Karaoke Forums

Hi folks!

I'm making the move from discs to software based Karaoke. My current laptop doesn't have dual display capability (I know what I'm missing), so I will have to work with a single display. I'm trying to find out if any of you have succesfully done shows with a single display setup. Your thoughts, your feedback.

Don't get me wrong, because I know that double display is better... but for now, I must work with what I have. I figure that it will be very similar to running a show with a single disk player, with the advantage of being able to place more than one song/performer in queue.

Again, as always, your feedback will be appreciated!

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Frank
Pelican in Flight KJ/DJ
Miami, Florida

This is just a thought ...I dont think Mine has dual either but last week I hooked up a monitor to the monitor port on the laptop and I had both displays going at the same time. do you have a monitor connection on the back?.

there's a product a buddy of mine uses that ZOOMS IN on a specific part of your screen for the port to the other monitor.

The thing that would be good for a single-monitor video portion that you're shipping off to a monitor...

STILL use an A/B switch... start with it on the A for computer, and B for off. Begin with the customers seeing "B". If you run your show with WINAMP as your player, once you start the song up, you can right click on the cdg window, and "MAX" the screen to fill up the whole thing. Then flip the a/b swith to show the screen content (in this case, "A").

Once the song is over (or there are no longer lyrics for customers to see), flip the A/B switch back to where the customers don't have to see what you're doing next. Right-click on the cdg window and go back to the 1X size!

Thanks for the feedback guys! My laptop has both, an external monitor plug and an S Video plug, which means that I can play the video on TV or a monitor. I just don't think that I can split the display.

It would be interesting to find out more info about that Zoom... Is that a software or a hardware?

Also... I like the idea to use the video switch to "turn off" the video if necessary...

Thanks,

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Frank
Pelican in Flight KJ/DJ
Miami, Florida

you can split the display... depends on what you mean by SPLITTING the display though.

If you want THREE separate and totally different screens, then you need a card that will do that. You can get a S-Video to RCA converter (or whatever you want to convert it to)... and once it's RCA, you can split THAT with a Y-splitter!

Think again!

Right click desktop, properties, settings.  If you see two monitors there you can split your screen or 'stretch' your desktop to both monitors.  All of the newer laptops support this that I'm aware of.

If you have an S-Video out on your laptop you can send seperate output to the S-Video while keeping another piece of software running on your desktop that isn't seen.  It's similar to using the S-Video output for sending a DVD movie to an external display.  I recently purchased a 4 port Video switch that accepts both S-Video and Composite video inputs on each of the 4 ports and allow you to switch between them.

You can also get VGA to composite/S-Video adapters at CompUSA for about $70 if you want to use the second monitor output for a show instead.

Man... pardon my ignorance... My Dell Inspiron 6000 has both... an external monitor output and an S-Video output. I thought that if I connected a TV to the S-Video... I would only see what I had in my laptop monitor... That I needed a special video card to be able to have two different screens?!?! Am I making any sense?

Then why does MTU say at their website that you HAVE to HAVE this or that Radeon video card in order to be able to have two separate displays, one for the KJ setup and one for the singers??? Is MTU hyping the requirements to run Hoster on a dual display? I'm confused!!!

Again... apologies if I'm being thick about this!

P.S.: I'm hooking my laptop tonight to the TV... I'm gonna find out... Thanks!

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Frank
Pelican in Flight KJ/DJ
Miami, Florida

if you have MORE than ONE output on the video card, it's dual capabilities.

I was addressing your option of splitting the rca out.

Do as meister recommends, and read their help files!

They're hyping.  Because of the variety of hardware available it's easier to say 'we approve only card XXX' instead of trying to support dozens of different cards and configurations.

Most laptops will support multiple monitors and nearly any dual head video card will work with most of the hosting problems out there.

Let us know how it goes and if you have any new questions.

A-HA! You guys are "THE BESHT" In my best Sean Connery!  :dancin:

I decided to get plugged in... Bought an S-Video cable at Radio Shack on the way home... Hooked it to my Radio Shack switchbox and the S-Video plug in the laptop, from there, I took a video RCA cable, plugged it to my TV and "Voila". At least I think so! I could see my desktop, without any icons or anything on the TV, while I was looking at something else on the laptop. I guess that means that I have dual displays? Now I need to rip a CDG with the trial version of Hoster and see how it works... I'm just waiting for a USB external case for my new Plextor (thanks Meister for the idea!).

I'm sure I'll have more questions... but for now... I'm happy camper!

Good gigs this weekend!

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Frank
Pelican in Flight KJ/DJ
Miami, Florida

okay, that's a single display mode.

see if there's a dual support. You'll actually see the two monitor settings sitting side by side... read the help sections... depending on which video card you're using, some are quite capable of EXPANDING the desktop, or going "clone" (which is what you're describing now), or going dual, or even triple monitors... with monitor one usually being the main one, with the start button and desktop icons!