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Karaoke Disc Formats

Overview

The 3 major formats of karaoke disc in common use are CDG, VCD and DVD. One common myth about karaoke discs is that they will be exactly like the original artists disc including video, lyrics and backing track. The large record companies that produce the original CD's and DVD's generally are not the manufacturers of karaoke discs. There are many karaoke disc manufacturers world wide and they are much smaller companies dealing with a much smaller market. Each manufacturer makes their own version of each track with a wide variation in quality and content. It's not unusual to have complete verses removed from some songs.

There are a few discs around that have the original artist and original video, but they are not always the best quality backing track due to the method of lead vocal removal. There are a couple of different methods to remove vocals and the frequency filtering used by some of these makes for a poor quality vocal elimination. "So which disc should I buy?" I hear you ask. Well, you should read through the rest of this article and decide on a format first and then try one of the better quality manufacturers. Use your karaoke disc supplier for guidance here.

CDG

Designated CDG, this format is more correctly termed CD + G (Compact Disc + Graphic). Wikipedia's view. When played on a CDG player, the output video displays the lyrics to the song being played. Unlike the other formats, the video output does not display imagery behind the lyrics. The neat thing about this format is that you can play it on virtually any player that plays cd's. There are some exceptions to this depending on the player and the disc but in the main it's true. Of course if you're only playing on a cd player, you wont be able to get the video signal to display the lyrics, but if you're just practicing at home it won't matter too much as you can usually get the lyrics elsewhere and just sing along that way.

If you are running Windows on your computer, you'll be able to run these discs by loading them straight into your CD/DVD drive, but you wont' get the video (lyrics) displayed unless you have the CDG codec installed (not a standard codec in windows).

CDG's are used by almost every disc playing karaoke host running public shows today, so if you want to rehearse at home and then take your disc down to your local public show, this is the best format. If you wish to do a format shift of your cd's onto computer, CDG is the most supported format by the major software suppliers making it a bit of an investment in the future as karaoke technology marches onwards.

Pro's

  • Plays on the widest range of players; most cd players, newer DVD players and computers.
  • Most public karaoke shows will be able to play your disc.
  • By far, the largest range of music.

Con's

  • You have to download the codec to view the lyrics in Windows Media Player.

VCD

Video CD or VCD. Wikipedia's view. VCD is the fore-runner format to DVD. It can't store quite as much data as a DVD and therefore is usually limited to about 12 - 15 tracks. Although the humble VCD is an older technology it is still widely used in public karaoke shows whereas DVD's, by contrast, are not. This is because most professional hosts will not use a DVD player at a public show as they have a looooong loading time full of all sorts of menus. These long delays are tiresome when trying to run a show or just waiting to sing, so as a result, VCD's are chosen over the otherwise superior DVD for ease of use.

Being the forerunner to DVD, VCD's will play on most DVD players. There are still a few VCD players around, in particular the ubiquitous JVC triple drawer used by many karaoke hosts over the last two decades. VCD's usually feature a cheesy background video behind the lyrics and have the widest support for MPX.

Pro's

  • Wider range of music than DVD.
  • Plays on the most commonly used VCD player used by karaoke hosts.
  • Plays on most DVD players.
  • The most support for MPX.

Con's

  • Only 12 - 15 tracks.
  • Not widely supported by computer karaoke programs.

DVD

The Digital Versatile Disc. Yes you read it right. Originally known using the word "Versatile" which is not that well known among the geekier younger generation, so if they're getting a bit of attitude towards technologically superiority, you can always lay that one on em. DVD also stands for Digital Video Disc due to the now common use. See Wikipedia for more on this.

Pro's

  • Often get more songs (over 20) for the same price or often cheaper.
  • Will play on any PC capable of playing DVD's.

Con's

  • Only play on DVD players.
  • Slow load process.
  • Only a small range of titles available on DVD.