Karaoke Forums

I have a Vocopro PA-MAN and a few CD+G discs and was wondering if I would be able to use a laptop with this system. It has a USB port and when I ripped a CD+G and put it on a thumbdrive all I got was sound and no video. Would a Karaoke program on a laptop help with this or no? By the way the ripping program was a free trial. Thanks

Here's how you would connect your laptop:

First you would need this:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... 1&format=2

You would connect the red & white RCA connectors to the AUX inputs of the PA-Man and then the 3.5mm connector to the headphone jack of your laptop. That takes care of the sound part.

Now, assuming your laptop has an S connector, you would then connect a cable from your laptop to your TV. Depending what type of video inputs your tv has will determine which type of cable you will need. For example if your TV just has a composite video input you would need an S-video to RCA cable. You can get them here:
http://www.svideo.com/svideorca.html

That takes care of the video. Now, you need a hosting program on your laptop. I recomend CompuHost. It's expensive but worth every penny. You can get it here:
http://www.karaokeware.com/CompuHost.html

Now, you need software to rip your karaoke CD's. I reccomend CDG-Rip or Power CDG. I prefer CDG-Rip. Rip them as Zipped MP3+G files. Store them in a folder on your laptop. Your hosting program will find them and catalog them and you'll be all set to go.

And that's a starter for you. Hope it helps.

The simple answer is yes, you need software that is capable of playing MP3+G or WAV+G or whatever format you ripped it to, but getting it on a laptop may help. Media player or other players that you may have by default, do not do this. There is a free plugin for WinAmp (also free if you're not already familiar with it) that would let you put this theory to the test without cost. The plugin is called AutOKDJ, google it and you'll find the site. Just so happens that one of the creators and maintainers of the software is a member of our little forum here so you should have no trouble finding help.

A couple other thoughts for you on this. What software and CD/DVD drive did you use to rip the CDG's? You need ripping software capable of writing WAV+G or MP3+G format. This also means you need a CD or DVD drive that is capable of reading CDG discs (or more accurately will allow software to access the sub-channel data it reads from the CD). Many times if the software or the drive don't support CDG's all you'll get is the MP3 or WAV of the music without the associated graphics file (or the graphics file is empty). Tricerasoft's CDG Ripper is the software I've had the most success with. It has worked for me with drives that other software said would not support CDG (even though the drive manufacturer said it would).

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DJ Tony
Let It Rip Karaoke

Thanks for all the help. I will definately give it a try.