Karaoke Forums

Knight,
If your videos play in media player, they will play in hoster.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

I kind of answered, but it because of the sound quality.  I really like the search feature & I won't have to renumber my books (which I will keep my current numbering system for back up purposes with discs).  
I tried Sax & Dolly - didn't like it at all.
Winamp w/karaoke plugin - just a player, no other real features to speak of, I also did the Pacemaker plugin, but still didn't care for the quality
Compuhost, this one was actually pretty nice & it was a tossup, but it uses mp3g as well & I really don't like the sound quality of the mp3 ripped at the same rate as the kma file of Hoster.  Again, I know it's not THAT noticeable, but if I can notice, someone else may & it matters to me.

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[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

Same here.  I went with MTU because as was said I could keep my current disc ID number.  The kma files are probably smaller than mp3 in size but yet has a better sound. (IMO)  And I agree the search feature is fantastic.

I was already using MTU products before Hoster came out so I was very much accustom to there forum and their help.

Kelly

Would all of that stuff fit in a shorter box?     That box is 2 feet long.   They make shorter ones.    That makes for a really big (deep) create.    Just wondering if you can go shorter.

Many thanks to all for the information. I now have a better idea of where to search for all the "minute info" I will need. Thanks ever so much for the input on the hosting program. The only reason I was leaning toward Sax and Dotty's is that the bar I host at on Fri. and Sat. nights has their own system and they are using Sax and Dotty. I'm not real happy with it, but that's what they had when I took over. Right now I have to drag my player and disks down there every week and I was thinking that if I used the same program they are using, I could just take my external back-up hard drive and plug into their computer when I host there.
That brings up a new question-----if I build my set up to use MTU's Hoster and consquently use the format needed for Hoster to rip my cd's, will those ripped files play using the Sax and Dotty program?

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Keep on Keeping On! It's never too late and you're never too old!!!!!

In so far as I know MTU's KMA is a propriatary format to Hoster.  But before you go spending money why don't you try the other winamp front-ends.  AutOKdj (freeware)
Sack-O-Nuts (beg-ware), and RoxBox (far less spendy than MTU).  All of these should replace S&Ds without a hiccup.

What is it about the search feature in MTU that makes it so easy?  You put in the song number, the song comes up, doesn't everbody's software do that?  I don't use MTU so if they have a better idea I would like to know what it is.

It has a search and add feature for tracks. say a customer comes up and asks you for crazy. Type it in and it lists all of the tracks that have crazy in the title. If you want to pick an elvis song, type in elvis and it displays all of the elvis songs. You click on the one you want, type in the singers name, and it adds it to the bottom of the playlist. You can then drag and drop it in the playlist wherever you want it to be played.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

I will say that the search feature is what finally sold me on Hoster.

I have used winamp and then a windows explorer... it works, but Hoster is so much easier, and much easier on the resources.

I don't need the song book making part of it, and a few others, so for me, the LITE version is the way I'll probably go when I make my purchase.

Don't discount PCDJ/KJ as a viable option for going digital.

especially if you do any type of regular dj'ing and or filler type dance music
has all the bells and whistles of any program out there - Has its pluses and minuses just like them all.  I've used it for over a year and no problems .

You can use other files in Hoster, but you can't use Hoster files in other programs.  Which is not a big deal if the show computer is all you use your files for & on that program - not a problem for me, I prefer Hoster as well & don't need or have any desire to have to play them elsewhere.  My music files stay in the computer they are to be used on.  I do not need to move them around from computer to computer.  

I was sold on Hoster as well for the sound quality over mp3's.  I won't play customer discs through the computer, will always have my discs & players on premises for back up purposes as well.

As far as the search, it's great too.  If you take the time to go through each song & catagorize it ie genre, year/decade, duet, etc....you can set parameters in the search for specific items.  Say you want all 80's songs, you click 80's & search, all the 80's songs come up.  You want just oldies, click & oldies pop up.  You want it by the actual disc number - someone brings up a slip with the number but can't remember which song, you type i the disc number, click search disc number & the song will come up.  Want a specific artist, type it in and search.  Can't remember the entire name, type in what you remember & all with the part you remember comes up.
I have mine set up where it will search for title, artist & disc number, so all I need to do is type whatever I am looking for & it will come up.  Or you can list the entire list by putting in an *.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Okay, that's pretty much the way all the programs do their searches.  I'm interested in what really drew you guys to MTU?  Compuhost and MTU have the biggest share of the karaoke software market and they are also among the most expensive.  Feature for feature and clock cycle for clock cycle most of the other hosting software leaves them in the dust.  So, what's the deal here?  Better advertising?  More curb appeal?

My final decision was overall sound quality.  I prefer the sound of the kma over the mp3 to me it's much cleaner & fuller.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

When  I got started in Karaoke, Mtu was the only company that made a computer program. I paid $450.00 for it, and have never regretted it. To me it was worth every penny I paid for it. Now that it is down to less than $200.00 I cant see what people keep insisting it is one of the most expensive programs.

one of My big Attractions to mtu is customer service. If you have a problem they fix it. If you want a feature, and it is worth the Investment in programming, and enough customer want it, then they add it. Also Mtu has been around in the digital sound software since 1989. I don't think they are the kind to write something, then quit supporting it in a few months.

all in all they are just good people.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Glad you boys are sharing your experiences here.  Here are my 2 cents with respect to the hosting software:
Years ago, I downloaded a trial version of MTU and really liked its ease of use, but I didn't like the price and its proprietary format.  I just don't like being locked into a format that is not widely supported.
I have also tried the other software such as PCDJ/KJ, Swift Elite, MP3 Karaoke, and Sax-n-Dotty, but I finally settled with Roxbox.  I found Roxbox to be easier to use that the other software, yet uses the MP3G format.  Here are the features of Roxbox:

Singers Queue list on singers screen between songs.
Dual karaoke Players
Fade
karaoke File Formats MP3+G, WAV+G, MPG, zipped or not
Drag n Drop from Windows to Queue
Drag n Drop to manage karaoke singers Queue
Auto Play
Random Play
Auto Remove
Two karaoke CDG screens
Fast Database import
Edit import list before transfer
Karaoke Singer History
Save and Load of Queues or Playlist
Change the www.RoxBox.net message on the Singers Queue
Save and restore of CDG screens to the monitors you set
Find like song
karaoke Compellations
Basic Karaoke Song Book
Export of karaoke songs to text file
Fast free form song search and SAYT – Search As You Type
Track List with sizable columns, column order and sort by column
Queue List with sizable columns and column order
Double click on import list to edit that entry
Added Comp to right click menu on queue 1 for making compellations. (prints basic cd label, extracts and converts to BIN files ready to burn with cdrwin).
You can auto fade to player 1 only, auto fade back and forth from player 1 to player 2 to player 1, and you can auto fade to player 2 only.
Random play when in auto play mode. this allows you to set player 2 as auto play with your background music and when the karaoke song in player 1 is done, it will auto fade to player 2 with a random song from the play list, It will stay in player 2 until you play a karaoke song from player 1

The advantage of staying with the MP3G format is that I can switch to another software if a better one becomes available in the future.  I have no problem with the sound quality of the MP3G format, so that is not an issue for me.

JMO.

JDrifter:
  Most of those are pretty standard features except for the dual plalyers.  So far as I know Roxbox is the only one to double instance Winamp to get the two player effect. (If RoxBox is still using Winamp).  Would you say price was an over-all concern when selecting your software?  Or was it just the dual players?

Hello exweedfarmer... Love your handle...

Price, stability, and dual player capability are the features that made me choose Roxbox over the other software.  The dual player capability allows me to run karaoke on player 1 and filler music on player 2.

Ya don't need Roxbox to do that, or any other "hosting" program.  Just enable "allow multiple instances" in the winamp prefrences, open up a 2nd instance of winamp, and que some songs in.

I have  been using a minimised Windows media player for playing filler music forever.  with the controls on the taskbar, it takes up no space.  and best of all the price is right........ Free

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Winamp with the plugin can do most of the hosting feature for FREE

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

Roxbox offers more than just running two instances of winamp.  When player 1 is done with karaoke, player 2 automatically plays filler music.  You will have to do it manually with winamp alone.  Also, Roxbox has a very powerful search engine, which you can't do with winamp.

You guys did bring up a good point.  You don't have to buy a hoster if you use winamp, provided you know how to configure the plugins and can live with the limitations of that setup.  It might be a good idea if we can put together a list of plugins that will enhance winamp to at least mimic the functionalities of a good hoster.

Cheers.