their way to "move the market along" into newer technology. There are many changes in Win7 and .NET that simply couldn't exist in XP. It wasn't "sophisticated" enough. Like Hoster, MS evolves bsed on their prior versions.

The problem comes when the have a new release that changes the way the older release features worked. Then, what worked all of a sudden won't work.

Then again, Amazon is now shipping 151Kb compression MP3 songs. MS WMP not long ago simply was not endowed to recognize 151Kb and can't decompress these files. Their latest WMP does, and that is what we build into all our products that accept MP3 files today. When any "major player" in the game evolves, everyone must evolve. Why didn't Amazon use 128Kb or 160Kb like the rest of the world instead of developing a new 151Kb?

All we are is a big player in a little industry that doesn't exist to MS, Amazon, etc.

TEMPO is a very sophisticated Digital Signal Processing program to run on a computer. Yes, there are "simple" players with this, and no there is no copyright problem. Hoster has evolved into a VERY complex, multi-threaded, multi-tasking program. We get complaints if it "requires too much CPU time". Well, adding in a new Tempo-Key Change DSP module WILL gobble up your CPU.

We have to find re-entrant code that does KEY change or TEMPO change, not tied together. This is controlled by how sophisticated the User Interface is coded by the programmer. We have a very sweet package we had planned to use, but changing the key also changes the number of samples we get back. That proves there is some tempo change being applied... that is unwanted.

Well, we at MTU are perfectionists. If we don't want tempo change, we DON'T want tempo change!

Also, the number of Hoster users requesting tempo change is a very small fraction of 1%. It's simply not at the top of our list. Our next approach is to contact the author of this "very sweet" Key-Tempo changer source code we have. It's available at not charge other that what we will send the author to "thank" him for his efforts. We have to technically PROVE his code returns the wrong number of samples (tempo change) when not intended. Once we spend the time to code an example to prove it to him, I expect he'll fix his problem. We expect to add this in 5.0x, but it won't be in 5.00.

[WaltR]

Originally Posted by admin

We use Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 for our developments... the latest. We MUST use their latest or random crashing problems will creep in as your computers/Windows do auto-updates. If our code is expecting WMP 9.0 for example, and you have 11.0, problems can happen.

It's not a matter of whether "we" will discontinue XP support. It is TOTALLY CONTROLLED by Microsoft's development tools. If THEY discontinue support in their tools, the next release we have will discontinue support also... by default of our code being compiled on their Visual Studio. Will they? Wouldn't put it past them. They've done stupider things since we've worked with them since 1978. Also, that is their way to "move the market along" into newer technology. There are many changes in Win7 and .NET that simply couldn't exist in XP. It wasn't "sophisticated" enough. Like Hoster, MS evolves bsed on their prior versions.

The problem comes when the have a new release that changes the way the older release features worked. Then, what worked all of a sudden won't work.

Then again, Amazon is now shipping 151Kb compression MP3 songs. MS WMP not long ago simply was not endowed to recognize 151Kb and can't decompress these files. Their latest WMP does, and that is what we build into all our products that accept MP3 files today. When any "major player" in the game evolves, everyone must evolve. Why didn't Amazon use 128Kb or 160Kb like the rest of the world instead of developing a new 151Kb?

All we are is a big player in a little industry that doesn't exist to MS, Amazon, etc.

TEMPO is a very sophisticated Digital Signal Processing program to run on a computer. Yes, there are "simple" players with this, and no there is no copyright problem. Hoster has evolved into a VERY complex, multi-threaded, multi-tasking program. We get complaints if it "requires too much CPU time". Well, adding in a new Tempo-Key Change DSP module WILL gobble up your CPU.

We have to find re-entrant code that does KEY change or TEMPO change, not tied together. This is controlled by how sophisticated the User Interface is coded by the programmer. We have a very sweet package we had planned to use, but changing the key also changes the number of samples we get back. That proves there is some tempo change being applied... that is unwanted.

Well, we at MTU are perfectionists. If we don't want tempo change, we DON'T want tempo change!

Also, the number of Hoster users requesting tempo change is a very small fraction of 1%. It's simply not at the top of our list. Our next approach is to contact the author of this "very sweet" Key-Tempo changer source code we have. It's available at not charge other that what we will send the author to "thank" him for his efforts. We have to technically PROVE his code returns the wrong number of samples (tempo change) when not intended. Once we spend the time to code an example to prove it to him, I expect he'll fix his problem. We expect to add this in 5.0x, but it won't be in 5.00.

Thank you for your enlightening explanation. The one statement you made of only about 1% of your customers wanting tempo control is very surprising to me. I don't know if you base this 1% figure on the inquiries from these posts or if you have other means of arriving at this. As one of you customers I have no idea what priories you have in implementing changes to Hoster or what these changes may be. For my money, Tempo is very important. I have never used the video option and have no plans to do so in the future. I think you have many great features in Hoster but I am trying to keep my shows basic and have never had any customer ask for videos. In fact, I have a few DVD karaoke disk which when I play them (outside of Hoster), customers complain that the video back round is distracting. They want to sing and the audio and the words is what they are interested in. I have commented in the past, that I think a post with the general ideas you are entertaining as new features to Hoster would give you positive feedback on the priorities of your customers wish list. Your program is wonderful. What is important to me that you have presently is, silence removal, singer's list with key change memory and next in line would be tempo! Of course nothing is important if the program isn't dependable which I believe right now it is very much so. By the way, I understand the issue of not supporting XP down the road for the reasons you mentioned. What I said is, if I am going to purchase a new computer, it doesn't make sense to me to make such a purchase without the latest operationg system since you already are offering support for Window 7. Why purchase new puter with old tecnology?


Thank you,

Walt

[ddouglass]

You may be going to videos sooner than you think. Many of the producers sights are going to MP3 (no lyrics on screen) and AVI (video) as their formats, especially as they move toward downloadable. Those videos though will not be what you have experienced, but will be the same types of lyrics displays we see now with the current and past CDG.

[Lonman]

My laptop is an HP MediaCenter set up. 64bit Vista, never had a glitch on it yet - ran an 8 hour show on in not too long ago in 90+ degree weather & not so much as a hiccup - I did have a cooling pad underneath it however.
As far as S-Video, you can get VGA to S-Video converters that work fine, although on some of the newer HDTV's they also have VGA inputs. I have used my VGA output as the extended screen at a couple shows i've done. There are converters to go from practically any format to any format that can be purchased.

[billyo]

talking about getting new laptops, i had 8 combined pc's /laptops, 3 pc's died at the same same time ( won't power up, just clicks )
i'm thinking of replacing them, i just hate the fact that i'm gonna have to buy w7, but i guesed i have no choice, have to go with the flow..