what WILL work??

[George]

Personally think the whole point is getting confused here. The issue was that MTU very CLEARLY states they will only certify the burners they sell to work in CDG format. That couldn't be stated any clearer. The reason for that statement is because no one drive, irregardless of the manufacturer's claims, can be depended upon to write cdg successfully, drive after drive. The technical reasons for this are beside the point. Those are the conditions in the marketplace, that's what counts, and that's what's being addressed by MTU.They have CLEARLY stated that others have purchased the same model drives they recommend, elsewhere, and have drives that were problematic. MTU bench tests every drive they sell for that reason, and why shouldn't they be compensated for doing so?

As for the techinical reasons why a particular drive will not work, that is a question that would be better put to the manufacturer of the drive. They are the ones who should be held accountable to explain their blunders, not MTU.

As stupid as I may be in these things, I can understand MTU's statement, so what's all the confusion for?

George

[jim in ohio]

I think it's cool, Mr Walker who does not own any MTU products gets shot out of the water by Supercat!! She makes him look like a teen age hack trying to come across the threads like some super hero trying to save the world from bad Karaoke backups.

GO SUPERCAT GO!!!!

[supercat]

While I'm hardly an expert on everything, I do understand something of the mechanics of how CD-audio, CD+G, and CD-data work and what some of the reliability limitations are. I do think the point needs to be made that a drive's ability to report that it wrote a disk successfully--even if the drive can read the disk back--does not imply that the disk will be readable by the half-worn-out karaoke machine used by the local KJ.

I think that MTU would do well to make this point very clear, especially if they describe somewhat how they do their testing (e.g. if they burn five full disks with each candidate drive, then play them back on the most beat-up karaoke machine they can find--one which has trouble even reading commercially-pressed disks, and reject any burner which causes any noticeable glitches on any of the 75-minute disks, they should say so. Of course, I suspect their testing is a little less rigorous than that, but it might be good for them to say what their test protocol is).

I just priced a Plextor 40x12x40 drive at $150 at Best Buy; if MTU is supplying the same drive, spending another $10+shipping for the assurance that it will handle CD+G may be worthwhile. It would be good to know exactly what testing that $10 is buying, though.

[George]

It should be very obvious that the $10.00 would be buying the certification that the drive if purchased through them will work with THEIR OWN software. That should be all they as a software vendor should be interested in, all most consumers are interested in, and that's exactly what they do.

George

[SteveWalker]

Hi supercat,

I'll say it again: It problem is NOT that the burner fails to lay down tracks precisely. It is NOT that. Otherwise, the burner would not work reliably for any use. Got it? Don't forget that you do not have a burner that works - so everything you've been saying is theory, right?

I've been using a Yamaha burner for the past 7 years and they are still one of the best you can buy. I know that a couple of their models failed to work with CDG so you need to verify this based on the model number.

I highly recommend the Yamaha but verify the model. Now a days you have a many models that work with CDG software.

Not all CDG software works with my Yamaha burner. MTU, Golden Hawk, PlayCDG CE, other ALL work fine. I tried other software that does not work so the software is the problem.

Steve

[MTUSUPPORT]

Steve,
Your CD-R drive is a very old Yamaha drive that did work correctly with the CD+G format. The new Yamaha drives after their 8824 model, will not do the Graphics correctly. Please don't say that they will because they won't work correctly for the CD+G format.

The old Yamaha 4260 that you have is a SCSI yamaha drive and it worked great for CD+G, but if you go and try to buy a new Yamaha, see what happens. The graphics will be all broken up very badly and you won't be happy with the results. So please don't recommend to clients that it will work. Because I have had quite a few unhappy clients come to me, saying that they read the Yamaha drives would work and bought one, and now they are mad that it won't work. I would rather you make sure that you always say your Yamaha 4260, I know you have added make sure to check the model on some of your posts, but this does confuse people.

It would just make my life a little easier. Expecially since these clients don't exactly know that you don't even own any of our software products, so that could be questionable also.

[SteveWalker]

Bryan Cox,

Thanks for the message. My Yamaha model is just fine but I certainly do not care about promoting Yamaha products.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyone planning to use MTU software would be smart to use only the CD burners recommended by MTU.

Best Wishes,
Steve Walker

[danny_g]

Let me preface this by saying it worked for me- Does not mean it will work for others but I got my first USB writer and it works with all of my programs that deal with CDG- AN HP 8210e.
I tried copying with cdrwin and microstudio both worked perfectly. I also tried it with a demo version of another karaoke hosting software and it worked as well. I figured it might as they have the drive listed under supported drives.

[danny_g]

Originally posted by SteveWalker
I just bought a Sony CRX175A1/C1CD CD-RW 24X/10X/40X Internal burner for $59.00 - yes $59. Regular price is $89 with $30 rebate. It burns CDG just fine and it is on Golden Hawk's list of supported burners. If a burner works with Golden Hawk's CDRWIN program, then it should work with a karaoke player provided the player was designed correctly.

Steve

tested microstudio demo on that model- karaoke NO audio YES
is what came up in the detect drives from microstudio.
it's the reason I didn't buy the one that writes 32X at Staples for $55.00.
If it works for you great.

[SteveWalker]

Originally posted by danny_g


tested microstudio demo on that model- karaoke NO audio YES

danny_g,

The AUDIO on a CDG is exactly the same as it is on any commercial music CD. You can play a CDG on any regular CD player or computer CD-ROM drive. Take any of your CDG's and try it on your car cd player or any CD player in your home and it will work like any other music CD. You need to do your own research and testing before making conclusions.

The problem is always with the CD burners ability to read the GRAPHICS on the CDG. If the graphics does not come up on the screen it may be due to the following:

1. CD-RW is incompatible
2. incorrect software driver on the PC / OS
3. the player software interface is incorrect

I've had CD burners and drivers work for one "player" and not another - many times. MTU demos work with all three of my CD burners: external Yamaha, Internal desktop Sonys, and removeable laptop Sony.

danny_g, you need to contact the professionals at MTU support to get your Sony CD burner properly installed.

Thanks,
Steve