Video/audio/lyrics CD's, How are they made?

[surfista]

I am curious in what format are the cd's used at commercial karaoke canters. They contain a video, audio, and lyrics. Does MTU software do this? If not which does?

Seems the products discussed here create a bmp (static image), audio track, and lyrics.

Do CD+G support a video, audio, and lyrics layer?

I have been a beta tester for high end digital video editing software.

Thanx

[admin]

There are several possible answers to your "what do Karaoke centers use" question.

1. VideoCD - This contains motion video images with the Karaoke text lines superimposed over the video background. The audio is playing in sync.

2. Karaoke CD+G discs with external video - If a CDG song is made with transparent background and border, some older Karaoke players with "Transparent" output would allow this output to be mixed with a motion video (from a VHS?) signal and the video would appear as the background. MTU's Karaoke Pro workstation can generate Transparent background songs and discs (does not include the motion video).

3. Laser Discs - There are probably some places around that still have the expensive laser discs from the late 1980's. These have superior quality motion video, with the lyrics and music playing in sync.

Karaoke Home Producer - This is a $150 product. It creates songs with the CDG format, but not VideoCD or Laser disc. It is designed to generate solid color backgrounds with the lyrics on top, with the color sweeping the words in sync to the music playing.

[surfista]

Thank you for your response. Very interesting, thus sounds like video cd or VDO(VCD) I think MPEG1 as it is also called can be used.

MPEG1 I believe can be burned on a wider range of cr r's as compared to CDG capable burners.


I have also seen DVD karaoke. I assume this is similar to VCD but in MPEG2?

[admin]

Answering from the technology side, DVD is in no way similar to VCD. The image you might create could be similar, but the technology to get it is light years apart.

[surfista]

When I suggest DVD being similar to VCD I refer to the encoding. Basically DVD is a flavor of MPEG. There is (so far) MPEG1 through MPEG4.

When you think about it, DVD(MPEG2) is just a different algorithm. Nowadays, even relatively low end hardware has the potential to create DVD's. Home DVD making has not been cost effective because the media is expensive and until very recently (Pioneer/Phillips announcements of more affordable DVD burners;not DVDRAM, prices still not announced) the Pioneer DVD burner cost approx 4,000 dollars.

Besides high quality video, DVD offers high quality audio, and a lot of it when you think of the capacity of these disks.

Another disk technology on the horizon uses multiple layers being read with a special laser to offer 120 gigs.

Imagine that, 120 gigs per plastic disk.

[admin]

Well said in many ways. However, given that not one person was willing to pay $799, and only 4 were willing to pay $299 for Karaoke Home Producer, to say a DVD burner is $4,000 you might as well have said alpha-centauri star is a near neighbor.

We are moving toward VCD and even DVD mastering with our Karaoke Pro Workstation so we have all technologies available.

[surfista]

I was not actually thinking about VCD/DVD karaoke in terms of for use/development in MTU products, BUT, now that you mention it, there probably is a way to incorporate VCD(MPEG!) into Kar Home Prod that just might attract a lot of users.