Karaoke Forums

You guys have been great!

Maybe it was a sign...  I was trying to stay true to CD quality sound whtn I order my 1st Numark CDN 25+G.  I already had a vocopro DVD player and wanted to use the Numark for my main players.  I went numark because I have had great luck with my CDN30 DJ CD player, it has been rock solid.  Unfortunately only the left drive worked consisently on the unit and the video was all garbled, so I sent it back.  The second unit came and it was inconsistent/Bad...  I used all orginal CB and SC discs and I had the same problem again.  These were all ordered from and returned to MF.  I am really dissapointed, but I guess Numark is new to this market.

So...  I tried Hoster, Compuhost and Rox box.  I really like compuhost and plan to go that way unless someone has had problems with it, but I really like the interface.  Any feedback?

My question...  I am buying a new sound blaster PCMIA card for my HP laptop.  What about video?  Right now I use a 19inch monitor but I want to produce an RCA video signal and then split that into multiple TVs/Monitors.  

Anybody have any reccomendations on a usb or pcmia vidoe card or converter? how about a splitter?
Thanks!
Bob

I would suggest buying a pro audio sound card over a soundblaster. You wikll thank me later.

For only $100 you can get a M-Audio Card.

As far as video if your computer has PCI-e I would suggest a PCI express card. If not Most cards are still made in AGP 8x. I will use nVidia vs ATI they are a bit more expensive but you get what you play for, I suggest a 256MB 6600GT you can find one for around $170.

BIG BOB - Unless I'm mistaken you should be able to take your s-video out of your lap top and convert to a RCA by using a $25 converter type plug from Radio Shack.

I have these...


S-Video to RCA adapter

$9.99 each.  Email me if you're interested. Radio Shack's adaptor is more bulky, and costs tons more.

Never had one of these fail in two years of running shows with them.

What do you currently have on your laptop? If you have a S-Video output then it's easy, just look at KnightShow's answer above. Otherwise you'll need to go another route, e.g. VGA to RCA, but that gives you the 3RGB colors. You can get a USB video port but remember, USB bandwidth is very processor dependent and excessive drops in bandwidth result in lost frames of video. (USB 2.0 works better than USB1.1 but it still has some of the same inherent problems). This is why USB encoding bit rate is limited to 6mb/sec (typical DVD bit rate) while many PCI hardware encoders can support up to 15mb/sec.

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Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.

Just for the record, my Numark CD25+G just passed a year in service two nights a week and is still in pristine condition and working like it did out of the box. Dunno if I just got lucky or you just got unlucky!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I've demoed pretty much every piece of hosting software out there.  I think Compuhost is the best interface i've seen. I'd really like some other opinions of other people out there who use it.
I have a soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum in my machine.  I wasn't overly impressed with the sound quality of Compuhost.  Opinions???

Thanks!!!   I really appreciate all the good tangible feedback in this forum!

I checked out my laptop (actually my wifes that I am taking over).  I do have an s-video out.  I plan on picking up one of those s-video to rca adapters.  

I looked at the M-Audio website but did not see any on their site for laptops.  Any suggestions other than the Audigy 2 ZS Notebook?

Thanks again everbody!
Bob

It seems like your cheapest M-Audio solution for a laptop would be the M-Audio Transit.

Small enough to fit in your pocket, Transit brings hi-resolution 24-bit/96kHz recording and playback to any USB-compatible computer. Digital I/O lets you transfer pristine audio between your computer and other devices such as MiniDisc and DAT. The digital output can deliver AC-3 and DTS from your computer to an external decoder such as a surround receiver. And the bus-powered design allows you play and record virtually anywhere your laptop can go. Transit is your ticket to ride.

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Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.

I use RoxBox and the biggest difference I notice between Compuhost is the abitlity to access your dj songs in the same way you access your karaoke. Compuhost does not do this but RoxBox Does.  If you're just starting out with karaoke then Price in my opinion might make a factor on purchase of software.  I say save the $120 you would have spent on compuhost and spend it on music. Also Compuhost does not offer a recording program that starts and stops automatically with each song.
ALso consider that you need to purchase theri songbook program seprately to import and name youtr songs so that is an addittional $50 you need to spend.  RoxBox's prgram has everything included.

I LOVE MY NUMARK!!!  It makes me smile everyday.  I'll be staying in CD Land for as long as I can!

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---wallyd