Sunday, April 20, 2008

CAVS (and other karaoke systems) Compatible CDG DVD Drive FOUND!! Available from me cheap!

To paraphrase the great comedian George Carlin when he spoke of bumper stickers, "I have found him..I have CDG compatibility in the trunk!!" Yes FINALLY I have found a DVD optical device that will works with ALL Karaoke software requiring CDG compatible optical hardware. Now to the people on the Internet who have been selling discontinued plextor optical drives at exorbant prices (> $100!?!): Shame on you! To the Cavs people in Korea who are not answering the question of compatible optical devices publically: Shame on you too for not answering properly the questions of your customers, and for making me do your research for you. Greed seems to be a little out of control when it comes to manufacturers discontinuing CDG compatible drives according to an unfortunate KJ who got conned when his Plextor CD Burner died.

So without further ado, a compatible drive that is still being made and I have confirmed ample supply in with Canadian Distributors:

The Asus DVD-E616A3 DVD Rom/CDRW drive

(no it won't burn DVDs but karaoke people want CDG readability, right?) reads the CDG disks (really old ones over 10 years of age) perfectly, I can use it with a simple USB enclosure with karaoke software on a laptop, and it works. If you install it in a server it will work with any software including CAVS, if you use it through a USB on a laptop, the CAVS Karaoke Computer Software refuses to recognize any USB attached drives (CAVS software, well, no surprises there) but Audiograbber software and the Siglos Professional Software packages and Power CD+G Burner software read it perfectly and with Power CD+G burner you can make backups of those files for the day when CDG optical devices are impossible to get. Audiograbber is good but on a few odd tracks I noticed small spots around the lyrics that weren't present on the Power CD+G Burner conversion but bear in mind Audiograbber is free) So Internet sharks, I intend to stop your gouging with the following information: The Asus DVD-E616A3 is available CHEAP. VERY cheap. Try less than $30 CAD (so sharks, start lowering your prices or get stuck with your discontinued hardware), and a usb enclosure is between $30-$40 CAD. So that is between $60-$70 NOT $120 which I've had reported to me for long discontinued Plextor CD Drive models.

Just to make things interesting, I would like to make life easier for all Karoake KJs and karaoke lovers out there by personally offering to put together for anyone in Canada (but not outside due to taxes and high shipping charges) a USB enclosure using this drive for $55 plus shipping + packing materials (which should be no more than $15 dollars by Canada Post or Purolator (if I can get a discount from them). I won't ship by UPS...too many problems with receiving from them..poor service). The total cost is somewhere between $60-$70 plus Canadian Taxes, which I must charge by law, for identical functionality of what some people have charged >$100 dollars for on the Internet PLUS shipping. (so around $120-$150 PER DRIVE). If it doesn't work with your karaoke software I will refund the money IN FULL upon receiving the device back provided there are no external markings or damage. You can send order requests to me by sending me an e-mail with full shipping information to

karaokeoffer@evolveit.ca

and I'll send you a reply with full instructions on payment (paypal is probably the most convenient) which upon receiving, a full insured, tracked package will be in your hands within 1-2 weeks.

Obviously I'm not out to make money here. But its all good if it benefits the Karaoke community. Feel free to donate to my blog if you'd like to compensate me for time and money spent doing this research.

If there are any readers in the USA, sorry its a bit awkward doing research into legal issues in cross border sales, but you now know the name of the device and manufacturer, and I'll give you a list of USB Enclosures that will physically fit basic Optical Devices if you ask. Vantec and Mace make a few suitable enclosures.

so hope this helps you all out there struggling either to read CDG disks on your laptops or replacing your dying Plextor drives in your CAVS JB-99, JB-199 or other devices using IDE Optical devices. Oh, and if you want to properly backup your JB-199 files into something more universally usable (outside of the CAVS environment which I strongly advise) you can get your raw JB-199 files converted for reloading if your JB-199 dies here: KjAmp Converting services.

To the technicans and manufacturers as Asus: Thank you! Among the people and companies I've contacted (Plextor, LG, Lite-On, Teac, Asus and Sony) only you delivered a robust and accurate answer as well as a product that resolves a widening technology age gap in the karaoke world. Plextor technicians, I thank you for giving me an accurate (if not positive) answer to my inquiries. I received an incorrect answer from Lite-On (which they corrected after I called them to complain about how the model they referred me to failed the CDG and Nero Info test) and the others I've had no reply from in 3 months just so you know. I hope this is of help to all frustrated Karaoke Profesisonals and lovers everywhere.

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4 Comments:

At 8:38 AM, Blogger Yvonne said...

Hey there, I've been Googling for days to try and find a decent Karaoke place for my birthday on Saturday May 17 that has private rooms to rent and I've come up with very little. I came across your blog and thought I'd ask if you knew of a place?

I'm looking for a good selection of English songs with lots of rock and pop classics (doesn't have to be current Top 40 stuff), liquor licensed, holds up to 20 people. The venue can serve food, or allow us to bring our own.

So far I've come up with XO Karaoke above Clinton's, but I was hoping for something that was a bit less than $60 an hour (is that a good price?).

I don't want to go all the way to Yonge and Steels either. Any suggestions?

 
At 8:40 AM, Blogger Yvonne said...

PS: You may contact me at

monkey_chakra at hotmail dot com.

Thank you so much!

 
At 8:07 PM, Blogger Carol and Rob said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

 
At 10:33 AM, Blogger Jonah A. Libster said...

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