Specifications

CD-i FAQ 2000 Edition Revised February 21, 2001

Latest version and more CD-i info: http://www.icdia.org

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. Please note that CDRWin indicates the CD-i track with a

green circle, indicating mode 2, and not with a blue circle which, according to the explanation of

the program, should indicate a CD-i track. There is no difference between a mode 2 and a CD-i

track, and it is unclear why the program mentions CD-i as a seperate track format.

If you load a CD-i disc and no tracks are displayed indicating that the disc would be empty, or

only red CD-Audio tracks are shown, you might suffer from the problem that is explained in: 10.5

Why can't I copy a particular CD-i title?.

10.5 Why can't I copy a particular CD-i title?

In some circumstances it might be impossible to copy a particular CD-i title. This might have

several reasons, but the two most common reasons are:

• The discs is slightly 'out of spec'. Due to some technical issues, the CD-Recording tool is

unable to read the contents of the disc (for example the session is closed as CD-Audio instead of

CD-i, so the CD-ROM drive does not return data the proper way).

• The discs contains CD-Audio tracks.

Especially CD-i's with CD-Audio tracks can cause a lot of troubles when trying to copy them.

There a two different methods of including CD-Audio tracks on a CD-i disc. The first is by adding

CD-Audio tracks after the initial CD-i data track, the second is according to the CD-i Ready format

(refer to: 5.2 What is CD-i Ready?). Especially the latter one is difficult to copy, since the CD-i

data is included in the pre-gap (the pause sectors) preceeding audio track 1. This makes the CD-i

data invisible to most CD-Audio players, since they usually skip the pause before track 1.

However, most CD-Recording tools also just look at the TOC (Table of Contents) of a CD to

investigate what the contents of a particular disc are, and by such they don't see this "hidden"

CD-i area.

There are some tools that can be used to read all sectors of a disc from the beginning untill the

end in a raw manner, and then write an exact replica of it. One of these tools is BlindRead from

www.blindread.com, which produces a Disc Image file and a cuesheet that can for example

be written with CDRWin. Some "difficult" CD-i titles can then be written in the usual way.

10.6 Can I copy a CD-i title to a videocassette?

Yes you can. CD-i does not incorporate an analogue copy protection scheme like Macrovision

that is used with some video cassettes and in DVD-Video. Just hook up the video output of your

CD-i player to the video input of your VCR, and of you go. If you use a Hi-8 or Super-VHS

recorder, and if your CD-i player provides S-Video or Y/C output, use this connection for the best

results. Otherwise, use the CVBS output of the player.

Needless to say, all interactivity will be gone when you copy a CD-i disc to a video cassette.

Make sure you remove the menu from the screen whenever this is possible. Also, take a close

look at the cursor. Remove it from the screen, or point it completely to one of the sides to make

its appaerance as less disturbing as possible.