still seeking advice

[DJYale]

A few options on the computer front would be to have the system built in to a rackmount case instead of a standard case.

As for laptop storage, you can always purchase an external drive enclosure and put whatever size you want in it for storage.

Using as an example, Pioneer 001 totals 18 songs for 68mb sampled at 128bps.

Using the above you can figure:

• 100 discs = roughly 6.8Gb drive space
• 500 discs = roughly 34Gb (9000 songs)
• 1000 discs = roughly 68Gb (18000 songs)

So, roughly 30000 songs to a 120Gb drive.

Again, these are just rough estimates, especially since not all discs have the same number of songs and such.



What I'm getting to is this. You can purchase an external enclosure for around $40 (taken at the time of writting from a well known online source), Put in say a 120gb drive for starters for around $90, then later on if you need to increase storage, just pop out the 120Gb and pop in say a 200.





And they also make enclosures that allows up to 4 drives in one USB enclosure which can be rack mounted.

[Part On!]

Thanks, these responses are all a great help......

[kedmison]

No, I'm male. 49 years that way. But as I get older I'm always looking for a way to make the job easier. Less strain on the back! I use mackie srm450 speakers with a 1501 sub. Mackie CFX-12 mixer. Shure 87A beta wirless mics. Dell 17" flat monitor for singer. MTU"S Prostar Laptop with Hoster. 8,000 songs, no duplicates. Been using Hoster now for about 2 years. 3 gigs a week. Hoster hasn't failed yet. (knock on wood)

Kelly

[quaizywabbit]

the nice thing about "desktop" models is that you can get inside the box and change or add components should they fail.

However, in the interest of keeping setups and teardowns quick and easy, I'd agree with the laptop scenario.

As for speakers: I have been thoroughly impressed with the Bose PS1.
It is self powered, requires no stands, and breaks down small enough to fit in the trunk of a car. The cool thing about them is that no matter where you are in the room, you hear the same thing, no phase cancellation. It has 4 input channels, so connecting to a mixer isn't a problem.

Up to Two sub-woofer units can be attached to the main unit( one is fine for most karaoke purposes)

My best advice is to go to your nearest Guitar Center and check them out.
Cost-wise they are equivelent to a set of powered jbl eons, with stands, and covers. Best of all, you get 60 days to try after you buy, so you can always return them and get something else if they're not for you.Bose's online forum has quite a few Karaoke related users with just this kind of setup, plus tips and tricks to adapt from the "traditional" stereo mode of thinking.....

[quaizywabbit]

ooops!

Its actually called the "Bose Personal Amplification System" Or "PAS" for short.

the factory tryout period is 45 days. Sorry i was goin from the top of my head on that last post.

[Part On!]

I have a Guitar Center 15 minutes away from my house, I will go there. You really got me thinking with what you said about the ability to go inside a desktop to fix it, I Have no experience with lap tops. Maybe I should just get the CPU with the handle on top, and the flat screen. Thanks for your time...

[quaizywabbit]

there are pro's and con's for every choice you make....whether you're trading off convenience for cost, or a multitude of other things.

a laptop is small. portable, and lightweight. Whereas a desktop version is bulkier, needs a mouse/keyboard, etc...

The desktop will allow for off the shelf components(usually much cheaper than those for a laptop) and usually will allow for upgrading (to a point)

Most Laptops have some upgradeable components(such as HD, Ram, etc..)
but these components are more expensive and are usable only in that class of laptop.

MTU's Shuttle is a very nice compromise between both worlds...

[Chilichili1]

I use all powered speakers, jbl 15s, EV sxa100s, mackies, and JBL G2s they all work well, but without a doubt I would recomend the JBL G2s.
I have just started using Hoster and am very impressed. I decided on a desktop instead of a laptop because they are easier to maintain. I am in the process of building a cabinet to house the computer, monitor, keyboard ect. to avoid the lengthy set-up time. I'll let you know how that works out.

Originally Posted by quaizywabbit

the nice thing about "desktop" models is that you can get inside the box and change or add components should they fail.

However, in the interest of keeping setups and teardowns quick and easy, I'd agree with the laptop scenario.

As for speakers: I have been thoroughly impressed with the Bose PS1.
It is self powered, requires no stands, and breaks down small enough to fit in the trunk of a car. The cool thing about them is that no matter where you are in the room, you hear the same thing, no phase cancellation. It has 4 input channels, so connecting to a mixer isn't a problem.

Up to Two sub-woofer units can be attached to the main unit( one is fine for most karaoke purposes)

My best advice is to go to your nearest Guitar Center and check them out.
Cost-wise they are equivelent to a set of powered jbl eons, with stands, and covers. Best of all, you get 60 days to try after you buy, so you can always return them and get something else if they're not for you.Bose's online forum has quite a few Karaoke related users with just this kind of setup, plus tips and tricks to adapt from the "traditional" stereo mode of thinking.....

[flipper]

MTU Portable PC or Rackmount PC are perfect choices!

I have one system with a Toshiba Laptop and one system with the MTU Portable PC. The first few times I set the Portable PC up it took longer but after 5-6 times I could hardly tell the difference (maybe 1min longer)

One thing to keep in mind....if you do buy a laptop and you intend to import your customers songs from their personal discs, you will need an external CD Drive this requires 2 more cords to hook up on a laptop not to mention the cost of the external drive. The Portable PC and The Rackmount units come with MTU certified internal drives which require no additional hookup. The importing time is about 40% faster than with my laptop and external plextor.

MTU uses top quality components. As stated earlier in this post, the components are easier and less expensive to replace than laptops.

When I add my third system I will purchase one of these units again. I'm so impressed with the performance and sound that I get from them. My customers absolutely rave about the difference. I'm going on my 4th month with the Portable PC and they are still talking about it.

One thing is for sure....you are best off to purchase a computer that will be used for Karaoke Only...and that it only has the programs that are absolutely necessary to run your business and show. I have Hoster w/MTU Suite, OtsDJ, Windows Media Player, MS Excel, MS Word. I do not use the system for the internet unless I go online to upgrade. This will keep your problems to a minimum.

Good luck with your system purchase!

Hope this helps a bit!

Flipper

[Part On!]

Thanks, Flipper. Your advice did more than help a bit, it helped me to make up my mind. Instead of building my own pc, I will buy the portable pc. It looks like it's light weight, and I will keep it dedicated to only kj/dj. Thanks for your help...

[admin]

Originally Posted by flipper

One thing to keep in mind....if you do buy a laptop and you intend to import your customers songs from their personal discs, you will need an external CD Drive this requires 2 more cords to hook up on a laptop not to mention the cost of the external drive. The Portable PC and The Rackmount units come with MTU certified internal drives which require no additional hookup. The importing time is about 40% faster than with my laptop and external plextor.

MTU uses top quality components. As stated earlier in this post, the components are easier and less expensive to replace than laptops.

One thing is for sure....you are best off to purchase a computer that will be used for Karaoke Only...and that it only has the programs that are absolutely necessary to run your business and show. I have Hoster w/MTU Suite, OtsDJ, Windows Media Player, MS Excel, MS Word. I do not use the system for the internet unless I go online to upgrade. This will keep your problems to a minimum.
Flipper

Thanks for the MTU plug!

I would also recommend you add ZoneAlarm Pro software to your computer. This is a very nice firewall and Anti-Spam in one. One customer attached his computer through AOL, you know, the "we take care of you" claims, and instantly had a virus!!!!

We are now working on live updating your Import Database over the Internet. This will be a feature you want to use, and it requires Internet connection. So, we will be making recommendations, and probably adding ZoneAlarm Pro to our standard computers to make it that much easier.

Everyone will need to be on-line by the end of next year. We simply can't afford the support demands to continue Floppy-Disc registration, and CDROM is not feasible. Our installation by the end of 2005 will require the computer to be on-line. It is the way of the world today.

BTW: I just posted the Thread for Hoster 3.0 Beta-5, which we hope is the final test, expecting to release next week. It is VERY feature RICH!!!