Home cinema setup to facilitate Karaoke?

BenEadir

Hi all,

I've a family communion coming up and one of the things I'd like to do to get both kids and adults interacting is a good old Karaoke.

I have a home cinema set up with a Panasonic plasma TV, a Panasonic Blu Ray DMP-BD30 DVD player and an Onkyo SR 875 amp.

Can I use this set up to do Karaoke if I buy a Microphone and some Karaoke DVD's from Amazon or Play.com? I don't understand how I can have the music (and onscreen words) playing via the DVD and lyrics coming through the microphone at the same time!!

Also, can anyone suggest what type of micropone to get if I can use the set up for Karaoke?

Regards,

Ben

big_moe

thats mad. i just bought a karaoke deck today and i have a similar set up to you! the problem with the blu ray player (i have the panasonic bd35) is that it wont play karaoke discs (i havent come across one yet that does). so i bought a karaoke disc player.

http://www.soundsaround.ie/karaoke.htm
scroll down to KAM PRO5500 DVD USB, thats the one i got. it have it connected to my onkyo amp (for picture & sound) which is in turn connected to the tv (so didnt need another cable up to the TV)

it works great and the karaoke dvd has 2 mic sockets on it

adam

BenEadir

Hi Adam,

Let me tell you what's mad. I bought my set up from you and you've even been to my house to help me set up the Onkyo amp!!

As far as I know you can get Karaoke discs to play in the BD-30 or 35. there are two Karaoke disc formats one is CG-G which you do need a special player for like the one you purchased but you can also get DVD discs which play on standard DVD players. They play the music and show the lyrics on the screen. The problem is blending in the Mic input. Standard DVD players don't have that ability so I was thinking of running the music through the TV sound system and putting a mic through the Onkyo SR 875. I know it sounds like a bit of a mish mash but I think it would work if the Onkyo had a mic input which id doesn't seem to have other than the Setup Mic which is (I believe) exclusively used for setting up the sound in the room. :mad:

I guess if I can't run the mic thru the Onkyo amp I'll need to get something like you've recommended or this device from karaoke.ie http://www.karaoke.ie/acatalog/info_9.html What do you think? Which is better?

I'm very interested in the idea of songs direct from a USB drive. I assume therefore it's possible to download Karoke songs from various websites and build a collection which suits the audience in question e.g. mostly kids and 70's & 80's fans?

Lastly, is there no Karaoke 'game' for the Wii? That would be wicked!!

Ben

big_moe

ah yes, i thought i recognized your user name!

right, what you can do is use a cheap microphone preamp into the onkyo. then use the sound of your tv from the bd30 for the karaoke.

with this device you can plug in 2 mics and then connect regular phono cables from it to your onkyo.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=29908

Or you could buy a small DJ mixer, run the BD30 & mics into the mixer and then connect the output of the mixer to the onkyo. this means you would get the sound of the mics & karaoke disc through the jamo speakers instead of the tv speakers.

http://www.kam.co.uk/index.php?action=product&product_id=1

something like this

ah feck, i didnt realise you could get DVD karaoke discs... oh well

BenEadir

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Adam!!

If I went with the mixer how would the lyrics appear on the screen? I understand blending the background music and mic's via the mixer (great idea) but I can't see how the lyrics would still route to the TV? Am I just being my usual thick self?

As this is pretty much a one off I might just go with this cheapo option http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5400588/Trail/searchtext%3EKARAOKE.htm

big_moe

BenEadir wrote: »

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news Adam!!

If I went with the mixer how would the lyrics appear on the screen? I understand blending the background music and mic's via the mixer (great idea) but I can't see how the lyrics would still route to the TV? Am I just being my usual thick self?

As this is pretty much a one off I might just go with this cheapo option http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/5400588/Trail/searchtext%3EKARAOKE.htm

well the lyrics would be played by the BD30 to your TV.. it does get a little messy... with a bit of playing around it would work.

but if its just a once off then yeah i agree on the cheapo option!