Vista and my new laptops.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 4:49 am

I am testing the new laptops with Vista. Sax & Dotty seems to be working just fine on Vista. They is a work around to get it going, but it's simple.

I can play my laser converted videos and other peoples discs, too.

Wooo haaa....

Just have to finish up all the loose ends.

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Sun Mar 04, 2007 10:07 pm

No copy protection issues? Good to hear with all the mess that's been talked about in relation to output channels being blocked to support copy protection. Still gonna be a long time before I look at moving to Vista on any of my PC's.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 2:09 am

Since these were ordered to my specs, I had to take Vista. It would not have been my first choice. I don't think it's been out long enough to have all bugs worked out of it. But time will tell. But the S & D program is working very well. I'm having some tiny playback issues, but I think it's related to the converted laser videos and having the queue set to auto play the next song.

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:33 pm

Yeah I know how you feel about the youth of the system. Keep us updated on how it goes, I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts as you progress.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Wed Mar 21, 2007 3:38 pm

Laptop update:

There are a few minor issues relating to the laptop. Having to do with the hibernation stuff and what happens when you start to close the lid. ( I don't know if it's a Vista thing or a general thing.) If you try to close the screen, the hoster program wants to act a little goofy. But putting the lid back up and waiting a few minutes fixes itself. So when you are running a show, NEVER move the lid (Screen) for any reason.

Other than that it's working sweet. It's like Christmas,...I'm soooo excited.

The converted laser disc videos are running smoothly, no glitching. The drive to play other peoples discs works fine.

The video converter is a neat item.

My custom rack box won't be here for 2 weeks yet. So I can't start any installation ....

Shooter13 · Post by **Shooter13** » Thu Mar 22, 2007 9:25 pm

You should be able to change yoru hibernation settings to keep the display on even with the lid closed. I had an issue that I couldn't figure out. Sometimes I would be moving the pointer while a song was playing and it would suddenly stop. Turns out the little pencil eraser thing that you can use to move the pointer can also be used as a left click button. You are using a seperate mouse though aren't you?

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:22 pm

I changed the hibernation settings and I told it to never do it. But that doesn't seem to be helping the problem. I also reset the power settings to never turn off anything.

I use the touch pad. I have 2 other laptops, so it's not a problem for me.

The laptop is going to be dumped of all unneccessary programs.

All I want on it the OS and the hoster program. I am not using the internal drives for any song storage. All external.

I have the 2 gig duel core processor and 1000 ram. No glitches. The video card has it's own 256 ram.

I just have to remember to never move the screen, once the karaoke starts...

LoneWolf · Post by **LoneWolf** » Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:33 pm

saks and dotties is okay, but I prefer the one from compuhost or swift (which tricerasoft recommends) Currently I use one called Sacks - 0 - Nuts based in Australia, but the co. is not offering it anymore as they have a newer version about to be released. However I found that I like the format of compuhost or swift much better, although I have only tested them.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Wed May 09, 2007 2:16 pm

WOW

Did the first computer show last night. Worked perfectly. I made some small mis-steps but the computer was perfect. 25 singers on the trial night was a little much. Confusing for a while. Trying to settle into a new routine after 14 years of discs and players. Welcome to the future.

It's a little hard singing the words to one song while typing in words for a song search. Time & practice.

Vista with Sax & Dotty's works fine.

The laptop cooler fans kept the computer nice and cool.

I left the discs and players at home and just had my backup laptop and hard drive. All the insurance I needed. There will be no going back......

letitrip · Post by **letitrip** » Fri May 11, 2007 12:05 pm

Glad to hear it's going well Bigdog!! It does take a little getting used to, especially managing the rotation when you've got singers that sing together and seprately. And I know exactly what you mean about typing the song names while singing, I usually end up waiting for an instrumental part if I need to do that. Usually I just enter songs while someone else is up there.

Keep us posted on how things go.

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Fri May 11, 2007 6:39 pm

letitrip,
Bigdog sings when he has no singers so he has to do it the way he does. Makes you wanna add filler music now doesn't it bigdog?

It's one of the reasons I left singing every song if I had no singers behind when I went Computerized.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Sat May 12, 2007 4:42 am

Every song at my "Karaoke" show is sung by someone. Always will be.

I can still run a continuous, non stop show with the laptop. No fillers and no dance music. Karaoke songs back-to-back, all night long.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Sat Jul 28, 2007 3:58 am

After several months of computer karaoke, I can say that I should have done it much sooner.

Discs and players are cro-magnon. I can still bang out the songs back-to-back without delays, just as fast as with two players.

Marlena · Post by **Marlena** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 5:44 am

Well i use swift elite for my shows and i have my songs actually running right into each other it's great!! no dead air. My customers are so good about getting the mic to the next person that before the last song ends the next one already has it.

I Love the laptop thing, It gives me more time to interact with the customers, and dance around my stage or with a customer.

NOW the only thing i worry about is making sure the bar still understands that the need for an actual KJ is still there and that to buy their own system is not going to work. So many kj's have let the businesses in this area down (and i won't do more than 1 bar in each community around me) that the bars have bought CAVS machines and or rented them from a big named company out of the capital. Now although these systems rarely work it still takes time for the owners to see that.

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Sun Aug 05, 2007 2:54 pm

Marlena wrote:Well i use swift elite for my shows and i have my songs actually running right into each other it's great!! no dead air. My customers are so good about getting the mic to the next person that before the last song ends the next one already has it.

I Love the laptop thing, It gives me more time to interact with the customers, and dance around my stage or with a customer.

NOW the only thing i worry about is making sure the bar still understands that the need for an actual KJ is still there and that to buy their own system is not going to work. So many kj's have let the businesses in this area down (and i won't do more than 1 bar in each community around me) that the bars have bought CAVS machines and or rented them from a big named company out of the capital. Now although these systems rarely work it still takes time for the owners to see that.

A buddy of mine uses Sax & Dotty's for the past two years and his bar owner hasn't asked how he can set up his own system. A preivious bar he use to do got talked into putting in their own system by patrons. Got to see first hand the system they added and ha ha ha, it's a home Karaoke unit (VocoPro duet). I just started using their JustKaraoke product and like it. Now if they can add their remote terminal software to it I'd be even happier.