#CD-ROM flexible Formats
10 messages in this thread
Hello,
as I'm new to this forum I want first apologize, if my problem does not
reflect to the purpose of this forum. But if it does, I would be more
than happy to receive any feedback on this:
Currently there are 10 or more different standards for CD-ROM. All defined
in different colored books (i.e. Orange Book=rewritbl. or Write Once CD)
etc.
If I want to buy a CD-ROM drive in the next future, what could be the drive
of most value, when looking for most flexibility?
I want: Audio CD (Red Book specs)
CD-ROM Multimedia for Mac (Yellow Book specs)
Photo CD (multiple session) (Orange/Yellow Book specs)
CD-I (Red/Green Book specs)
Rewritable/WO CD (Orange Book)
CD+MIDI
Movie CD (future)
Is there one drive which can cover all the above applications?
So far I know that CD-ROM/XA multisession drives support most of the above
but not all of it. But as a big MIDI fan I would also see MIDI on this,
which is only available on VIS and CDTV players right now.
Any suggestions?
-Axel-
Axel,
I don't think there is a drive that covers all of those formats. a new
multi-session Photo CD compatible SCSI cd-ROM drive has
aduio/multi-media/normal cd-rom/photo cd covered quite easily.
Download the files CDFAQ.TXT and CDROMF.ZIP and KODAK.TXT. These files
will give you more background material on making your first CD-ROM drive
purchase.
Axel:
You've got "color books", CD fromats and proprietary products all scrambled
up. There are many different formats, but they are not all defined by
spearate "color books." MIDI and movies on CD are all related to the way
data is stored (eg. compression standards) rather than the medium they are
stored upon. The Yellow book defines CDROM, regardless of platform, etc.
As Albert suggested, download CDFAQ.TXT for clarification.
The drive that will do the most for you is the XA-ready, multisession drive
with the fastest access speed and transfer rate you can afford. You cannot
run CD-I on anything but a CD-I player so that is out. Unless you want to
write your own discs (a $4000-12,000 proposition), Orange book is not
relevant either. If you are using a pc and want to follow the MPC spec,
get a sound board that also supports MIDI. (This is not directly relevant
to CD either.)
Everyone is trying to make a market where consumers don't have to worry
about color books and formats and standards. Generally, we want to provide
systems that work with the highest degree of compatibility.
Hope this helps – Rich Bowers
Rich,
Isn't there an XA (bridge disc) player that plays both CD-ROM and CD-I? I
thought that was one of the things about bridge disc.
Kathy <<– The One-Off CD Shop MidSouth, Inc.
Kathy:
It is not solely the player that determines compatibility with CD-I. CD-I
is a closed, off-the-wall, proprietary operating system, and the software
that runs the CD-I title does not work in any other platform. The only
"bridge disc" product in the market today is Photo-CD: it plays on an
XA-ready disc drive attached to a CD, and it plays in a CD-I player
(although there are rumors that Photo-CD is having problems in a new model
player Philips intro'd last month).
By the end of this year, XA may be the only thing of the grand CD-I scheme
still left standing, and nothing to "bridge" to.
Best – Rich
Rich,
I don't want to start the "CD-I Wars" especially with one of my favorite
people, but in truth the problem with the new player has been fixed with a
firmware upgrade, and I think Philips did that rather neatly. They built
the players with EPROMS, and to upgrade them they just sent owners a disc
to play that rewrote the firmware. Slick!
There are several other companies besides Philips who are making CD-I
players — Sony, GoldStar, and some others I can't think of now. Also,
some new developer software has been announced by a Japanese company that
is much less $$ than OptImage's MediaMogul. I think it's far from death's
door.
Kathy
Kathy:
I don't want to argue with you either (well, actually, I love to argue, but
I'm bored with arguing about CD-I). Just note that Sega sold more CDROM
players in 45 days in the US than Philips has been able to sell or give
away in a year and a half world wide. Learn all you can about it: you may
be able to pick up the whole division at fire-sale prices!
Take care!
Rich
Rich,
<<you may be able to pick up the whole division at fire-sale prices!>>
Who knows, we may start the fire!
Kathy
I beieve that a Photo CD Multisession Drive with support for CD-ROM XA
would cover most of the basis …. unless of course something else happens.
Also double speed is a good idea.
William Volk
The new Sony CD-ROM drives support most of the standards currently on the
market. Some disc, like CD-I,are not playable on PC's, but the new Sony
drives, CDU31A and CDU561 support CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA (data format read – not
decode), Photo CD multisession, I believe the first actually out on the
market, plus audio. The CDU31A is currently shipping as drive only or in
the Desktop Library systems. This is a retail oriented drive with tray
loading mechanism. It meets the MPC and Photo CD multisession standards.
The CDU561 is a double speed drive with SCSI interface. It will probably
not be available at retail until approximately 6/93. If you have any
questions please feel free to call me at 408-432-0190.
Regards,
Les Inanchy