Karaoke Cdg Player And Lap Top

[Spookspy 0]

Hi Guys

 

Hope you are all ok and still keeping busy..I have only been doing Disco's Lately but now the party seasons on us i have been asked to host a Disco and Karaoke event.

 

I am using a CDG Player and also my Laptop via an external PC monitor for karaoke. I want to make my life more simple by being able to switch over from CDG player to laptop and vice versa.

 

Is it possible to buy a device similar to a AV Switch box which will allow me to connect a VGA cable from my external monitor (screen the singer uses) then allow me to connect my Laptop to and CDG player and flick over as when required

 

I have been told that a normal AV Switch box wont work for this purpose and I am not to sure

Thanks everyone

Take care

 

Kind Regards

John

[superstardeejay 0]

Not sure what you mean. A standard CDG player will be composite video (yellow phono lead) into a TV? Your laptop is you've said VGA into an external monitor. How do you display your CDG graphics at the moment?

[Spookspy 0]

Not sure what you mean. A standard CDG player will be composite video (yellow phono lead) into a TV? Your laptop is you've said VGA into an external monitor. How do you display your CDG graphics at the moment?

 

Sorry, Superstardeejay i ain't much good with Tech chat stuff...

 

I am using a 17" PC monitor with a VGA cable that connects to my laptop. My CDG player is seperate so I can play CDG discs if needed this means i have to pull out the VGA lead out of my laptop and attach it to the CDG Player which will result in faults eventually and it doesn't seem professional enough for my liking.

 

I have a mate who has a xbox and bought a switch box so he can switch between his PC and xbox at the click of a button. I was hoping there's something similar out there that will let me do that without the worry of disconnecting cables.

 

My CDG player does have the standard Red, yellow, white, outputs and VGA output and a scart socket.

If you click on the ebay link http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PC-Laptop-VGA-to-TV-AV-RCA-S-Video-Adapter-Converter-Signal-Switch-Box-4-Cable-/221054606017?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item3377e19ac1

 

This was what i thought would be great to use but they said it won't work unless i have two seperate PC monitors.

Any advice gratefully received

Kind Regards

John Tulley

 

[superstardeejay 0]

I see, your CDG player has a 15 way VGA output socket.

 

All I can say is, try it with the switch box. It may work. A VGA signal contains data called an I2C bus as well as the basic video signals. This allows the monitor to adjust its resolution & frequency to suit the source, unlike say a PAL tv signal which is fixed.

 

The only issue you may have is that the laptop 'senses' when an external monitor is connected, and automatically reconfigures the graphics properties to drive the external monitor at the same time as the internal one. It also 'interrogates' the monitor via the I2C bus so it knows the capabilities of the monitor and doesnt try to drive it beyond its frequency limits (called plug and play). So it's possible the software may be confused when you switch the box over to the CDG because it will see the monitor connection effectively disappear from its port.

 

I suppose the ideal solution would be to use a TV with VGA option, then you can connect the laptop to the VGA inlet and the CDG player to the composite (phono) input; switching between the two with the TV remote.

 

But try the switch; you wont do any harm but if it leads to unstable video operation, that's why. If that happens, try over-riding the 'second monitor' settings in video properties to 'standard VGA' resolution rather than 'plug and play monitor' and that might be better.

 

Edited November 23, 2013 by superstardeejay