CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 PDF Version 2.0 Published by The New International CD-i Association www.icdia.org Copyright 2001 Jorg Kennis All rights reserved The latest version of this FAQ can always be found at http://www.icdia.org Please contact the author with questions or remarks: jorg.cdi@kennisonline.com You may publish this document on other websites, provided that it is complete and unmodified.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Contents 0. About this CD-i FAQ 0.1 What's the goal of this FAQ? 0.2 Who wrote it and who maintains it? 0.3 Who helped along the sidelines? 0.4 How can I contact the author? 0.5 What's the official status of this FAQ? 1. The CD-i System 1.1 What is CD-i? 1.2 Who invented CD-i? 1.3 Is CD-i propietary? 1.4 What is the Green Book? 1.5 What versions of the Green Book are available? 1.6 Where can I get the licenses? 1.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 3.13 How does CD-i video work? 3.13.1 What is the screen resolution of a CD-i player? 3.13.2 Does CD-i make a difference between PAL and NTSC? 3.13.3 Does CD-i support wide screen (16:9) TV sets? 3.13.4 How does CD-i Full Motion Video work? 4. CD-i players 4.1 Which companies sold CD-i players? 4.2 What CD-i players are available? 4.3 What is the difference between a consumer and a professional CD-i player? 4.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 6. Video-CD on CD-i 6.1 What's the difference between a Video-CD and a Digital Video on CD-i disc? 6.2 What are the differences between the various Video-CD versions? 6.3 What CD-i applications for Video-CD were available? 6.3.1 What are the differences between the various versions of Video-CD on CD-i? 6.3.2 What version of the CD-i application should be used for the different Video-CD versions? 6.3.3 How can I customize the Video-CD on CD-i 3.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 10. Copying CD-i discs 10.1 Are CD-i titles still copyrighted? 10.2 Are CD-i discs copy-protected? 10.3 Will every CD-Recorder be able to write CD-i discs? 10.4 What software can be used to copy a CD-i title? 10.5 Why can't I copy a particular CD-i title? 10.6 Can I copy a CD-i title to a videocassette? 11. The current CD-i situation 11.1 Is CD-i still being used? 11.2 Are CD-i players still being manufactured? 11.3 Is CD-i still being sold? 11.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 0. About this CD-i FAQ 0.1 What's the goal of this CD-i FAQ? This FAQ has been written in early 2000 to answer most of the questions that are still being asked by a lot of people about the Compact Disc Interactive system. There are other sites and FAQ lists about CD-i available on the web, but most of them are incomplete or even contain inaccurate information. This FAQ tries to clear up most of the myths about CD-i that go around.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 1. The CD-i system 1.1 What is CD-i? CD-i is short for Compact Disc Interactive. It is an interactive multimedia system combining moving and still video, audio and program content on a compact disc, which can be played back in a dedicated CD-i player. A CD-i player is a stand-alone device, consiting of a CPU, memory and an integrated operating system.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 1.7 Will any CD-i disc play on any CD-i player? In general: yes. This is one of the beauties of the CD-i system. Since both disc and playback device are extensively specified, every CD-i disc is compatible with every CD-i player, in contrast to a CD-ROM disc, of which you never know wether it will play on your PC-configuration. Look for the CD-i logo on both disc and player to ensure compatibility.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 • Compatibility. Every CD-i disc is compatible with every CD-i player. There are no "system requirements". A content-provider can be sure that its disc can be played without troubles, without worrying about the type of display-adapter, sound card, version of the operating system, screen resolution, CD-ROM drive speeds, drivers, hardware conflicts, etc. • Ease-of-use. A CD-i player and it software are very easy to use. Just pop-in the disc and you're gone.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 never function as a replacement for the system logo, i.e. when it is used on hardware or software products, it must be accompanied by the system logo. 1.14 What is the correct way of writing CD-i? Originally, Philips stated that CD-I is the correct way of refering to the system. However, since many people unfamiliar with the system pronounced this as CD-One, they changed it into CD-i (with the lower case 'i') around 1992.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 2. CD-i Applications 2.1 In what areas is CD-i used? When CD-i was being designed in the mid 80s, it was supposed to function both as a consumer device, being sold as an addition to the family's entertainment centre (in a way similar to a VCR), as well as in professional areas. Initially, Philips and Sony expected CD-i to become the next "big thing" in consumer electronics, on which all future electronic developent would (partially) be based.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Philips Interactive Media sold titles that were produced both by internal software studios, as well as for other software manufacturers, and in this way they handled the promotion, marketing and distribution for them. The Philips studios each were specialized in their own area.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 A&P / Hermans Groep, Abbots Labs, ABN Amro Bank, Absolut, ACOG, Adidas, Advertising Display Company, AFT-IFTIM, Agfa Gevaert, Air Plus, Alabastine, Albert Heijn, Alcon, Alied Van Lines, Allianz, Alpine, American Express, American Greating, Ameritech, AMPED, Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam Automobile Exhibition, msterdam Police, Amsterdam Stock Exchange, AASHTO, American Greetings, Ameritech, ANRA, ANWB, AOK, APAC, Aquamris Hotel Rügen, Arai Helmets, Armstrong Flo
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Amparo, Museum of London, Muzak DMI, 11er Nahrungsmittel National Cancer Institute, National Safety Council (UK), Nationale Nederlanden, Naturkundemuseum Stuttgart, Naturschutzzentrum Bad Wurzbach, Nestles, Netherlands Antilles Police Force, Netherlands Film Festival, Nethold, New Media Systems, Nieuwe Revue, Nikon, NIMA, Nine West Group, Nissan, NÖ Landesausstellung, NOB Interactive, Nordsjö Färg, NOTA Multimedia LTV Allemande, Notre Dame University, Novare
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 3. CD-i Techniques 3.1 What are CD-i's basic specs? A CD-i player is based on a 68000 CPU running at least at 15 MHz, it is equiped with at least 1 MB of RAM, a single speed CD-drive, dedicated audio and video decoding chips, at least 8 KB of non-volatile storage memory and a dedicated operating system called CD-RTOS.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 To enable the simultaneous retreival of both audio and video information, data is interleaved on the CD-i disc. This means that each sector contains a piece of either audio or video information, and that those sectors can be put in consequence next to each other. Since a CD-i disc is read at a constant continuing speed, the designer needs to be aware of the load of a certain choice of quality for audio or video in the disc's datastream.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 3.7 What's CD-i's disc structure? Like with all official CD-standards, a CD-i disc is devided into tracks. A CD-i disc contains at least one CD-i track, and my optionally contain additional CD-Audio tracks that may also be played on a standard CD-Audio player. The CD-i track must be the first track on the disc, with the optional CD-Audio tracks hereafter.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 complex programs, additional audio samples, or faster transition of pictures that are stored in RAM and need not to be loaded from the disc again.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 CD-i provides for 3 levels of ADPCM audio, all of which can be used either in mono or stereo: • • • • • • • CD-Audio PCM, 44.1 KHz, 16 bit, all sectors, up to 74 mintues ADPCM Level A Stereo, 37.8 KHz, 8 bit, 1 in 2 sectors, up to 2.4 hours ADPCM Level A Mono, 37.8 KHz, 8 bit, 1 in 4 sectors, up to 4.8 hours ADPCM Level B Stereo, 37.8 KHz, 4 bit, 1 in 4 sectors, up to 4.8 hours ADPCM Level B Mono, 37.8 KHz, 4 bit, 1 in 8 sectors, up to 9.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 used for a single-colored background or for MPEG full motion video (or to display video from an external source on some players). The content of each of both middle planes is placed in one of the two memory banks (see: 3.9 How much RAM does CD-i incorporate?). Parts of an image on one of the middle two planes can be transparant, so that the underlying plane becomes visible. This can for example be used to show subtitles or menubars on an image.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 3.13.1 What is the screen resolution of a CD-i player? CD-i can display both main planes in either normal, double or high resolution, which are 384x280, 768x280 and 768x560 respectively. Some encoding techniques are limited to a single resolution, for example a DYUV image is always standard resolution. It is possible for the images on each of the planes to be displayed at once, even if they are in different resolutions.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 CD-i Digital Video is based on the MPEG-1 standard, which is now extensively used in a wide variety of applications, but it was initally developed mainly for CD-i. This standard allows CD-i to display full resolution (384x280) moving video images in either 24, 25 or 30 frames per second. The video is not interlaced, like with MPEG-2 used in DVD-Video. Video-quality is roughly comparable to standard VHS.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 4. CD-i players 4.1 Which companies sold CD-i players? The CD-i standard was set up in the late 80s by Philips and Sony, the same companies behind the CD-Audio and CD-ROM spec. The idea was to establish a worldwide standard that could be lincensed by other manufacturers in a similar way as previous CD-standards.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Some CD-i players however are known to load the CD-i application faster than others (at startup of a particular CD-i disc), due to the internal system functions that need to be performed on a CDi player with more integrated functionality, but this is also just a matter of seconds. 4.5 What are the differences between the various player shells? The player shell is the startup application of every CD-i player that is displayed when the player is switched on.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 motion video can be played back. To achieve this, the cartridge is equiped with MPEG audio and video decoding ICs, and an additional 1.5 MB of system RAM. This extra memory may also be used to improve the perfomance of certain titles, for example by using it to store images that do not need to be reloaded from the disc each time.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 turned of or unplugged from the mains. NV-RAM can be used by an application to store high scores from games, personal presets, Favourite Track selections for Audio-CDs, Favourite Picture Selections for Photo-CDs, prefered language settings, etc. NV-RAM is also used by the system to store the CSD (see: 3.10 What is the CSD?) Although 8 KB is the minimum storage space, some CD-i players have 4 times that capacity, resulting is 32 KB.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 differences to speed up or slow down the movement of the cursor. A few players accepted both RC-formats. Refer to the Comparison table of all Philips CD-i players at www.icdia.org to see which remote can be used. Please note that both Enhanced RC5 and RC6 are Philips-specific developments, they are not part of the Green Book. 4.10 Can a keyboard be connected to a CD-i player? Yes. Philips sold a keyboard for CD-i players called CD-i KeyControl.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 4.13 Can a CD-i player read multi-session CDs? Yes, most players can. Multi-session was defined in the Orange Book part II for CD-Recordable when Philips and Kodak were working on the Photo-CD specification to allow for the addition of new pictures at a later time. Since Photo-CD was introduced as a subset of CD-i, multisession became a standard feature of all consumer CD-i players.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 From a software point of view, there is no actual difference between the three broadcast systems. Every CD-i disc can be played on every CD-i player. However, as with DVD-Video, some notes with respect to aspect ratio and safety area need to be take into account. Please refer to: 3.13.2 Does CD-i make a difference between PAL and NTSC?. 4.17 Can CD-i be used on DTV, IDTV and HDTV television sets? Yes, they can.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 5. Disc types 5.1 What is a CD-i disc? A CD-i disc is a type of CD with audio, video and program content that can be played on a CD-i player. A CD may be called a CD-i disc only when it fully conforms to the CD-i Full Functional Specification, as laid down in the Green Book. When a CD-i disc does not fully conform to this specification (even if it can be played on a CD-i player, such as a Photo-CD or a Video-CD), it is not a CD-i disc.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 second) x 384 bits = approx. 3.6 Kbyte per second. Due to this low bit rate, only very simple graphics can be stored. CD+Graphics can show 16 colors at one time on the screen, from a palet of 4096 colors in a resolution of 288x192 pixels. Any font that is used has to be encoded in the graphics stream as a graphical element. CD+G allows for the change of colors used on the screen, so that words can be highlighted for singalong purposes.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 5.7 What is Video-CD? A Video-CD is a compact disc with up to 75 minutes of VHS quality video with accompanying sound in CD quality. Audio and video are coded according to the MPEG-1 standard and the disc layout is based on the CD-i Bridge specification to allow for the playback on a variety of plackback devices like CD-i players and dedicated Video-CD players. The first version of the Video-CD spec was still called Karaoke-CD (see: 5.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 5.9.1 What Photo-CD variants are available? Do they all play on CD-i? Kodak and Philips defined 5 different variants of Photo-CD aimed at various types of usage. All of these types were based on the basic Photo-CD specification and are in accordance with the CD-i Bridge specification. All can be played on all Photo-CD compliant playback devices like a CD-i player. • Photo-CD Master The 'regular' consumer Photo-CD, as the ones made by photo-finishers.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 of an image. This high/low res setting was valid for all Photo-CD discs (with this version of the application) that were loaded in a particular CD-i player. This 2.3 version was bundled with version 3.0 of the Kodak PIW Workstation software for photo-finishers that was released in late 1992. • Version 3.1 Version 3.1 added some major functionality and improved permormance compared to 2.3.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 required files are missing and a CD-i application is not available. Hence, an Adaptec Picture-CD cannot be played on a Photo-CD player or a CD-i player. Adaptec is likely to use this strategy to bypass the expensive license fees from Kodak. 5.11 Will CD-i play CD-ROM discs? The term CD-ROM is used for all types of usage of a CD in computer applications. A CD-ROM can contain various filesystems (like ISO-9660, Joliet, Apple HFS, Unix, etc.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 producer's option, and is not required for any Super Audio-CD. Only discs with this CDcompatible layer can be played on a CD-i player. Look for this information on the CDs case. 5.15 Will CD-i play HDCD, CD-Video, CD-MIDI or CD-Text? HDCD (High Density Compatible Digital) is an extension to CD-Audio which raises the bit depth of the sampes from 16 to 20 bits, allowing for a higher sound quality on players with a HDCD decoder.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Sometimes it's also called Enhanced (Music) CD. The logo is made up of the regular CD-Digital Audio sign with a '+'-mark next to it. The standard is described in the Blue Book. Such a CD-Extra is a so called "stamped multi-session" disc. It is in essence a multi-session disc like the ones you can create with your CD-Recorder, with the music in session 1, and the data in session 2.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 6. Video-CD on CD-i 6.1 What's the difference between a Video-CD and a Digital Video on CD-i disc? In conjuction with the introduction of the Digital Video cartridge for CD-i players in 1993, Philips published some movies on CD that can be played on a CD-i player equiped with such a cartridge. Although the Video-CD specification already existed at that time, for some marketing-political reasons the movies were released in CD-i format instead of Video-CD.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 This allowed for the playback of continuous video while still providing the possibility to jump directly to a specific chapter. • Video-CD 2.0 With Video-CD 2.0, introduced in 1994 by all of the original Video-CD 1.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 • Version 2.0 The program was changed to allow for other applications besides music video or karaoke. The layout of the buttons was changed from the colorfull yellow and red to more quiet shades of gray. Some terminology was changed (like the "Vocals on/off" switch in the settings screen which is now called "Channel 1/2"). • Version 3.0 Complete restyle of the layout of the application, that has been used troughout all 3.x versions.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 6.3.2 What version of the CD-i application should be used for the different Video-CD versions? When you make a Video-CD, make sure it contains at least version 3.0 of the Video-CD on CD-i application, since the preceeding versions do not adapt themselves to the disc's contents. They need to be customized at program level to work on a particular disc. Beginning with version 3.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 6.4 I have a Video-CD. Why won't it play on my CD-i? It is known that several so-called Video-CDs exist that do not play on a CD-i player. This is mainly the case with certain titles from China and the Far East. Mostly, this is due to the absence of a CD-i application on the disc.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 CD-i players. Both systems are also not interchangable with each other. In order to accomplish for a worldwide standard for MPEG-2 on CD, the original Video-CD companies created Super Video-CD. A true Super Video-CD can however be played on both CVD and Chao-Ji players, since it uses subsets of both systems. Refer to: 6.8 What is Super Video-CD? for more information. 6.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 7. CD-i Authoring 7.1 How is CD-i authoring generally done? CD-i authoring involves several steps, most of which should be followed in order, some of which can be done at the same time. Generally, one starts with the design phase. The producer of a disc decides what it should be all about, how the interactivity will take place, what screens the user will see, what audio will be used, etcetera. Then, the assets (audio and video material) will be created.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Refer to Philips professional and authoring CD-i players in the Complete CD-i Players Overview at www.icdia.org for a comparison. 7.4 What is a CD-i Emulator? A CD-i Emulator is a piece of hardware that contains a large harddisk and control circuitry to provide a stream of audio, video and program data to a CD-i authoring player in exactly the same way as if it was being read from a CD.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 In 1995, OptImage became a wholy owned subsidary of Philips Media, owning 100% of the company. OptImage created the tools with which nearly all of the currenly available CD-i titles were created. Although other companies created CD-i tools as well (such as ABCD-i from Script Systems), none of them became as popular and widely used as OptImage's Balboa Runtime Libraries and MediaMogul.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Windows and Macintosh (available on the PC/Windows downloads page at www.icdia.org), MediaStockroom (which replaced the conversion utilities as a all-in-one package) and the CD-i plugins for Adobe Photoshop. 7.8 Where can I get CD-i authoring tools? Most of the CD-i authoring tools from Philips and OptImage are now being sold and supported by Cambridge Multimedia Ltd. from the UK and Rise International from the US.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 One tool that is known to support most of the CD-i Disc Image formats is Gear from Gear Software, Inc. Using version 4.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 7.12 How can I make a Photo-CD? The Photo-CD specification is closely guarded by Kodak. The system was set up to provide extra sales opportinuties for Kodak photo finishers, and not as a home-made system. Partly because of contractual difficulties in obtaining a license for Photo-CD, most CD-Recording tools do not let you create a true Photo-CD that can be played on Photo-CD players and CD-i players among others.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 8. CD-i Mysteries 8.1 Can I connect a CD-i player to a terminal display? Yes. Every CD-i player from Philips is equiped with a serial port, either as mini-DIN connector at the back of the player, or it can be made available by connecting a port splitter to the input port of CD-i players with only one input port (like CDI 450, CDI 550 and FW380i).
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 mdir -t=desc to check this out). First load some modules (programs) that might be usefull and which are stored on the CD, so you can use them after the CD has been removed. Do this with the load command, for example load dir eject. Now you can kill all other programs that are running on the CD-i. Check which programs are running and what their process IDs are with procs. Then kill the running apps, using for example kill 3 .
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 dir -e command at the shell. Every module that has the latest attribute set to x (execute) can be run. Make sure to change the active program directory to the appropriate directory on the CD using chx /cd/xxx , where xxx is the name of the directory. Remeber that OS-9 makes a difference between upper and lower case letters. For example using the game Escape from Cybercity, there is a version on the disc that allows for unlimited lifes. 8.1.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 8.4 How can I access an X-rated CD-i title? Some CD-i titles with X-rated or adult material are protected from unauthorized usage of children by means of an access code. You need to enter this code, which is usually described in the booklet, to access the disc. In some circumstances you can change this code which is then stored in NV-RAM.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 9. CD-i on other platforms 9.1 Can I run an interactive CD-i title on my PC? No. Unlike other CD-formats like CD-Audio and Video-CD, not only the way of encoding the audiovisual material on the disc has been described in the standard, but also the entire playback environment. This includes the operating system, the CPU, the audio and video decoding chips, etcetera.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 mixed usage of upper and lowercase letters and it provides options to indicate OS-9's Unix-style execution or read permission parameters. Because of this different filesystem, the files on a CD-i disc can not be accessed in a regular way on a PC equiped with a CD-ROM drive. This was not a problem, since a CD-i program could after all not be used on a PC due to its different operating system, CPU and audio and video codecs.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 Please note that the CD-i Filesystem Driver for Windows (refer to: 9.4 Can I view the contents of a CD-i disc on my PC?) needs to be installed on the PC to allow it to access a CD-i disc! 9.8 How can I view Digital Video sequences of a CD-i disc on my PC? You can view the full motion video clips that are stored on a CD-i disc using a wide variety of tools, like version 6.0 or later of Microsoft Windows Media Player.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 10. Copying CD-i discs 10.1 Are CD-i titles still copyrighted? Yes, they certaintly are. It is a common misunderstanding that software for a platform that is no longer available through the regular retail channels is released from copyrights. This is not the case. The same goes for other platforms like Amiga, Atari or MSX.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 refers to absolute sector addresses elsewhere on the disc, which must be present at the exact same location for the disc to be played correctly. A popular tool that I've succesfully used to copy CD-i titles is CDRWin, which is available for free download at www.goldenhawk.com.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 11. The current CD-i situation 11.1 Is CD-i still being used? Yes, CD-i is still widely in use by dozens of companies for their training, point-of-information and point-of-sale needs. Many companies still produce new or updated CD-i titles nowadays and continue to use CD-i for a long time to come. This is partly because of the fact that no real substitue for CD-i with the same level of interactivity is available yet (see: 11.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 11.6 What books have been published about CD-i? A number books have been published in the past couple of years covering CD-i's technical features and the ways it can be used. This list is by no means complete. Check with your books reseller or the publisher to see if you can get hold of a copy.
CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001 PC CD-ROM (the CD-i Sesamestreet titles produced in 1991 have recently been ported to PC format in The Netherlands and are now promoted as a unique new way of entertaining and teaching children!). If you want to have a device that does it all, then just leave the CD-i player in your living room (or make sure you get one!). It can always be used as an Audio-CD player, a Photo-CD player or a Video-CD player.
