Karaoke Forums

Answering questions farther up the thread...

You are correct that the issue with screen clears is directly related to read quality issues in the compact disc + graphics format. If a disc develops a small issue that prevents data being read, that glitch will propagate throughout the song until the entire screen becomes unreadable unless and until a screen wipe command is issued from the track.

Our solution to this issue was to issue screen wipe commands following every screen of lyrics. This has the unfortunate effect of keeping us from providing a read-ahead for the singer, but keeps the disc usable over a much longer period of time and at varying degrees of wear beyond "pristine."

Our "just in time" manufacturing process requires that on occasion we replicate discs in a manner that causes some readers to see them as "burned" discs, and not all players recognize and play these discs well. As the issue so far has been sporadic and anecdotal, we have not found a reliable fix, though we are continuing to research one.

As always, we do offer a guarantee on our discs and ask that you return defective ones for replacement. Contact us or see our website for details.

Please note that the tracks we prepare for other media, including SD cards and USB thumb drives, does not experience this issue, nor do our digital downloads. Tracks prepared for these media are scrolled with the "look ahead" for the convenience of the singer.

We are testing SD card and USB drives with a major manufacturer right now - they are in the process of vetting the track prep for use in their players. We hope to bring them to market following their evaluation. The licensing negotiations we conduct constantly are done with using these alternate media delivery systems in mind - most publishers are happy to accommodate an alternate delivery system as long as they are aware of the situation ahead of the market and have made prior approval, along with an accurate accounting of the media manufacturing. They are otherwise treated just like discs as a physical medium.

But if the tracks are unsingable in the first place because they don't give the singer enough time to actually see what is coming (like the old swipe method), then there is no point in making the disc playable for a longer time - either the discs would be replaced by other brands that do have better swipes, or they would be pulled out of the books entirely. Honestly, i'd rather take the chance and treat my discs with id gloves (oh wait I already do ). I have CB discs stemming from 96-97 circa that got used for years that still play perfectly today.
Take it from a singer point of view & bring back the old swipe method PLEASE! Maing an unsingable disc playable longer, makes no sense.

and with this
It should even make it more so if someone's disc starts going bad due to lack of care, they can replace.

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I tried to sing "THIS AFTERNOON" by Nickelback the other night at karaoke and as soon as I saw the Chartbuster logo; I knew I was in trouble. Sure enough, I had to tell the KJ to just turn off the song within the first minute because the words just couldn't get on the screen quickly enough to be sung. What a great karaoke experience!! NOT!!! I waited over an hour to sing a song and the swipes were so bad that the song couldn't be sung unless the singer had the lyrics memorized completely.
I guess I have to hope that Pop Hits Monthly makes the song sometime in the future........or maybe someone will produce an MP3 "karaoke version" of the song and then I can buy it for a buck from i-tunes and create a new CDG file for myself to be able to sing the song. I'm certainly not going to buy the track from ChartBuster since they seem to be purposefully, knowingly creating tracks that can't be sung properly. ChartBuster is right up there with Sound Choice these days as far as creating USABLE tracks are concerned, IMHO. I guess if you just want to sing slow sappy ballads, they'll be okay?? Who Knows? I won't be buying any new Chartbuster discs until they start using their old method of swiping lyrics. Seems odd to me how so many other karaoke companies seem to be able to do their swipes to benefit the singers but ChartBuster can't figure out how to do it on a disc. and then they blame the lack of sales on piracy. It couldn't possibly be that the singers don't want to buy tracks that they can't use, could it????
What will be the point of buying karaoke tracks in the near future when every possible use of these tracks is being called illegal unless you're singing in your own house. We've already got KJ's claiming that they will not play a Sound Choice disc; even if a customer brings in an original Sound Choice disc, out of fear of being named in a law suit. Will ChartBuster tracks be the next brand of karaoke discs to be black balled by KJ's and singers alike??? Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!

I have to say that I agree with the others that the method of swiping leaves a lot (understatement!!) to be desired. When I play discs like that ,I get singers angry and frustrated at ME because they can't keep up with the song. Guess what? I avoid using that song again and will ultimately choose another brand.
Please do go back to the old method, since this works better for the SINGERS (isn't that who you ultimately make the discs for?).
Lonman is right. If you look after your discs, it shouldn't be that big of a problem. If not, then you get what you deserve: having to buy a replacement. That's called life. While I appreciate CB's commitment to trying to provide longevity to their discs, there really is no point if you can't use them except with people who have memorized the lyrics. And at that point, what is the point of karaoke?

Chartbuster people: perhaps you can try my idea of partially doing full screen clears and partial overwrites. If a bad graphic only lasted for two or three screens before a full screen clear then that would be much better. Almost all songs have just enough silence every now and then for a full screen clean, either that or you swipe the last word on the screen a little fast to allow time for a screen clean.

I know this can be done (done it on my home made tracks!) and that it should only add 5-10 minutes in preparing of the CDG track.

I did have difficulty with some of the new discs so I had to really learn the songs first to make sure I didn't miss words.

If you say these tracks are different on the downloads then please make the monthly pro discs available as downloads. Or perhaps go the PHM route and issue an MP3+G disc. (320Kbps please!) of course presuming that I can then legally uplift it to a computer!

- Jonn

Thanks to all for the suggestions.

I am bringing each of these issues to our production team to see what we can do to resolve them, and to add value to our product. We will also address them on June 7 at our C-Level Meeting.