CD-i
Encyclopedia
CD-i, or Compact Disc Interactive, is the name of an interactive multimedia CD player
Compact disc player
A Compact Disc player , or CD player, is an electronic device that plays audio Compact Discs. CD players are often a part of home stereo systems, car audio systems, and personal computers. They are also manufactured as portable devices...

 developed and marketed by Royal Philips Electronics N.V.
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....

 CD-i also refers to the multimedia Compact Disc
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 standard used by the CD-i console, also known as Green Book
Green Book (CD-interactive standard)
The Philips "Green Book" specifies the standard for interactive, multimedia compact discs designed for CD-i players . This compact disc format is unusual, because it hides the initial tracks which contains the software and data files used by the CD-i players. It does this by omitting the tracks...

, which was developed by Philips
Philips
Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. , more commonly known as Philips, is a multinational Dutch electronics company....

 and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 (not to be confused with MMCD, the pre-DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....

 format also co-developed by Philips and Sony). Work on the CD-i began in 1984 and it was first publicly announced in 1986. The first Philips CD-i player, released in 1991 and initially priced around USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

 $700, is capable of playing interactive CD-i discs, Audio CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

s, CD+G
CD+G
CD+G is an extension of the compact disc standard that can present low-resolution graphics alongside the audio data on the disc when played on a compatible device...

 (CD+Graphics), Karaoke CDs, and Video CD
Video CD
Before the advent of DVD and Blu-ray, the Video CD became the first format for distributing films on standard 120 mm optical discs. The format is a standard digital format for storing video on a Compact Disc...

s (VCDs), though the last requires an optional "Digital Video Card" to provide MPEG-1
MPEG-1
MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...

 decoding.

The CD-i proved to be a commercial failure in that market segment and some of its games have been known to be among the least well received ever made. Philips ceased publishing video games for the platform in 1998.

Applications

Early software releases in the CD-i format focused heavily on educational, music, and self-improvement titles, with only a handful of video games, many of them adaptations of board games such as "Connect Four". Later attempts to develop a foothold in the games market were rendered irrelevant by the arrival of cheaper and more powerful consoles
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...

, such as the Nintendo 64
Nintendo 64
The , often referred to as N64, was Nintendo′s third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996 in Japan, September 1996 in North America, March 1997 in Europe and Australia, September 1997 in France and December 1997 in Brazil...

 and PlayStation. The CD-i is noted for the release of several spinoffs of popular Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....

 video games featuring characters typically seen only on Nintendo consoles, although those games were not developed by Nintendo. Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario is a puzzle game developed by Fantasy Factory and published by Philips Interactive Media and Nintendo for the CD-i in 1994. The primary character of the game is Mario, who must find Princess Toadstool by going through seven Koopa hotels in the Mushroom Kingdom. Every hotel is divided...

was a puzzle game that featured Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros.
is a 1985 platform video game developed by Nintendo, published for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a sequel to the 1983 game Mario Bros. In Super Mario Bros., the player controls Mario as he travels through the Mushroom Kingdom in order to rescue Princess Toadstool from the antagonist...

 characters.

Applications were developed using authoring software produced by OptImage. This included OptImage's Balboa Runtime Libraries and MediaMogul. The second company that produced authoring software was Script Systems; they produced ABCD-I.

Philips also released several versions of popular TV game show
Game show
A game show is a type of radio or television program in which members of the public, television personalities or celebrities, sometimes as part of a team, play a game which involves answering questions or solving puzzles usually for money and/or prizes...

s for the CD-i, including versions of Jeopardy!
Jeopardy!
Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...

(hosted by Alex Trebek
Alex Trebek
George Alexander "Alex" Trebek is a Canadian American game show host who has been the host of the game show Jeopardy! since 1984, and prior to that, he hosted game shows such as Pitfall and High Rollers. He has appeared in numerous television series, usually as himself...

), Name That Tune
Name That Tune
Name That Tune is a television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Premiering in the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show was created and produced by Harry Salter and his wife Roberta....

(hosted by Bob Goen
Bob Goen
Robert Kuehl "Bob" Goen is an American game show emcee and television personality, best known for his work on Entertainment Tonight between 1993 and 2004...

), and two versions of The Joker's Wild
The Joker's Wild
The Joker's Wild is an American television game show that aired at different times during the 1970s through the 1990s. Contestants answered questions based on categories that were determined randomly by a mechanism resembling a slot machine....

(one for adults hosted by Wink Martindale
Wink Martindale
Winston Conrad Martindale , known professionally as Wink Martindale, is an American disc jockey and television game show host.-Radio:...

 and one for kids hosted by Marc Summers
Marc Summers
Marc Summers is an American television personality, comedian, game show host, producer, and a two-time talk show host. He is best known for hosting the Nickelodeon game show Double Dare and currently hosts Unwrapped on The Food Network.- Early career :Summers was born Marc Berkowitz in...

). All CD-i games in North America (with the exception of Name That Tune) had Charlie O'Donnell
Charlie O'Donnell
Charles John "Charlie" O'Donnell was an American radio and television announcer, primarily known for his work on game shows...

 as announcer. The Netherlands also released its version of Lingo
Lingo (Dutch game show)
Lingo is a Dutch television game show based on the North American format of the same name. Each episode involves two teams of two people trying to guess and spell words. There are usually six letters, but on a Friday, there are seven...

on the CD-i in 1994.

In 1993, American musician Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...

 created the first music-only fully interactive CD, No World Order
No World Order
No World Order is an album by Todd Rundgren , released in 1993. It was heavily influenced by electronica and rap.-Interactive release:...

, for the CD-i. This application allows the user to completely arrange the whole album in their own personal way with over 15,000 points of customization.

CD-i has a series of learning games ("edutainment
Edutainment
Edutainment is a form of entertainment designed to educate as well as to amuse.-Overview:...

") targeted at children from infancy to adolescence. Those intended for a younger audience included Busytown
Busytown
Busytown is a fictional town inhabited by an assortment of anthropomorphic animals, as depicted in various books by the children's author Richard Scarry. Main characters of these books include the following: Huckle Cat, Lowly Worm, Mr. Frumble, police Sergeant Murphy, Mr...

, The Berenstain Bears
Berenstain Bears
The Berenstain Bears is a series of children's books created by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The books feature a family of anthropomorphic bears who generally learn a moral or safety-related lesson in the course of each story...

, and various others which usually had vivid cartoon-like settings accompanied by music and logic puzzles.

Although extensively marketed by Philips, notably via infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...

, consumer interest in CD-i titles remained low. By 1994, sales of CD-i systems had begun to slow, and in 1998 the product line was dropped.

A large number of FMV titles such as Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair
Dragon's Lair is a laserdisc video game published by Cinematronics in 1983. It featured animation created by ex-Disney animator Don Bluth....

and Mad Dog McCree
Mad Dog McCree
Mad Dog McCree is the first live-action laserdisc video game released by American Laser Games. It originally appeared as an arcade shooting game in 1990....

appeared on the system. One of these, Burn:Cycle
Burn:Cycle
Burn:Cycle is a 1994 CD-i title that encompasses puzzle play and 3D graphics with live action footage. The game's star, Sol Cutter, is a small-time data thief whose latest steal at the beginning of the game comes with a nasty sting. The Burn:Cycle virus has been implanted in his head and has given...

, is considered one of the stronger CD-i titles and was later ported to PC.

With the home market exhausted, Philips tried with some success to position the technology as a solution for kiosk applications and industrial multimedia. The console still maintains a cult following on the Internet. Additionally, a Mario
Mario (series)
The video game series, alternatively called the series or simply the series, is a series of highly popular and critically acclaimed video games by Nintendo, featuring Nintendo's mascot Mario and, in many games, his brother Luigi. Gameplay in the series often centers around jumping on and...

 game (titled Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario is a puzzle game developed by Fantasy Factory and published by Philips Interactive Media and Nintendo for the CD-i in 1994. The primary character of the game is Mario, who must find Princess Toadstool by going through seven Koopa hotels in the Mushroom Kingdom. Every hotel is divided...

), and three Legend of Zelda games were released: Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure. Nintendo and Philips had established an agreement to co-develop a CD-ROM enhancement for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 (after Nintendo and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 scrapped a previous deal on an earlier add-on for the SNES, which would eventually result in the creation of the PlayStation), and Philips was contractually allowed to continue using Nintendo characters after the deal fell through.

Philips models

In addition to consumer models, professional and development players were sold by Philips Interactive Media Systems and their VAR
Value-added reseller
A value-added reseller is a company that adds features or services to an existing product, then resells it as an integrated product or complete "turn-key" solution...

s. Philips marketed several CD-i player models.
  • The CD-i player 200 series, which includes the 205, 210, and 220 models. Models in the 200 series are designed for general consumption, and were available at major home electronics outlets around the world. The Philips CD-i 910 is the American version of the CD-i 205, the most basic model in the series.
  • The CD-i player 300 series, which includes the 310, 350, 360, and 370 models. The 300 series consists of portable players designed for the professional market and not available to home consumers. A popular use was multimedia sales presentations such as those used by pharmaceutical companies to provide product information to physicians, as the devices could be easily transported by sales representatives.
  • The CD-i player 400 series, which includes the 450, 470, 490 models. The 400 models are slimmed-down units aimed at console and educational markets. The CD-i 450 player, for instance, is a budget model designed to compete with game consoles. In this version, an infrared remote controller is not standard but optional.
  • The CD-i player 600 series, which includes the 601, 602, 604, 605, 615, 660, and 670 models. The 600 series is designed for professional applications and software development. Units in this line generally include support for floppy disk
    Floppy disk
    A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...

     drives, keyboard
    Keyboard (computing)
    In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...

    s and other computer peripherals. Some models can also be connected to an emulator and have software testing and debugging features.


There also exist a number of hard-to-categorize models, such as the FW380i, an integrated mini-stereo and CD-i player; the 21TCDi30, a television with a built-in CD-i device; and the CD-i 180/181/182 modular system, the first CD-i system produced.

Other manufacturers

Besides Philips, several other manufacturers produced CD-i players, including Magnavox
Magnavox
Magnavox is a US electronics company founded by Edwin Pridham and Peter L. Jensen, who invented the moving-coil loudspeaker in 1915 at their lab in Napa, California. They formed Magnavox in 1917 in order to market their inventions....

, GoldStar
GoldStar
GoldStar was an electronics company established in 1958. The corporate name was changed to LG Electronics and LG Cable in 1995 after merging with Korean competitor Lucky...

 / LG Electronics
LG Electronics
LG Electronics is a global electronics and telecommunications company headquartered in Yeouido, Seoul, South Korea. The company operates its business through five divisions: mobile communications, home entertainment, home appliance, air conditioning and business solution...

, Digital Video Systems, Memorex
Memorex
Memorex began as a computer tape producer and expanded to become a major IBM plug compatible peripheral supplier. It is now a consumer electronics brand of Imation specializing in disk recordable media for CD and DVD drives, flash memory, computer accessories and other electronics.Established in...

, Grundig
Grundig
Grundig AG is a German manufacturer of consumer electronics for home entertainment which transferred to Turkish control in 2004-2007. Established in 1945 in Nuremberg by Max Grundig, the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish Koç Holding group...

, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....

 ('Intelligent Discman', a portable CD-i player), Kyocera
Kyocera
is a multinational manufacturer based in Kyoto, Japan. It was founded as in 1959 by Kazuo Inamori and renamed in 1982. The company has diversified its founding technology in ceramic materials through internal development as well as strategic mergers and acquisitions...

, NBS
Nippon Broadcasting System
, or JOLF, is a Japanese radio station in Tokyo. Together with Nippon Cultural Broadcasting it is a flagship station of the National Radio Network...

, Highscreen, and Bang & Olufsen
Bang & Olufsen
Bang & Olufsen is a Danish company that designs and manufactures audio products, television sets and telephones. It was founded in 1925 by Peter Bang and Svend Olufsen, whose first significant product was a radio that worked with alternating current, when most radios were run from batteries...

, who produced a television with a built-in CD-i device (Beocenter AV5).

TeleCD-i and CD-MATICS

Recognizing the growing need among marketers for networked multimedia, Philips partnered in 1992 with Amsterdam based CDMATICS to develop TeleCD-i (also TeleCD). In this concept, the CD-i player is connected to a network (PSTN
Public switched telephone network
The public switched telephone network is the network of the world's public circuit-switched telephone networks. It consists of telephone lines, fiber optic cables, microwave transmission links, cellular networks, communications satellites, and undersea telephone cables, all inter-connected by...

, Internet or other) enabling data-communication and rich media presentation. Dutch grocery chain Albert Heijn
Albert Heijn
Albert Heijn B.V. is a supermarket chain founded in 1887 in Oostzaan, Netherlands. It is named after Albert Heijn, Sr., the founder of the first store in Oostzaan....

 and mail-order giant Neckermann Shopping were early adopters and introduced award-winning TeleCD-i applications for their home-shopping and home-delivery services. CDMATICS also developed the special Philips TeleCD-i Assistant and a set of software tools helping the worldwide multimedia industry to develop and implement TeleCD-i. TeleCD-i was the world's first networked multimedia application at the time of its introduction. In 1996, Philips acquired source code rights from CDMATICS.

Technical specifications

CPU
  • 16-bit 68070
    Philips 68070
    The SCC68070 was a Philips-branded Motorola 68000-based Microcontroller with built in DMA controller, minimal MMU, I²C bus controller and other enhancements...

     CISC
    Complex instruction set computer
    A complex instruction set computer , is a computer where single instructions can execute several low-level operations and/or are capable of multi-step operations or addressing modes within single instructions...

     Chip (68000
    Motorola 68000
    The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...

     core)
  • Clock Speed of 15.5 MHz


Display
  • Graphics Chip: MCD 212
  • Resolution: 384×280 to 768×560
  • Colors: 16.7 million w/ 32,768 on screen
  • MPEG 1 Cartridge Plug-In for VideoCD and Digital Video


Audio
  • Sound Chip: MCD 221
  • ADPCM eight channel sound
  • 16-bit stereo
    Stereophonic sound
    The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...

     sound


Operating System
  • CD-RTOS (based on Microware
    Microware
    Microware is a US corporation that produced the OS-9 real-time operating system.Microware Systems Corporation existed as a separate entity from 1977 until September 2001, when it was bought by RadiSys Corp., and became a division of that company...

    's OS-9
    OS-9
    OS-9 is a family of real-time, process-based, multitasking, multi-user, Unix-like operating systems, developed in the 1980s, originally by Microware Systems Corporation for the Motorola 6809 microprocessor. It is currently owned by RadiSys Corporation....

    )


Other
  • 1 MB of main RAM
  • Single speed CD-ROM drive
  • Weight with DV cart 1.460 kg, without DV 1.210 kg


CD-i accessories
  • CD-i mouse
  • Roller controller
  • CD-i trackball
  • I/O port splitter
  • Touchpad controller
  • Gamepad controller (Gravis PC GamePad
    Gravis PC GamePad
    The Gravis PC GamePad is a game port game controller produced by Advanced Gravis Computer Technology. It was the first gamepad for the IBM PC compatible in a market then dominated by joysticks...

    )
  • IR wireless controller
  • S-video cable
  • RAM expansion and Video-CD (MPEG-1
    MPEG-1
    MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to 1.5 Mbit/s without excessive quality loss, making video CDs, digital cable/satellite TV and digital audio broadcasting possible.Today, MPEG-1 has become...

    ) support with DV Cart

High-end A/V (secondary market)

(multi-purpose audio/video systems)
  • Commodore CDTV
  • Pioneer LaserActive
    Pioneer LaserActive
    The Pioneer LaserActive was a short-lived Laserdisc-based game console released by Pioneer in 1993. In addition to LaserActive games, separately sold add-on modules expanded the hardware to include compatibility with the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis and PC Engine/TurboGrafx 16 game cartridges and...

  • 3DO Interactive Multiplayer
    3DO Interactive Multiplayer
    The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...

  • Tandy Video Information System
    Tandy Video Information System
    Tandy Memorex Visual Information System was an interactive, multimedia CD-ROM player produced by the Tandy Corporation starting in 1992. It was similar in function to the Philips CD-i and Commodore CDTV systems...


Video game (secondary market)

  • Sega Genesis with Sega CD CD-ROM expansion
  • 3DO Interactive Multiplayer
    3DO Interactive Multiplayer
    The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer is a video game console originally produced by Panasonic in 1993. Further renditions of the hardware were released in 1994 by Sanyo and Goldstar. The consoles were manufactured according to specifications created by The 3DO Company, and were originally designed by...

  • Commodore CDTV

Reception

The CD-i was met with horrid reviews that criticized its price, graphics, games, and controls. In fact, the CD-i's various controllers were ranked the fifth worst video game controller by IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...

 editor Craig Harris. PC World (magazine)
PC World (magazine)
PC World is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal-technology products and services...

 ranked it as fourth on their list of The 10 Worst Video Game Systems of All Time. Gamepro.com also listed the game as number four on their list of The 10 Worst-Selling Consoles of All Time. In 2008, CNET
CNET
CNET is a tech media website that publishes news articles, blogs, and podcasts on technology and consumer electronics. Originally founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition...

 also listed the system on its list of The worst game console(s) ever.

Games that were met with poor reception include Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario
Hotel Mario is a puzzle game developed by Fantasy Factory and published by Philips Interactive Media and Nintendo for the CD-i in 1994. The primary character of the game is Mario, who must find Princess Toadstool by going through seven Koopa hotels in the Mushroom Kingdom. Every hotel is divided...

, Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon and Zelda's Adventure. EGM's Seanbaby rated The Wand of Gamelon as one of the worst games of all time.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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