Karaoke Forums

Hello,

I have been trying to rip our collection of CD+G discs (We purchased all of them legally and are using it only for home use) but have had a few issues.

I started with the following a few years ago:

Desktop Computer
PCDJ KJ (Hosting Software)
AudioGrabber
Plextor 740A (Internal) CD Drive with CD+G capabilities

We just upgraded to:

HP Laptop with S-Video Out
CompuHost (Including the Song Book creator FastTracks Pro v2)
Ripping software included with CompuHost
Plextor 740A Mounted in an External USB Enclosure

I tried moving the files from our PCDJ KJ directory into the CompuHost directory but found I needed to rename the files in order to use the Song Book creator.  We had some issues with some of the ripped files originally so I though I could just rip them again with CompuHost and clean up any issues.  

I am getting graphic artifacts, dots and such on most cd's.  Some are scratched but I am getting minor artifacts on even the mint cd's.  I was only able to slow the drive down to 8x when reading with CompuHosts ripping software.  I upgraded the Plextor firmware with no luck.  When I use AudioGrabber, I can slow it down to 1x read but can't get the naming to work properly.  It must be named the following:  DiscInfo-Track - Artist(Last Name, First) - SongTitle.  I can get everything but the Artist(Last Name, First) it will only do Artist(First Name, Last).

We tried cleaning the Plextor with a Memorex lens cleaner, and ran into the same issue... artifacts.  I also tried downloading the evaluation version of MicroStudio (MTU) which boasts error correction when ripping.  However it would recognize the Plextor, but would not read the discs.  I read on their site where the Plextor 740A is not a supported drive.  

So now we just purchased a MTU certified Internal CD+G Drive (Should be here in a few days) that I will mount in the External USB Enclosure and I will try that with CompuHosts ripping software, however based on my luck lately I am not holding my breath. If that doesn't work I'll try the demo version of MicroStudio for ripping with the MTU Certified Drive.  I can see an issue with that already because it doesn't rip to MP3 but rather a WAV so I'll have to convert it after the fact.

Any advice?  I really like running our family shows on computer, I don't want to go back to flipping cd's.

Thanks!!

Tim

Make sure your discs are as clean as possible.  If they are badly scratched, may have to live with the glitches or get the disc repaired.  Slow your rip speed down if you keep getting them, i've had some discs that would only read at 1X speed to playback with no garble.  I default my drive to 4x now & it works with most.  The faster, the more chance for graphic issues.

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This Plextor drive was not build by them and is not a cdg compatible drive BUT, using the MMC Deinterleave mode it should be fine??? The new Microstudio should be able to read the graphic or you might want to try CDG ripper and select the MMC Interleave mode, you might still have some broken letters... The new CDG drive you ordered will be perfect, don't worry!

Power CD+G Burner should make clean rips -- it uses error correction that should fix most of the read errors.

powerkaraoke:  I think your ripper is the best on the market because of the error correction.  Do you check all the packets or just the active ones beginning with 9?

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Okay, who took my pants?

All of them but those that are all zeros.

Ok here's an update...

We received the MTU Certified drive today and installed it.  Took a little bit to get it working with Windows Vista, I had to install ASPI drivers that I downloaded from MTU's site (although it didn't say they were compatible with Vista they worked).  

The MTU drive seemed to help a little using CompuHosts ripping software, mainly I think because we were able to slow down the MTU drive down to 4x instead of the Plextor drive which was 8x or 12x at it's slowest.

So as a test I took our most scratched up cdg (Which is several years old and in horrible shape) and tried to migrate it to the computer.  Well there were still artifacts even using the MTU drive.  So based on the advice of the forum we downloaded the evaluation version of Power CD+G Burner and it worked PERFECTLY!  No glitches or artifacts at 1x!  

So needless to say we purchased the full version of Power CD+G Burner software and now we are on our way to glitch free karaoke!  I can not say enough about how much time and effort, trial and error I've spent on this issue.  So anyone having trouble with glitches TRY POWER CD+G BURNER first!  Especially the trial version just to see if it helps with your issue.

Thanks to everyone for your advice!  I appreciate it!  :)

If your using cdg or scdg disc's, sooner or later they're going to get scratched.
Burning at a low speed is a Must. Error correction software is good but not Perfect.

Instead of buying this, that, and the other...
I've saved a lot of money by Repairing the Discs Myself.
CDG repair is simple... There's only a few things that can go wrong!
Spots, Glitches, Out of Sync... Piece of Cake to repair.
Repair, Rename (Your Choice), Convert, or Assemble Custom Disc...
Use CDGFix.

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