Veteratin Noob Question

[bamarama]

hey gang.

I used to run Karaoke (old school) back in the day. 100's of disks if not 1000's. Anyway, I am getting back into the business and need some small bits of help. I am using Karma (it seems to be all that I need) and I do like it. I have a few questions about using laptop connections.

The HDMI does not show as a second video out, would the VGA out solve the problem of only showing the video portion of the software and not the complete desktop?

If this is true, I would then need to convert the VGA signal back to HDMI or convert to (yellow) RCA jack to feed back into the TV system I have set up. Does this sound like I am on the right track?

I have a good mixing board with the same Peavy amp that I used back in the 90's and the cabs. I am driving 1600W so I know I could power just about any venue.

My next, and for now my last, question is as follows. Is it better to send the sound through the tape inputs on the board or through main channels?

Thanks in advance for the advice and the time it took to read this.

Bam

[mnementh]

I am using Karma (it seems to be all that I need) and I do like it. I have a few questions about using laptop connections.

The HDMI does not show as a second video out, would the VGA out solve the problem of only showing the video portion of the software and not the complete desktop?

If this is true, I would then need to convert the VGA signal back to HDMI or convert to (yellow) RCA jack to feed back into the TV system I have set up. Does this sound like I am on the right track?

My next, and for now my last, question is as follows. Is it better to send the sound through the tape inputs on the board or through main channels?

Thanks in advance for the advice and the time it took to read this.

Bam

HI bamarama,
welcome to the forum.

Like your choice of software. I also use Karma.

Unfortunately I don't have a PC with an HDMI connector, so can't comment on that, although I'm surprised that it doesn't allow desktop expansion.

You HAVE enabled that in your display preferences, haven't you??

Karma will NOT see the second video unless you have enabled it on the computer.

The VGA out will certainly let you expand the desktop but again, it has to be enabled.

As for converting the VGA to your TV input, if you have a modern TV, it will usually have a PC input option. Pretty much all flatscreen TV's do.

If not, you can get a cheap and cheerful laptop/TV convertor on Ebay, so you can connect to the composite input that EVERY TV has.

I suspect Bigdog and wiseguy will give you better information on your audio setup than I can, so be patient. They'll get to you.

Best of luck with your Karaoke,
Sandy.

[wiseguy]

hey gang.

I used to run Karaoke (old school) back in the day. 100's of disks if not 1000's. Anyway, I am getting back into the business and need some small bits of help. I am using Karma (it seems to be all that I need) and I do like it. I have a few questions about using laptop connections.

The HDMI does not show as a second video out, would the VGA out solve the problem of only showing the video portion of the software and not the complete desktop?

If this is true, I would then need to convert the VGA signal back to HDMI or convert to (yellow) RCA jack to feed back into the TV system I have set up. Does this sound like I am on the right track?

I have a good mixing board with the same Peavy amp that I used back in the 90's and the cabs. I am driving 1600W so I know I could power just about any venue.

My next, and for now my last, question is as follows. Is it better to send the sound through the tape inputs on the board or through main channels?

Thanks in advance for the advice and the time it took to read this.

Bam

Welcome to the forum.

As Sandy stated... the first thing is to check your video settings on the laptop. If it does turn out that it only allows extended desktop through the VGA then a simple VGA to HDMI Converter Box would fix that problem.

Personally, I would send the audio through the tape deck inputs.

[bamarama]

Thanks for the responses gang. I am going to check the extended desktop settings and such. i would like to use the HDMI out but, of course, only if it allows it.

i will get back to you shortly to let you know what I have found.

Thanks again.

[bamarama]

Ok, I have found the following.

I am using windows 8 and these are my options.

I can use:

PC Screen only
Duplicate
Extended
Second Screen only

These are found on the display settings-project to a second screen.

As I stated, I am not sure where to go from here. If I use extended, it shows part of the screen on my laptop screen and the rest of the screen on the tv monitor. This would be great if i was playing flight simulator but is not very useful with Karaoke.

Any Ideas?

[mnementh]

I am using windows 8 and these are my options.

I can use:

PC Screen only
Duplicate
Extended
Second Screen only

These are found on the display settings-project to a second screen.

As I stated, I am not sure where to go from here. If I use extended, it shows part of the screen on my laptop screen and the rest of the screen on the tv monitor. This would be great if i was playing flight simulator but is not very useful with Karaoke.

Any Ideas?

Hi again,
not sure of what you describe when using the "extended" option.

What should usually happen is that your laptop screen should appear as it normally does and your second monitor should show ONLY the desktop, minus the icons.

If you launch an application and set it to medium size, i.e. not full screen you can click the banner and drag the application OFF the laptop screen onto the "extended" 2nd monitor.

You can then expand the app to full screen and use it as if it's on your main screen.

However, with Karma you don't need to drag the app to the 2nd screen as there is an option in the lower right corner of Karma that when clicked, will automatically place the "show" screen onto the 2nd monitor.

The screen will appear black unless you have input a title or some such in the options menu.

Hope this helps,
Sandy.
P.S. i should point out thyat Win 8 isn't really suitable for normal PC useage as it's really for mobile devices with touch screens, i.e. phones/tablets, etc. Microsoft has already announced a replacement for it as most people hate it almost as much as Vista.

[wiseguy]

P.S. i should point out thyat Win 8 isn't really suitable for normal PC useage as it's really for mobile devices with touch screens, i.e. phones/tablets, etc. Microsoft has already announced a replacement for it as most people hate it almost as much as Vista.

In my opinion Microsoft has not improved on Windows XP Pro which I will stay with until they do.

[bamarama]

Thanks for the input.

Strange thing happened when I retried to run the extended desktop (using HDMI cable)....

It worked as it should. The graphics were on the second screen while the program and everything else was on my laptop monitor. I am guessing I did something wrong with the initial setup.

Windows 8 is not that bad, and I am beginning to like ot more and more. XP was wonderful but without future updates from Microsoft, it will be very unsecure to bad things.

So now that I have HDMI working, this leads to more uncertainty. Is it better to run with HDMI? Would it be better to split this to multiple monitors or would it be better to use VGA out and split to multiple coax or RCA connections?

What are your feelings on this>?

[mnementh]

Windows 8 is not that bad, and I am beginning to like ot more and more. XP was wonderful but without future updates from Microsoft, it will be very unsecure to bad things.

So now that I have HDMI working, this leads to more uncertainty. Is it better to run with HDMI? Would it be better to split this to multiple monitors or would it be better to use VGA out and split to multiple coax or RCA connections?

What are your feelings on this>?

First point is that the morons will immediately switch their attention and malware to the later operating systems and XP won't be hit as much as them, so like wiseguy, I'll be sticking with XP as long as I possibly can.

If you want to use multiple monitors, I would use a convertor as mentioned in earlier posts and simply run a composite RCA phono setup.

Basically one wire with maybe the addition of a booster.

As far as I'm concerned, always opt for the simplest solution and the least number of connections as it makes for less trouble in the long run (no pun intended).

Sandy.

[wiseguy]

My video output ends up at VHF coaxial. One input type that all TVs, new and old, have is coaxial. Virtually every bar I have set up in has a coaxial cable feed from the outside to a splitter which makes connecting to all their TVs fairly simple.

[bamarama]

Thanks Sandy, you make some valid points.

Wiseguy,
For the bar shows, hooking into the coax system does seem to be the easiest and most practical solution. I also will have my own tv/monitors as a good portion of my shows will be private parties and events with many being outside. In the contract(s) that I will have signed, the client will assume any liability on the equipment should it get damaged by any of the patrons attending the event.

I would continue to use the tube monitors that I used back in the day but they are so dang heave to tote around. Flat sceens have made this much less of a workload.

I am thinking that the coax end run would be a good idea so I would not have to change the setup be it a public or private venue.

Thanks again guys, you give some great insight here

[bamarama]

Something to add....

If I use the HDMI port, I cannot get sound through the speaker jack on the laptop. All sound is diverted through the HDMI (unless there is a setting I am missing).

Does this sound right or is something going wrong??

[wiseguy]

All that matters is that you still get audio output from the headphone jack of the laptop.

[mr.dj]

Something to add....

If I use the HDMI port, I cannot get sound through the speaker jack on the laptop. All sound is diverted through the HDMI (unless there is a setting I am missing).

Does this sound right or is something going wrong??

To stop the sound going through the HDMI lead, open the sound controls, you can do that by right clicking on the speaker icon on the task bar and select Playback devices.
With the playback tab selected right click in the open window and tick the boxes for show disabled and show disconnected devices.
Then right click on the speaker icon for HDMI and select disable.
This only disables the Audio for the HDMI output it does not effect the picture.
Then right click the the speakers icon for headphone out and select enable and make default device.

[bamarama]

Many thanks mr.dj!!!!