Karaoke Forums

Just starting into the exciting world of Karaoke and want to buy a component player for home that will double as a DVD player. I don't, ideally, want to have to buy any other equipment, such as a mixer, and I will never be using this professionally.

I am looking at the CAVS 202G and the Acesonic AXG-500 (or whatever it's exact name is) and would LOVE to get your collective wisdom on whether these are good choices that will work well, sound good, and make me happy. I take it VocoPro is also a big player and would be happy to hear about their comparable units as well, if those are better choices.

Thanks in advance for your help.

check out the other forums... such as Technical Questions! The cavs player has been mentioned in there before!

If by what you mean is a player and sing along to it with no mic or whatever, look at a DVD player (I use an Electrohome) that will play CDGs. At home thats all I use. Put the disc in the player, turn on the tv and sing along. I also use my player in shows and my partner uses one as a backup to his Pioneer twin tray. About a hundred dollar player. About as simple as you can get.

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Thanks for the replies so far.

I have read the discussion on the CAVS player in the technical forum, but it was pretty inconclusive stuff. No real reviews. Anyone have first hand knowledge of the unit?

I didn't mean to imply I didn't want to use mics. That I certainly will do. I just meant I'm going to hook the player to my receiver, plug in the mics and go.

Looking forward to more thoughts.

there's more than that one discussion. Check the archives.

I've seen the cavs unit in action at a competitor's bar.

For home usage, it's probably fine, but you have to remember that if you damage one disc, you're out all the songs on that one disc.

I personally think that's the big downfall for cavs, that and only a handful of the manufacturers release songs in that format!

I found more discussions (i didn't realize just searching for "CAVS" would only really be talking about this player).

I'm still leaning toward the CAVS unit but one major concern my research has turned up is that everyone seems to hate NuTech as a disc provider. At this moment, my main reason to get CAVS is that the NuTech 1234-song Party Compilation Vol. 2 seems to have about every song I would want. However, if the quality of the music is going to be garbage, I have no incentive to choose the CAVS player at all. Am I likely to be disappointed with the NuTech disc, even if I love the song choices?

One other thing. Even though I know the SCDGs are few, that player will still play CDGs, CD+Gs and karaoke DVDs, right? So the sparseness of the SCDGs isn't a huge downside, although there isn't much else to recommend the CAVS player over another.

Knightshow, agree that the damaged SCDG discs would be a problem but from her talking it seems that she wants a DVD player that will play her existing CDG's.

For that purpose the CAVS 202G should work just fine. The 1/4" mic inputs and other limitations are acceptable for occasional home use.

As Knightshow suggests though, I'd steer clear of the SuperCDG's because of the potential loss of large numbers of songs if a disc is damaged or be extremely careful regarding the handling and care of those discs.

I can tell you to steer clear fo the Ritech line of players. Cheap, but the words are slow to appear on screen and it can throw the timing off. For occasional home use it's ok, but nerve racking if you're used to a better player. Fortunately I only paid $75 for a progressive scan DVD player w/ CDG (the Ritech) which wasn't bad... just not real pratical for professional use (which I was hoping to use it for).

the rsq505 is a good dvd player that plays cdgs, cdrs, etc.

I've had good luck with Hi View DVD players so far. They play CDG's just fine. I use one in my home and have placed several others in friends' homes as well. I have mine wired into my surround sound system. While using it at home I go micless, but you can plug mics into the front if you wanted to.

These guys go for less than $100 on Ebay all the time.

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Spreading the karaoke gospel

I bought one of the cheap (less than $100) "all region" DVD & Karaoke players you can find on e-bay for home, to try out new disks. That's about all I'd use it for, as a DVD player for home use I'd rate it fair at best, also for Karaoke I'd rate it fair at best. I have an API DVD player, also plays CD+G's etc. which is rack mountable that I use to play the few karaoke DVD's I have and have as a backup to my JVC. A DJ friend of mine bought a CAVS player to do a little karraoke at the local Moose Lodge. His only complaint is that it is very slow to change disks.

Tom--I've also got an API player, and feel it's an overpriced piece of crap. I was drawn to it becasue of it's rack mountability and its ability to play DVD's. For what I paid for it, I almost could have bought a RSQ triple for a little bit more.

This player has been fairly unreliable. It seems that after running for a couple hours it freezes up and refuses to play. I have to shut it off, let it sit for 5-10 minutes and then it works again. I keep it in the rack purely as a backup player. I'd hate to run a whole show with it though.

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Spreading the karaoke gospel