Using Video

[vcationguy]

Hi Justin and Fabio,

I know both of you are much more conversant in computer things than I am.  You guys have me intriqued about using video.  Are you showing video clips of things between singers?  Is it possible to do that?  I was trying to do it but can't get it to show up on the VDJ singers screen.  How would I be able to do that?  I think it could be a fun thing sometimes with funny or classic videos. 

Thanks,

Ron

[Fabio]

Ron:

I know some software out there can show show video in between, but I never been really fond of it.  I prefer to just place the singers list in between the songs. I prefer to pic good music to play in between...I've been told that I'm known for the list...there's only one bar that prefers that I don't but mostly because they want me push some singers ahead of others and displaying the list defeats the purpose...the real reason for video is that it allows you play songs that are not in CDG format....as is the case with some languages.  Some of those only come in video format...and Justin, correct me if I'm wrong...it's part of the CDG standard or format....it doesn't allow for non latin derived languages like the English alphabet which shares a similar format with Spanish, French, Brazilian, Swedish and host of other languages, but it does not support the Asian languages, Middle Eastern languages...plus others I can't think of...For example my wife is Thai and she has a lot of friends in the Thai community here in Los Angeles who like to sing.  In fact, one of the bars I gig at serves a lot of Thais...so all the Thai karaoke available out there is in video format (there is some in midi too). Also, my Wednesday night is in Glendale, California and a lot of the customers are Armenian (if you have ever watched an episode the Kardasians, you know that's the Armenian capital in America...lol)...and I found some karaoke out there in Armenian...again only in video format.  Plus I found some songs out there in English that can only be found in video format...I'm not sure why there was never a CDG version made for some of those but they are out there...I've even tried my hand at converting those to CDG format, which basically means you take the music and convert it into an mp3 and then you have to use a utility like CDG Creator and add the lyrics back in...and this is very time consuming....just for one song.  Also, occasionaly someone has pointed me to a youtube karaoke song someone has made...homemade but sometimes they're good.  Again this is for songs not available anywhere.  Gangnam Style was one of them until Sunfly and Mr Entertainer decided to do a CDG version...but they couldn't do with it Korean characters so they basically wrote out the lyrics as they would be pronounced and they got around the CDG standard...but that's rare for most songs. Anyway...that was a bit long winded but it's a bit of background on the CDG format and the reason for video.

-Fabio

[vcationguy]

Hi Fabio,

Thanks so much for the informative response.    I understand better but I'm still learning things.  Are the videos you play in VCD format?

Ron

[Justin]

The CDG format is CD+Graphics - it doesn't use "fonts" to create the characters on the screen. However, some Asian characters are just too complex, because the pixel resolution just isn't there. CDG data is stored in some of the "extra" bits on a CD that aren't used by normal audio discs; this is to make the discs still compatible with ordinary CD players. There's just not a lot of space for complex graphics where this data is stored.

If you've ever seen a really fast song, where the lyrics almost can't keep up on the screen, it's because of the limited amount of data you can store.

Remember, CD+G came out around 1985, and we still use the same data format today. Video files on the other hand can handle anything you can put in any video.

Personally I have zero video karaoke files, and the ones I have found are just video encodings of CDG discs, which is pointless...

I think for the moment I'm going to leave out Video support, as I think it will add too much complication to the program; you'd have to have all the right codecs installed, and I just see a support nightmare for me... and no, WMP would not support Flash.

I have been known to play music videos on occasion at a gig, usually something I found to be really cool, and I'd just drag a browser or video player to the external screen...

[vcationguy]

Thanks Justin.  I'll try that.

Ron

[Fabio]

Justin:

I think you can add support and skirt the codec issue by standardizing in the mp4 format...I know there are various mp4 codecs but if you still to the one youtube uses...you can say if it plays in youtube it can play in VDJ...don't try to support all the video formats out there...don't do avi or mov...etc.

Like you, I used to play video by dragging a video player to the secondary screen.  I've actually found VLC to be the best at this because it can handle just about any video format out there...I wish there was plugin for you to play with as this would probably be the best to help you support video (not withstanding my previous comments about sticking to single format).  The stand alone version actually allows me to have similar controls as karaoke player because you can set it up so that you can see the controls of the player on your laptop screen and the player itself in the secondary screen.  I usually have it play over the CDG screen and I have it set so that it auto closes the player once the video ends so people get to see the singers list once it ends.  It appears almost seamless from the audience point of view. Also, since the controls are on the laptop, it allows me to queue up other videos if I like.  It's very nice once you get all the settings just right.

Ron:

The VCD format is more of a standard for STORING video on a CD, just like the DVD standard, while most of the video is in mpeg format it's just a method of storing it.  However, you have probably seent some of those karaoke videos and a lot of them are, in fact stored in VCDs.  In fact last time I visited Thailand, I tried to purchase Thai karaoke and most of it was stored in VCD.  You still have to extract the video files out of it, just like you would a CDG disc.

[Fabio]

Actually I had a thought on else video can be used on VDJ...

It's just a suggestion that would make ir stand out...obviously I'm not even sure this is possible but if you can it would look great.  Basically if you can replace the background jpg with a silent video.  Obviusly it will have to have no alphanumeric of any kind because when it played UNDER the cdg screen, it would confuse the singer. You as the programmer would have no control of what kind of video the KJ wants to play but it would be pretty stupid for the KJ to play something with with lyrics or lettering of any kind, but you can probably auto mute it, so that no sound comes out of it.

Another suggestion is to allow a animated GIFs...this might be easier than the video.

A third one would be to stream an external camera on the background where you can capture whatever the audience of singer are doing..

Again, I don't even know if this is possible.  I don't know it's possible to do layers...where the video/gif plays inn the layer behind the cdg layer...

I imagine if you can do this, you can limit the video to a smaller box than the actual screen where the top of the video falls below the header and the bottom above the footer...this would allow you to keep the header and footer.

Maybe I should have put this stuff in the suggestion area...

-Fabio

[vcationguy]

All of this sounds great - over my head a lot, but great!  lol  I know that if you guys figure it out, it will be nice. 

I'll look into that VLC Fabio.

Thanks!

Ron

[mydjkj.com]

I would love to play video between singers. We all know that everyone has different needs from their software and DJ/KJ differently. I find people love to watch music videos between singers as well as dance. I also have video splashes of my logo that would look nice on the screen between singers or as one is calmly walking their way up to the mic. It would also be great to put advertisements as well as other forms of media there.

[Fabio]

Yeah, I agree...and Version 8 which Justin is working on now is supposed to have video playback...I've been waiting for that feature myself as I now have some karaoke that is also in video format that can't be played on VDJ currently.

[chaz]

Maybe the video could be a separate program that will run with vdj ... but yet be integrated..

using a webcam as a background is something I used to do in the 90s with a camcorder and jvc player.. Sad when I lost that function.. would be awesome to do that again.

[Justin]

At the moment I have no plans to integrate video as part of the Karaoke lyrics screen... video playback would just be a built-in video player that takes over the Karaoke screen... but you'll be able to preview as well, just like with audio and karaoke files.

I'm probably going to allow preview on Karaoke files *with lyrics* on the preview window, even while another Karaoke song is playing on the main screen. Same would apply for music videos...

I'm getting further on video support, it's beginning to work like it should, but still having trouble with certain file formats... I'll get that sorted out hopefully, maybe not in the initial release but as I get more formats working I'll of course publish upgrades.

[Fabio]

I'm probably going to allow preview on Karaoke files *with lyrics* on the preview window, even while another Karaoke song is playing on the main screen. Same would apply for music videos...

I like this feature, currently I have to use an external player to preview karaoke with lyrics.