Karaoke Forums

Hi
My self and a friend are now starting up doing karaoke via pc etc etc.
What is the most popular software for playing the karaoke on the pc.
So i can have two screens going.like use one to set up next track etc and the other to sing from.
The best one i have found so far is compuhost but is more than i wanted to pay but does seem to be the best by far.

Please please help if you can.
Many thanks for the advice.
Ricksey

Programs are VERY subjective to what you need.  I like MTU Video Hoster personally.  Compuhost was my second choice as it could also rip & run wav+g (bigger file but equals the original disc in sound quality).  There are Sax & Dottys, Powerkaraoke, among others that I am not remembering right now & even the WinAmp with karaoke plugin's for free.
Make sure you own the orginal discs if you plan to run computer, don't try to find free sites or get a drive off of ebay, don't 'borrow' or trade with others or rip discs your customers bring you (even if it's for convenience factor) - this is completely illegal.  
Try to rip your music at a higher bit rate - these do mean bigger files, but with the cheap prices of hard drives now days, you can get a pretty big one for relatively cheap.  Just saw a 750 GB Seagate at CompUSA (they are going out of business) for less than $200.
For the 2 screens, you need a video card that's capable of the extended desktop.  Look at yours, if it has more than one output connecton (VGA, S-video, DVI-X), you may already have a card that is capable.
The more hot rodded your computer, is always a bonus - not always necessary, but never hurts.  More RAM, faster processor, on board video RAM, etc...You don't want to use it for anything other than your player (if you are going to plays shows with it) & don't hook it up to the internet - unless one of your programs require it for registration, then only for that time & disconnect.

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good points Lonnie!

Remember too guys that it's in what exactly you want the program to DO. Also, what kind of computer you're going to use (with laptops, you'll have to have an external hard drive...), video card, etc.

If you want all the bells and whistles of a "hoster" type of program that monitors the singers, keeps stastics, remembers their songs, etc, then the MTU or other types of "show" programs work very well.

I personally love winamp and it's plugins as I prefer to do the show myself... the computer is JUST the player of the tunes. I keep it pretty simple. I WILL admit I use a much older version of winamp for my uses... but I know plenty of folks that use the newer 5.x version and love it.

When I got to using videos on the PC, because I wanted a simple player WITHOUT rotational software, I loved CLUBDJ Pro2... absolutely one of the simplest and easiest pieces of software anyone ever showed me! It's not easy to find on the net (at least it wasn't for me), but I do listen when other people recommend stuff for me to check out.


Do a search in the tech forum and the archives for things like this (I WILL admit the search engine here is a bit weak, so you might have to do some reading on it!). A real good thread is http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9565 Tig talks about CLUBDJ Pro2 on this one.

A good one for the ripping process, and some discussion about various programs is http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9575 as well as http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=6131

Another good link is http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=9358 (knowing what kind of drives are capable of doing the ripping)... remember that you need to be able to read the subcode of karaoke files. A simple ripper/burner may not work.

Powerkaraoke purports to being able to use most burners on the ability to read and rip the karaoke. I know I fully believe in Plextors, but some of their newer models will not work correctly. They may rip, but never burn (to make backup discs, compilation copies, etc.)... this was all due to pressure from the karaoke manus.

As Lonnie pointed out, there's also the problem of illegal behavior.

Some karaoke manus will say that you don't have the right to convert their discs to computer. This is a fairly hot topic right about now, and it's not been tried in court! Bottom line, make certain you at least own the discs. A CAVS machine preloaded is illegal, as are the hard drives that are sold on auction sites!! But even if you DO own all the discs, you might eventually come under fire for using a computer for karaoke... just giving you fair warning!

Best of luck to you! If you have other questions, many folks on here are quite knowledgeable!


Matt

Here is another source of lots of good information for someone starting out in PC based karaoke:  http://www.karaokeplayground.co.uk/

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.