Do I need some special external video card or something a long those lines?
If you could give me a run down of what I need that would be great.
Full Version: Karaoke on a laptop
|
|
|
Could someone tell me what pc hardware is needed to run karaoke off a laptop.
Do I need some special external video card or something a long those lines?
If you could give me a run down of what I need that would be great.
Do I need some special external video card or something a long those lines?
If you could give me a run down of what I need that would be great.
It can be done, you would need an external soundcard for a start, plus software, one of the techie guys will be along with more info soon.
I have done it for a week long theatre show using a laptop with "vanBasco's Karaoke Player". The problem was that we had to create our own midi files and add the words. In our case, we used the laptop to play the keyboard via midi, but the program also will use the internal soundcard.
There was no special hardware though, just a usb midi interface to connect to the keyboard and a projector.
I asked questions on the forum when we were doing it, so you could try a search on the forum, remembering to change the date option as it was quite a while ago.
There was no special hardware though, just a usb midi interface to connect to the keyboard and a projector.
I asked questions on the forum when we were doing it, so you could try a search on the forum, remembering to change the date option as it was quite a while ago.
I don't want to know what software- just the hardware which i would need.
Sorry.
You'll need a laptop with dual display monitors.
Most new ones come with this facility installed, but you still have to configure it.
You could use something like winamp, with a CD+G plug in which will enable the graphics to be on screen. You can then drag the screen onto another TV or monitor.
Winamp is pretty good for this.
You will also need a CD+G ripper, which basically creates 2 files, an Mp3 file and a graphics file. When you click on the Mp3 file, using the CD+G plug-in, it recognises the file and plays the graphic on screen.
I know PCDJ do the software, but you have to buy FX and then the karaoke plug-in, which does work out quite expensive.
The advantage is that with FX, you get a CD+G ripper built in, so you just rip your CD+G discs as you would a normal CD and it creates 2 files (Music and graphic)
Most new ones come with this facility installed, but you still have to configure it.
You could use something like winamp, with a CD+G plug in which will enable the graphics to be on screen. You can then drag the screen onto another TV or monitor.
Winamp is pretty good for this.
You will also need a CD+G ripper, which basically creates 2 files, an Mp3 file and a graphics file. When you click on the Mp3 file, using the CD+G plug-in, it recognises the file and plays the graphic on screen.
I know PCDJ do the software, but you have to buy FX and then the karaoke plug-in, which does work out quite expensive.
The advantage is that with FX, you get a CD+G ripper built in, so you just rip your CD+G discs as you would a normal CD and it creates 2 files (Music and graphic)
can you buy an external dual monitor thing?
It's not a physical thing.
I'm not sure if all PC's have got the facility.
My laptop has, but my desktop doesn't. This could be because more people would use a laptop with Powerpoint etc so would need this facility.
The other difference between my desktop and laptop is desktop is XP home and laptop is Pro.
Anyway, go to display properties and then settings. If you computer has the facility, there will be a drop down box which you configure so that you can use 2 monitors.
If it's not there, then you haven't got the facility.
Rather than me point you to different sites, have a google and read up on it because to be honest I'm not sure if this is something you can add on from your O/S disc.
Try the Microsoft web-site and see if there's any info there.
Sorry, digital, I was wrong earlier - you can get a plug-in.
Have a read here. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/s...ltimonitor.mspx
I'm not sure if all PC's have got the facility.
My laptop has, but my desktop doesn't. This could be because more people would use a laptop with Powerpoint etc so would need this facility.
The other difference between my desktop and laptop is desktop is XP home and laptop is Pro.
Anyway, go to display properties and then settings. If you computer has the facility, there will be a drop down box which you configure so that you can use 2 monitors.
If it's not there, then you haven't got the facility.
Rather than me point you to different sites, have a google and read up on it because to be honest I'm not sure if this is something you can add on from your O/S disc.
Try the Microsoft web-site and see if there's any info there.
Sorry, digital, I was wrong earlier - you can get a plug-in.
Have a read here. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/s...ltimonitor.mspx
Also remember that you will also need more than 1 Mic channel and 3 is usual (1 DJ - 2x singers) and also DSP or a good quality Echo on your Mixer / PA amp. Singing without any form of Echo sounds crap, even with good singers so don't overlook this.
I would imagine that if you were using it with standard 14" / 21" TV's then you would also need a video card or Laptop with a standard composite video output facility, otherwise you would have to use a standard computer monitor.
Personally since the cost of single and Dual CD+G players is falling I would consider the more conventional approach first. I can see the advantage of using a laptop if you had several thousand tracks and were doing a Karaoke every night, but I would think that it was a bit overkill if you were just starting out. After all you still have to buy the disc's and burn them to CD+G and Audio files. Also the burn procedure looks far more complicated than converting Audio CD's and seems to take up far more Hard Drive space?.
I would imagine that if you were using it with standard 14" / 21" TV's then you would also need a video card or Laptop with a standard composite video output facility, otherwise you would have to use a standard computer monitor.
Personally since the cost of single and Dual CD+G players is falling I would consider the more conventional approach first. I can see the advantage of using a laptop if you had several thousand tracks and were doing a Karaoke every night, but I would think that it was a bit overkill if you were just starting out. After all you still have to buy the disc's and burn them to CD+G and Audio files. Also the burn procedure looks far more complicated than converting Audio CD's and seems to take up far more Hard Drive space?.
| QUOTE |
| I would imagine that if you were using it with standard 14" / 21" TV's then you would also need a video card or Laptop with a standard composite video output facility, otherwise you would have to use a standard computer monitor. |
Not necessarily true Chris, all you need is a converter.
The one I use goes into USB and monitor and the other end has S-video and composite video. You can then use a doubler to use two monitors.
If you want to have a look around the net, mine is an Aver Media keylite and cost about £40, but I think you can get cheaper versions.
A lot of mid-price laptops also come with s-video which could be used.
I think Chris is right though. If you're just starting karaoke, I would buy discs and a player to start with as there a lot of good deals/bundles around at the moment.
A basic CD+G player can be had for little over £100, and most will have basic functions to include echo, mic input and key change.
I was doing a lot of karaoke, and have about 5000 tracks, so for me it's much easier to search for a track, when you get the average drunken punter asking you for a song that you're not sure you've got and it's also physically quicker to load songs and get singers on.
However, you will need the original discs to rip in the first place and as discussed in other threads it's best to have a back-up, so the player and discs come with me as well.
The burn process is no more complicated than burning a music CD, as long as you get the right software, and 1 CD+G file takes between 5 and 7Mb, so not a lot different to a normal Mp3 ripped at 192Kbps.
I'm not probably going to go ahead with this but what do I essentially need?
Dual monitor screen and a video out and a ripper?
Dual monitor screen and a video out and a ripper?
Digital,
Did you read my previous posts and look at the link to the Microsoft website?
You will need the facility on your computer to use dual monitors.
Check my other post on how to find this out.
As I said you can get a converter for video out, and yes you will need software to rip the CD+G discs.
Did you read my previous posts and look at the link to the Microsoft website?
You will need the facility on your computer to use dual monitors.
Check my other post on how to find this out.
As I said you can get a converter for video out, and yes you will need software to rip the CD+G discs.
| QUOTE |
| It's not a physical thing. |
Sorry but it is absolutley a physical thing.
It depends whether your graphics card has an extra video output either as a video/s-video or a extra VGA output which you'd need to convert. If the graphics card has this feature then this will be installed with the drivers, hence why the option to use two monitors shows up in control panel.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.