Lost dual display while adding singers disk to playlist

[Skybird]

Have used Hoster 4 times at shows. The second display goes out in the middle of the show. This always happens when I'm adding a song from a singers disk to the database, while a singer is already singing. Then the 2nd display disappears. I shut down Hoster, restart the laptop & it keeps telling me I only have 1 display. I click on extended desktop, restart the laptop and it just won't hold. I did that for 2 hours while running my show on a regular karaoke machine. At the end of the show, I shut down my laptop, unplugged & replugged in the video cable & all worked. This happened in 3 shows, all while "adding to playlist" from a singer's disk while someone is singing at the same time.
On the 4th try, I only played songs already on the laptop - and played all singer's disks from my separate player. This time the display stayed.
So.......... how can I add from their disk while someone is sinigng without losing my second display? It's a pain going back and forth between 2 machines because so many singers bring in their own disks.

[Beavis]

have you updated your video drivers from thier manufacturer ?

[Skybird]

Think this is how to reply to Post???
I thought I updated everything before installing Hoster, but maybe not. I'll check on video drivers. Thanks.

[Beavis]

the 2 things i would do is make sure windows updates are current, including custom and express, then i would re-install hoster.

are you running windows Sp2 ?

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Beavis

the 2 things i would do is make sure windows updates are current, including custom and express, then i would re-install hoster.

are you running windows Sp2 ?

YES, I did all that BEFORE installing Hoster a little more than a month ago. Can I just check to see if video drivers need updating? I hate to uninstall & reinstall - that's such a pain!

[Beavis]

yes

you need to go to the manufacturer for video updates.

[Skybird]

Everything on my laptop was updated BEFORE I installed Hoster, so I knew that was not the problem. Thought it only happened when I trying adding songs from disks while another song was playing at the same time; however, it also happened in the middle of a show for no apparent reason. I tried unplugging the S-video cable in and out and that only temporarily fixed the problem. Then, I removed & replaced the electrical cord & that fixed it & the video came up immediately.
My last 3 shows didn't have that problem, but I also read the Manual again & it definitely says to have the TV plugged & TURNED ON, BEFORE turning on the computer - that way the computer recognizes the fact that there is a second display. Otherwise, it always defaults back to a single display so that when you plug the TV afterwards, it may show for a while, but then it disappears. I don't understand either, but having the TVs on BEFORE booting up has fixed the problem.
It would be nice if you could just PLAY a singer's disk in Hoster without having to ADD it to the Playlist by uploading it first. It doesn't seem like a long time unless you have to do it 20-40 times during a night and then have to add the same songs week after week. For this reason, it's still easier to carry a separate CDG player, but then All singers will not appear in the Playlist because you can't add a singer's name unless you have a song to go with it.
I wish we could add a person's name to the list and then add the song they want to sing at a later time. Sometimes they say Add me to the list, but they don't know what they want to sing until later. That happens a lot!

[lmcmains]

I have had the singers display go blank while I am inporting a singers disc also. It doesn't happen every time. I never had this happen until I updated to 3.3. I'm like you, my computer has all the latest updates.

[songpony]

I've had the singer's name display pop up in front of the singer's display when importing a singer's disk, but never had it go completely black.

[nreel]

It would be nice if you could just PLAY a singer's disk in Hoster without having to ADD it to the Playlist by uploading it first. It doesn't seem like a long time unless you have to do it 20-40

Microstudio can PLAY directly from disc...but no Key Change capability...hence, the REASON why Hoster needs to READ a DISC and CONVERT it to a KMA...so a KEY CHANGE is Possible.

If I had to accept 20 - 40 SAME discs/Songs from Singers, on a weekly basis, I would buy the Discs.

If you want to ADD someone to the PLAYLIST, just click on ANY BookID, Type the Singer's Name, and ADD THEM. This is not Rocket Science.

When the Singer sees their Name with a Weird Song next to it, it usually prompts them to get their Lazy ### in gear.

[Skybird]

I really like your idea about just picking any song to get 'em off their chair! I was wondering how I could add a singer to the Playlist when I don't know what they want to sing yet.

As to playing their own disks - I get 10 singers bringing in 6 different disks each week - if I bought them all that would be 60 disks. And then after singing that song 3 or 4 times, they quit & try something else. I've even bought disks special for my singers only to have them change their mind and no one has ever sang off that disk in 2 years!!!!!

Having to add 10 songs in a row to the playlist does slow down the show. It's easier to put them in my old 5-disk carousel & hope they work (which many of their homemade CDRs won't display properly-then I put them in my single-tray DVD/CDG player). I feel the only way to get my time back, which Hoster is great for, is to convince my singers to sing one of the brands I have. They definitely sound much better than the off-brands they get from places like KMart & Walmart!!! Well that's my 2-cents!!!

[songpony]

Regarding how to add a singer to the playlist when you don't yet know what they want to sing...

I currently have a "placeholder" song just for this purpose. I recorded 60 seconds of dead air and then loaded that "song" to Hoster. If you load it from the hard drive, you can just add it to a DiskID that's already in use (so you're not using a new one just for one "song"). I called the song title "No more songs up - pick one". Since I display both singer and song on the Singer's Name Display, they can see that they need to get a song in to me before their next turn. Even if they didn't have this visibility, it still serves as an effective placeholder for their location in the playlist. I used to have another "song" called "***VIDEO***" that I used to mark a person's place when I had to play the video through WMP; no longer needed, thanks to 3.3!