Karaoke help - random tracks play instead of the karaoke track

[pomc]

Just began configuring karaoke and could use some troubleshooting tips. I only have 2 karaoke tracks loaded right now while I try to get things right.  I'm guessing a tagging issue, but not sure.

Version 8.0.04
Windows 7 Ultimate
WMP plays the .CDG files fine
Dual monitors

Karaoke tracks are loaded as follows:

/karaoke/AC-DC/You shook me all night long
/karaoka/Weird Al/The saga begins

The CDG and MP3 are both in each folder.

Tag info:

file name - you shook me all night long.mp3
Artist: AC-DC
Album: AC-DC
Title: You shook me all night long
CDG filename: you shook me all night long.cdg

The album cover appears on the karaoke selection screen. The fanart appears on the 2nd screen when the track is selected, but after a few seconds a random song or video will play instead.

What should I check or configure?

Thanks,

Rick

[Barcrest]

Do you have the CDG file assacoiated with WMP? Can you double click the CDG and it will launch WMP and play?

[pomc]

Yes, I can launch a CDG file in WMP by double clicking it.

That had been a problem up until yesterday, but then I added the registry entry that the instructions below said to add and they play fine in Windows. I didn't regenerate the karaoke library, so I will try that tonight. Anything else you can think of?



Windows Media Center out of the box doesn't recognize .CDG files (along with their mp3 counterparts) as playable media, and even if it could, it wouldn't know how to play them.

1. Install Karaoke for DirectX - this tells Windows Media Center how to play CDGs. Get it for free at:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/karaoke-dx/karaoke-2.3.zip?download

2. Add a registry key to make Windows Media Center recognize .CDG files:

Run the program REGEDIT (Start File-Run...regedit). Double-click on the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT line and scroll down to the ".cdg" entry. Right-click on it and from the pop-up menu select "New" then "String value". Change the default name of "New Value #1" to "PerceivedType" (no quotes). Now double-click on that name. In the "value data" field, type the word "video" (no quotes) and press enter. Close the REGEDIT program - you're done!

3. Now, start up Windows Media Player and try to play one of your CDG files. You should get a warning dialog - checkmark it to go away permanently. Your CDG file should now play. Close Windows Media Player.

4. Now, start up Windows Media Center again and navigate to My Videos. Double-click on the shortcut you created (or moved karaoke folder), to see all the karaoke CDG files! Double-click on any file to play!

[Barcrest]

What version of media player are you using. I have used the karaoke on wmp10 and 11 without issue but I couldn't say about anything other than that. I just associated mine by double clicking the CDG file and then selecting open with and picking media player. Probably achieves the same thing.

[pomc]

WMP version 11.0.6001.7000

Like I said, they CDG's play fine in WMP, just in the jukebox a random song or video will play instead of the karaoke track. It thinks about playing it because the fan art for the artist appears.

[Barcrest]

WMP version 11.0.6001.7000

Like I said, they CDG's play fine in WMP, just in the jukebox a random song or video will play instead of the karaoke track. It thinks about playing it because the fan art for the artist appears.

It is probably just switching to random play, try that turned off.

[pomc]

Disabled random play and still no dice. Installed E-Touch on my arcade machine that's running XP and the karaoke files played fine.

Any other suggestions to try? I'd rather not swap PCs and create extra work that I don't have the time for.

thanks.

[pomc]

FIXED! 

So I decided it has to be a WMP problem and so I found another set of instructions for downgrading to WMP 11. I noticed these steps said to take ownership of the WMP folder and WMP files in System32. Got me thinking...

I have two accounts on Windows 7 for the jukebox, one for the jukebox with no password and one as my account. Both are administrator accounts and both are in the local admin group. However, when I downgraded to WMP 11 I was using remote desktop from my office PC and performed those actions while logged into my account, not the jukebox account. So I installed Etouch under my own account instead of going thru the hassle of taking ownership of all the individual WMP files on the jukebox account.

That did the trick and now the karaoke files play perfectly. Very odd, but I hope this helps anyone else troubleshoot any issues in the future.

Thanks for your suggestions and help along the way.

...now to get a pre-mixer and microphones!