Karaoke Forums

I would like to know how many hosts use a Hard Drive Player System, that are members of this forum. It would seem that the PC hosts dominate and I was wondering what the ratio really is. For the last nine years of my hosting career I used a Hard Drive Player, it would be nice to know it anyone else is using one.

Depends on what you definition of hard drive player is. It can be defined as a:eonic which looks like a hard drive, b:CAVS jukebox or c: computer based. I fall under c. All must go through the audits to use SC material on them.

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From what I gather Danny it is any system similar to a PC with limited functions. Basically storing data, retrieving that data and playing it back. Also having a player so that discs can be played. With some models there is a USB port now, and they have the ability to generate lists for song books. No SC material on them no need for an audit, right?

I started karaoke in 1996 maybe 1995.

I'm a computer tech and and started with a Mackie 1400I amp and a jvc 5 disc carousel and 2 mic's & 200 disc's.

I found out that it was a pain in (@$%&#!) to lug around disc's and find a place for them to sit in limited space.

so that first year I found tricerasoft's wincdgpro and made the conversion to computer based way back in 1996 + or - a couple years. getting old can't really remember.

everybody loved it, it was faster and just different.

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It's all good!

Any device with a HD in it is a HD player whether one calls it a desk top, laptop, CAVs or anything else.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

well i had a madboy karaoke player that would allow you to plug in a usb hard drive, as long as it was formatted in FAT32, which kinda defeats the purpose because of the limited storeage that format can handle.

If i was hosting right now, even tho I mainly use a computer, I would still buy a RSQ K2 system, it can support 2 1 T drives.

-James

The last karaoke player I bought as a back up system was the RSQ-NEO-22. It also has a USB port you can play off flash drives, it can play music videos as well as karaoke tracks I think it has a 1 T capacity as well.

My rack mount PC has 4tb or total storage, however, I have the operating system on drive 0 mirrored to drive 1 and all the karaoke music on drive 2 mirrored to drive 3. It is also a dual power supply system so I have no single point of failure except the Motherboard in the PC.

I never use external drives for an active show because they 1) grow feet and walk away, 2) too easy to drop and destroy.

I am slowly replacing all laptop drives with solid state drives to further reduce the chance of a physical hard drive crash.

-Chris

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-Chris

Technically you are correct tim, it does seem though most hosts consider just the stand alone HD player jukebox as a different type of animal compared to the more complex true PC system.

Computer systems are not more complex. No remote to learn. Simpler drag and drop or even touch screen operation. Easier to search for songs by artist or title.

They only become more complex if you decide to use more advanced features. This allows them to be used out of the box very easily and to tech yourself the more advanced features over time.

The JB-199 series CAVS units are Windows XP PC's with CAVS produced software running the integrated hardware. No different than a Windows XP PC running CompuHost and controlling the integrated hardware.

The difference is that PC based systems overall cost less, have more flexibility, can be more easily upgraded, and as I have mentioned, can be made far more secure.

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-Chris

You are the one who keeps changing the definition. We have said all along that your magic box is a computer. Under the hood it's a PC, but it has been crippled so it can only do one thing and never be re-purposed or used for anything else. A total waste of money IMHO. My $200 eBay laptop does all your magic box does, and an infinite amount more.

If you only need it to do a few things I think the less complicated the better. Since I was mostly a mobile KJ I looked for equipment that met certain specifications to being moved continually. Mainly Durability, Reliability, Simplicity, and of course Mobility if all this was achieved that is all I really needed, not all the other bells and whistles. I keep changing the definition since it seems some have come to the conclusion that it is more PC than disc based in nature. I see more as a compromise between the two and not really one or the other.

This is a dumb question.

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Have to consider the source!

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The hosts I know who are using CAVS machines do so because they are intimidated by technology. They wanted the simplest solution they could find to avoid lugging around their discs and either the salesman at the karaoke store or one of their peers showed them how it was as simple as operating their VCR (the one with black tape over the flashing 12:00).

They bought their machines and took six months to load their discs and learn to use the system before taking it to a live show.
These same hosts refuse to tap into the venue's tv system for an audience screen because they don't know how and are afraid to learn (they are all in their late fifties and sixties).

Had someone told them it was a computer prior to their purchase they would have never considered buying one because in their minds computers are too scary, complicated, and impossible for them to learn how to operate.

I'm not painting all CAVS users with this broad brush, only the few I know personally.

P.S. They also use disposable film cameras to take photos at their shows and take them to Walgreens for developing and double prints because digital cameras are too hard to operate.

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KNOW THYSELF

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

I seen this post coming a mile away.....

As to the question of reliability it has been admitted by PC hosts that their bells and whistle systems have crashed some as much as 5 times in one year. The HD players I have used for nine years never failed once, I think that says something about the reliability of the product as opposed to the full PC.

That is the reason to use the HD player system is it's simplicity. The hard lifting is in the front with the loading process, after that is accomplished it's really down hill. To me using the computer was not scary, but I had to ask myself what do I really need to run a show? Do I need all of the bells and whistles? The answer was no. I did not shut down my business for six months while I loaded the machine I continued to meet my commitments, and loaded the machine in my spare time. To me the quality of the music is superior to any PC system and I have been told by patrons they disliked most PC hosts. The reasons given is the music sounded inferior to them, and the attitude of most PC hosts when they asked them to play their discs. Despite Chris's boast that he can teach an operator to use Karma in 60 seconds, I think it would take longer than that to master. All you have to be able to do with the preloaded machine is be able to punch the right number.

P.S. I dislike cameras and am really not much for having my picture even taken. That is just my thing though. Two weapons were used in the Vietnam war principally the M-16 v.s. the AK-47 assault rifle. Both were fine weapons but the M-16 really wasn't suited to jungle conditions, it had to be kept very clean and had a tendency to jam. That is why most troops had some tool hanging around their necks to extract jammed expended shell casings. The AK-47 could dragged through a field and still work. The design of the AK-47 was simple, deadly and reliable.

You are definitely talking preference here, not sheer simplicity. If you just want to load and play songs, like your player, that functionality in a program like CompuHost can definitely be taught in about 60 seconds. In fact, my 9 year old nephew figured out how to do it on his own in about 10 minutes at an impromptu karaoke night we had at my brother's house.

It is very much as simple as your player, you just prefer your player, and that's fine.

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C Mc
KJ, FL