Karaoke Forums

Hi to all,
I am pretty new to karaoke and I want to put together a better selection of k disks. I am thinking of a long term investment like putting together full collections of certain labels. I just do not want to spend lots of money then someone comes along and says you should have chosen this or that, then have to start again. Now to help me and probably others who have thought about doing the same thing, I would like to find the pro’s and con’s of collecting either DVD K disks or CG+G K disks.

Example:
What is the best format to choose from the two and so on?

My wallet is in your hands……..well not in IN your hands.

Thanks in advance

h….

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Fishing and a little song now and then. What a combination aye! ....Keeps me happy!!!

CDG, better selection as of right now. Faster cue times. More companies that produce them. Karaoke standard right now - although the computer karaoke may take over in the next year or so.

DVD, less selection - although this may grow over time. Some provide the video behind the words like the old Pioneer lasers. A handful of companies produce discs. Geared more for the home enthiast.

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

I have a few Karaoke DVD's. They are multiplexed (vocals on the right channel) and have extremely long que times. For the home user it won't make any difference which way you go most of the time as long as you are getting good quality tracks because que time isn't so much an issue when you're chatting with friends and playing around.

If you're doing a show you want stuff to que quickly so you can keep an eye on other things. The DVD's I have just don't work well for a show. I have to que them on a seperate monitor to insure they're ready for the next person and you also have to check that you set the multiplex correctly before you start a show (not all DVD players are set up for karaoke allowing you to drop the right channel either).

The DVD's I have were pretty inexpensive (about $20-$25 for 50 tracks or so) and the music/lyric quality is pretty good. The campy videos in the background are funny more than anything else. BTW, the 2 DVD's I have apparently came from overseas - the videos are shot in England and throughout Europe.

I agree that the selection is MUCH better on CD+G's right now.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Lonman,



Computer Karaoke, Will this happen by downloading K tracks and storing them on your hard drive? If not, I thought it was illegal to copy the disks how will this work?

Sorry m8 but like I said I am quite new to Karaoke, but really want to take it a step further.

Thanks

h....

_________________
Fishing and a little song now and then. What a combination aye! ....Keeps me happy!!!

Thanks for the reply Karaokemeister,

Do you think that cd+g will be replaced by DVD in near years to come?
Looking around a few of the main label k Disk sites i see that there are quite a few DVD's showing up.

h....

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Fishing and a little song now and then. What a combination aye! ....Keeps me happy!!!

Right now it technically is still illegal to transfer to hard drive. I said computer karaoke "MAY" take over, provided the legalities can be worked out. More & more people are doing it anyway, so either it will become legal with stipulations, or the so called "karaoke police" will shut everyone that has them down. With many discs being discontinued, I myself am making backups of the out print discs as well.

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

I've heard a few tales around various websites that KJ's can have there equitment confiscated due to not having the original K disks with them. So if it is illigal to transfer the disks to pc hard drive this would be an expensive situation if you did move over to Computer KJ and got caught.

I think i'll stick to my disks for now till it all gets sorted m8.

h....

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Fishing and a little song now and then. What a combination aye! ....Keeps me happy!!!

If you think about it there is a large number of shows still using laserdiscs that are 10, 15, and 20 years old. CD+G's will be available for a long time still.

I'm of the opinion that the moving to DVD's is a marketing ploy to appeal to the home user more so than the professional KJ/club. Anyone can play back a DVD on their home system. By adding in a small mic mixer (they offer them for well under $100 and sometimes free with purchase of x# of discs) you can do karaoke at home. Not everyone has a player than can handle the CD+G subcoding properly but almost everyone has a DVD player.

I'd expect the majority of the labels to keep producing CD+G's for a long time still.



While USC Title 17 (Copyright Laws) deal specifically with 'fair use' it only applies to personal use. While the issue hasn't been pushed in court yet (that I'm aware of) it will likely permit the professional KJ/DJ to use personally owned discs to be copied to a hard drive in a more convenient format.

I've heard rumors of equipment being confiscated but never a first hand account of when equipment was taken by a law enforcement official. I've heard of people being 'required' to show their discs to someone flashing a badge and claiming to be an officer and having 'copies (CD-R's) taken. I suspect that these were not officers but just someone out to harass the KJ and build their own collection. Taking 'proof' of a 'crime' and no charges? Sounds fishy to me....

To make this clear - unless I'm shown a court ordered search warrant for my equipment specifically, I'm not giving anyone access to my discs/equipment. If they confiscate something they think is illegal they better give me a receipt for it on the official form. No warrant, or no badge w/ID, or no reciept - no take. Period. Seeing a copy of a disc or me running a show from a computer isn't sufficient cause to initiate a search. Of course, I'm not a lawyer - get advice for your own state from proper legal counsel before responding.

BTW, I still use discs and will until I'm closer to the 500-600 disc mark. At that point moving the discs to each show becomes too much of a hassle and going to a computer based show will be in order.

Karaokemiester thanks again for your response,



I think i will stick with the CD+G 's. it sound as it will benifit me more if I decide to start a road show in the future.



m8 if I had thousands of pounds worth of equitment belive me I wouldn't let it go without a good fight first. I would defenetly have to have proof of their proffesion before the handover went smothly.
But like you say m8 it is so easy for someone to produce false id and get away with taking someones living. Don't it make you angry though. Some people lay out loads of money to earn an honest living and take a few precautions to protect their investment and someone can just come along and take the lot. Frightning m8.

Back to the subject:
I think these answers have convinced me to stay with and add to my CD+G collection.
Thanks again to both of you for your time.

h....

_________________
Fishing and a little song now and then. What a combination aye! ....Keeps me happy!!!

I have my originals stored savely and securely at home! I will NOT risk them being damaged. I've seen too many hosts that have beat up discs, etc and their shows likewise SUCK.

If some "police" come and tell me that I'm shut down, they better have a court order. Then I can show them I legally own my backup collection, and the "masters" aren't in use!