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Topic: Laptop with Windows 8.1 & VirtualDJ - Page: 1

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I am in need of another Laptop for a Karaoke set-up... I am currently using Windows 7 on (2) DJ laptops and everything is working nicely.... a really nice computer I'm looking at purchasing is loaded with Windows 8.1.... does anyone out there have any info on using Windows 8.1 with Virtual DJ?.... any problems?
 
Posted Sat 08 Mar 14 @ 2:46 pm
Win8.1 will take a little getting used to but it works well with current 7.4.1..... take the leap!
 
There is nothing I should worry about?... I had heard rumors...
 
I had a video issue initially with Win8 out of the box and then 8.1 which went away once I upgraded to 7.4.1.
Runs great now.
 
Check drivers for any controllers, sound cards and other equipment.

8.1 runs fine with VDJ but be sure all your items have drivers for 8.1.
 
sometime what happens to me is that my cpu jumps to 99% usage adn that cracling sound starts i never had it happen on the gig but in my house lately it started to happen i dont know is it from the turn on wi fi but i mixed wit wi fi enabled before and it all worked like charm. never had a problem :/
 
One last question... if I am running karaoke and need to run a video monitor off of the laptop, is there a certain feature I need to look for in the laptop to make this happen... let me know...
 
Tom I got a new Asus laptop about 8 months ago with Windows 8. I upgraded to Win 8.1 and that seemed to cause a few problems I had to work through, but it's all good now. Got another new Asus 1 month ago with Win 8 and I'm not going to upgrade to 8.1. I've used 8 and 8.1 extensively and I don't see any benefit to 8.1. Just more Microsoft junk, IMO. VDJ works fine on ether. I use the VGA output on the laptop into a Startech VGA2A/V Composite converter that seems to run perfect. CE Labs make a very good A/V Composite distribution amplifier if you want to plumb multiple TVs.
 
Tomardo1 wrote :
One last question... if I am running karaoke and need to run a video monitor off of the laptop, is there a certain feature I need to look for in the laptop to make this happen... let me know...


Just make sure your laptop has a dedicated video card.

I'm using an ASUS Laptop with win 8.1 and a DDJ-SX, doing 7-8 h video mix. No problems yet.
 
Thanks guys... a lot of great info... Like I said, I would be using this laptop for Karaoke only... what would be the minimum configuration I should look for in a laptop.... and do you think that touchscreen would be beneficial?... I was thinking of getting a tablet for backup... would this work as well...
 
Well, I had a karaoke session with an 8 y/o Samsung Q35.
2x1.6 Ghz CPU, 512 MB RAM and I think no dedicated video card.

What can I say... I worked... Loading new songs into a deck was a little bit slow, but it worked.
So nowadays everything available on the market should be fine.

But I would recommend at least a dual-core CPU @2.0 GHz, 4 GB RAM and >=1 GB dedicated video memory.
Pay attention to the USB ports. Some users are having problems with USB 3.0. So better buy a laptop that also
offers one or two USB 2.0 ports, just to be safe.
It is also recommended to buy an Intel-based laptop.
 
Ok... thanks... I have many karaoke files that I burned in BIN format.... VDJ is not recognizing them.... any suggestions
 
When it comes to backups I like to think of them as my next machine, I mean if my main dies then my backup will now be my main. So when looking for a backup it has to meet or exceed the specs of what I'm using now. So both my main and backup have i7's but my backup (an ASUS) has the 2 gig video card and my main (a MacBook Pro) only has the 1 gig video card but handles video better then my PC.

But like Pach said find one with a dedicated graphics card with as much ram as you can afford. My Asus is a touch screen and honestly I've never used it while djing. I am running windows 8 with no problems either.
 
I don't have a touchscreen for DJ'ing either... I use (2) i7 computers for DJ'ing... What I am looking to do with this is Karaoke... I don't do karaoke shows... I say karaoke because I am also a professional singer and want a dedicated laptop just for that... I sing about 1000 songs so there will not be many songs on this laptop.... I was thinking of a touchscreen because it might be easy to access while I am singing a little easier than having to use a mouse or mouse pad... I don't want to be hovering over the laptop to cue up the next song I want to sing... It might be a nice option to touch a screen now and then...

I am also having a little challenge displaying the words to the songs in Virtual DJ... some files are not accepted, like BIN (I thought they were)... I have a whole bunch of BIN songs on a thumb drive (for now) and VDJ doesn't even recognize that they are there..... I might be doing something wrong... can VDJ play videos from Youtube?.... do they have to be recorded in a certain way.... I could use a little guidance... and maybe speak with someone.... anyone up for that...
 
 
I've had no issues using ANY version of VDJ on my win 8.1 laptop. just be sure to update all the drivers
 
 
Is it vital that I get a dedicated video card?... I am having a hard time finding a computer with a dedicated NVIDIA video card.... there are even some Karaoke companies that sell laptops with their software pre-loaded that don't have dedicated video cards on them... http://www.mtu.com/basics/karaoke-ultrabooks.htm... Let me know....
 
You want a video card with it's own dedicated memory, not shared memory. Meaning it does not share it's memory with the machine. I would suggest that you buy the biggest, baddest machine you can afford. You want the machine to last you a couple of years. As soon as you walk out the door with it, it is on it's way to obsolescence. There are plenty of ASUS machines that have NVidia cards, with dedicated memory. You are getting your karaoke files from Youtube? That's a problem right there. Which Karaoke company sells .bin files? That link did not work, try this one. There is one on that site that has 2g of dedicated memory. Some of the info seems to be wrong on the site, but "click for details" to see the true info, or call them.
 
All of the karaoke music I have was purchased on CDG's.... I started 15 years ago and have accumulated a pretty nice library.... I don't take the original CDG disc out with me so I have a program that burns custom CDG's... I can burn only the songs that I sing onto a CDG instead of having them spread out on 10 different CDG's... the program only used the BIN format... that was fine because as long as it worked in my CDG player, I was fine with it... now I want to go digital and BIN is an old format... VDJ does not support it... that's a shame really because I already have that software and am familiar with it.... regarding Youtube... I don't do any video DJ'ing... however, I know VDJ plays videos and wanted to see if VDJ would play a video from Youtube... that's all...
 
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