I'm having a tough time deciding to go with a digital system or not.
I already started buying hardware for a CDG system which I can send back if I change my mind. If I buy all the CDGs I want I'm looking at spending $2000 just on discs. If I go with the digital system I'm getting 10,000 songs or more already programmed into the player. I'm just beginning to learn about the digital system from looking at websites. If you recommend I go digital, what systems do you suggest? The Viper and vocopro names pop up a lot. What do I need to know about this kind of system? This is driving me half crazy.
digital or CDG system
To start with, the Viper is a self contained CDG system and VocoPro does not make a digital system. Don't be in a hurry to send back the hardware you have ordered. The only difference between a CDG and a digital system is the player. If you can possibly go with a digital system then you definitely should. It is the future of karaoke and, in the not so distant future, very few KJ's will be using discs.
Some advantages of a digital system:
No discs to transport, handle, store, and become damaged.
New songs may be instantly downloaded from the internet (saving shipping).
More control over the songs you buy as you can select them individually.
There are two types of digital systems. The "digital karaoke machine" is a player that contains a hard drive where all the songs are stored. The songs are downloaded into the player from your computer via a linking cable. Instead of loading discs into this player you simply punch in the number of the song. This is the easiest to use digital system. At present, the CAVS company is the only manufacturer of this type of player. Check them out at http://www.cavs-usa.com .
The other type is a "laptop and hoster" system. This consists of a laptop computer (with certain hardware installed) and karaoke hosting software. The songs are downloaded to the laptop in much the same way as the other type. This type of system can have many more features (because of the hoster software) than the digital karaoke machine which are too numerous to mention here. This system is a little complicated and is better for someone with good computer skills although anyone can learn to use it. The leading manufacturer of karaoke hosting software also carries a "karaoke ready" laptop. Check them out at http://www.mtu.com .
You can buy these systems with pre-loaded song packs and buy additional song packs or individual songs.
I hope this doesn't drive you completely crazy
Some advantages of a digital system:
No discs to transport, handle, store, and become damaged.
New songs may be instantly downloaded from the internet (saving shipping).
More control over the songs you buy as you can select them individually.
There are two types of digital systems. The "digital karaoke machine" is a player that contains a hard drive where all the songs are stored. The songs are downloaded into the player from your computer via a linking cable. Instead of loading discs into this player you simply punch in the number of the song. This is the easiest to use digital system. At present, the CAVS company is the only manufacturer of this type of player. Check them out at http://www.cavs-usa.com .
The other type is a "laptop and hoster" system. This consists of a laptop computer (with certain hardware installed) and karaoke hosting software. The songs are downloaded to the laptop in much the same way as the other type. This type of system can have many more features (because of the hoster software) than the digital karaoke machine which are too numerous to mention here. This system is a little complicated and is better for someone with good computer skills although anyone can learn to use it. The leading manufacturer of karaoke hosting software also carries a "karaoke ready" laptop. Check them out at http://www.mtu.com .
You can buy these systems with pre-loaded song packs and buy additional song packs or individual songs.
I hope this doesn't drive you completely crazy
They are basically the same in theory. CAVS is a company that created the "Super CDG" format which is basically compressed karaoke song tracks (much similar to mp3+g) recorded to a DVD disc. NEO+G is a relatively new karaoke format that has some advanced functions, such as on-screen song title display and song search capability while playing, and may also be recorded to DVD.Can someone explain the difference between Neo and CAVS?
I personally have no use for either of these formats. Playing mp3+g's, or some other compressed format, from a computer hard drive is a much better system.
I personally like the ease of use that a PC Based system offers and the fact that I can DJ as well as do karaoke off of the same unit.
By the way there is a convertor available for the CAVS discs to convert them to be usable by the PC based software. So it's not a waste of money to get the superCDG's if you don't have the cavs player and have the pc based.
By the way there is a convertor available for the CAVS discs to convert them to be usable by the PC based software. So it's not a waste of money to get the superCDG's if you don't have the cavs player and have the pc based.
