The History of Karaoke from Laser Disc to today! - Karaoke Home Entertainment

The Karaoke Revolution might be new for some people, but it's actually been around for many, many years now.

The father of the first Karaoke Machine Mr Shigeichi Negish produced his prototype way back in 1967, he sadly passed away (January 26th, 2024) at the grand age of 100 years in Japan, but his legacy to the world will live on, he is making people happy everyday with his revolutionary karaoke device originally called the "Sparko Box".

Mr Shigeichi Negish

Pioneer Electronics made Karaoke popular in pubs and clubs in the USA, Europe, Japan and Australia during the 80's and 90's with the large 12" (LP sized) Laser Video Discs Systems.

Pioneer Laser Disc Karaoke and Movies

That was long before the birth of DVD's in 1996 and karaoke was never really popular on this format, it was more popular on the predecessor to DVD which was VCD (Video-CD), but the picture quality wasn't good for movies but for karaoke purposes it was acceptable and very big in Asian markets.

Though long before even VCD and DVD there was another format for Karaoke which ran side by side with Laser Disc for a while until eventually winning out over cost and physical size, and that was the CD+G Karaoke Disc format.

CD+G Karaoke Discs

CD+G made Karaoke main stream, as the discs cost the same as audio CD and could be played in much cheaper CD+G karaoke machines and these factors alone made karaoke creep into more homes the world over year after year as it became more affordable as the technology grew in popularity.

The CD+G Karaoke format delivered on a standard sized compact disc, to display the karaoke lyrics required a special Karaoke Machine or Player which could see the encoded +Graphic lyric component also on the disc, this was then outputed to one's TV so you can sing-along.

These CD+G discs could also be played on a standard Compact Disc Player but as they didn't have a video output or the tech to read the +G section on the disc it was just played as an standard audio disc.

CD+G is still probably the worlds most popular karaoke format as is still used today, new songs are released weekly on this format even in a modern digital world of YouTube Karaoke Streaming and host of Karaoke Apps.

See it's managed to evolved overtime into a digital format of it's own, called MP3+G available to be downloaded instantly and played on Karaoke Machines, Laptops and KTV Touch Screen.

Just think of it as normal MP3 audio track but with a second file being the lyric +G (for Graphic) track, which is played at the same time displaying the lyrics on your device (TV, Laptop or KTV Touch Screen).

Sonken MP4000 Converts CD+G to Digital MP3+G Songs

See you can simply convert your existing library of Karaoke CD+G discs to MP3+G Digital Karaoke Songs, which then could played on a Laptop using special software like PCDJ Karaoki which is popular with Karaoke Hosts and DJ's who run shows and pubs, clubs and venues for large groups.

PCDJ Karaoki Software for MP3+G Songs on your Laptop

And for the home user, you now had the easier option of having thousands of songs purchased on CD+G discs over many years all on a single USB Memory Stick or SD Card.

MP3+G saved you time swapping all those discs, looking for that song your friend wants to sing, as all you had to do was select the song you wanted from the on-screen TV menu. Most Karaoke Machines (like the Sonken MP4000) would even produce a song book for you offering an even easier way to playback the song by entering in the unique song number for each karaoke track.

KTV Karaoke Touch Screen Systems

It's 2024 now and our customers are once again now even looking beyond the humble yet reliable Karaoke Machine to that of a self serve option so that anyone can simply walk up and select a karaoke track and start singing.

A modern day Karaoke Jukebox if you like, but they want to bring their existing Karaoke library along on the journey and why shouldn't they, having invested hundreds if not thousands of dollars in cultivating a Karaoke song library.

The good part is that this is indeed now possible with the arrival of the Karaoke TV (KTV) Touch Screen System.

KTV Karaoke Touch Screen Systems

The KTV Touch Screen System can either be used with your existing sound system replacing your karaoke machine providing you have microphone inputs on your sound system else you will require a Mixer like the ACNOS Mi-30s to provide this element, which comes with 2 Wireless Microphones so will simple sits in between the KTV Touch Screen and your Sound System and your off and singing.

ACNOS Mi-30s Karaoke Microphone and Mixer

Else we have the KTV Touch Screen packaged with several KBEATBOX All-In-One Portable Karaoke Systems which offer audio output powers ranging from 100 to 250 Watts (RMS) complete with Music and Vocal Mixing Capabilities and 2 UHF Wireless Microphones as standard.

Selected KBEATBOX units also allow up to 4 Wireless Singers at the same time.

The KTV Touch Screen can even output to a larger TV via HDMI cable so even more people can see whats going on and join in on the fun!

Plus, you get the added benefit of using your exisiting MP3+G Karaoke song library via the WinLive Pro Karaoke Mobile 2.0 App, (pictured below) along with access Karaoke Streaming Services, YouTube Karaoke and any other Karaoke Apps all from the one Touch Screen device.It's amazing piece of tech, a modern day hybrid karaoke solution offering the best of yesterday and today. Its uncomon that you can bring your past tech along with you when you make an upgrade these days, but CD+G Karaoke has managed to do just that, reborn as MP3+G in today's modern digital world, and that in its own right will ensure it will live on for many years to come.

And most importantly it gives you access to over 100,000 songs which have been produced over the years for CD+G/MP3+G as there are songs in this domain which cannot be found anywhere else especially Australian and New Zealander song content.

Plus you can get many different languages now for karaoke via Karaoke Apps and even YouTube really opening up your selection of songs all awaiting you in the Google Play Store.

15.6" Karaoke Touch Screen System (Android OS + WIFI + Bluetooth + YouTube) - Karaoke Home Entertainment

It all started in 1967 but karaoke continues to evolve every year, the fun and enjoyment of singing never ends, thanks to Mr Shigeichi Negish, the father of Karaoke.

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