Specifications

CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001
Latest version and more CD-i info: http://www.icdia.org
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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. To
start with, it supports playlists and the playback of audio as defined for Portfolio Photo-CD. This
allowed CD-i users to acces the limited interactive features offered by this disc type. The load of
an image can be interrupted by the user, and new images are displayed with a top to bottom wipe
on top of the previous image, without clearing the screen black at first. The low or high resolution
setting is now remembered per individual photo. This 3.1 version was bundled with version 4.1 of
the Kodak PIW Workstation software for photo-finishers that was released in August 1993.
• Version 3.2
Version 3.2 includes some performance enhancements to allow for faster generation of the index
thumbnail screen. It was the latest commercially released version of the application.
It is clear that a Photo-CD with version 3.x of the CD-i application offers a great improvement in
terms of usability and performance. If you plan to make Photo-CDs, make sure that this version or
later is included with your authoring package. There was also a version 3.2.1 of the Photo-CD on
CD-i application, which allowed for a variable zoom factor, allowing you to zoom in at a very small
area of a picture. Since this version is never released to Kodak, Photo-CDs with this version of
the CD-i application are very rare.
As an alternative, a small (63 KB) single file application for CD-i players exists. It does not allow
for favourite picture selection, nor does it support playlists, but it allows you to use a variable
zoom factor to zoom in on a small area of the picture.
The latest commercial release of the Photo-CD on CD-i application (3.2) as well as the alternative
application are available for download at the CD-i Application Downloads section at
www.icdia.org.
A document explaining how to use all menu functions of Philips' Photo-CD on CD-i application 3.x
can be found in the CD-i Technical Documentation / Software section at www.icdia.org.
5.10 Will CD-i play Picture-CD?
There are two completely different systems available currently, both of which are called Picture-
CD. One is defined by Kodak, the other one by Corel and Adaptec. A Kodak Picture-CD is used
in the same way as a Photo-CD, but the file format is different, and an application for Microsoft
Windows instead of CD-i is stored on the CD. As a result, a Kodak Picture-CD is not compatible
with Photo-CD players or CD-i players.
However, there are plans to make Kodak Picture-CD compatible with Video-CD 2.0 compliant
players like Video-CD players, DVD-Video players and CD-i players by including all pictures as
an MPEG still on the disc as well. The Nero Burning Rom CD-R authoring package from Ahead
GmbH is known to support this feature from version 5.0 onwards, and it includes a compatible
CD-i application to show the pictures in high resolution on TV using a CD-i player (see question:
7.13 How can I play my pictures on my CD-i player? for more info). Please note that Video-CD or
CD-i compatibility is not a mandatory requirement of a Picture-CD, and hence can not be
guaranteed. It is very likely that Kodak will replace the Photo-CD creation service of its photo-
finishers with a Picture-CD service.
The other Picture-CD variant is defined by Corel for its Corel CD Creator CD-R package, and was
later adapted by Adaptec when the product was sold to this company and renamed into Adaptec
Easy CD Creator. An Adaptec Picture-CD is a type of disc with images in Kodak Photo-CD
format, but the files are not placed at the sector locations specified by the Photo-CD specification,