#What is CDTV?
13 messages in this thread
Hi. Can anyone explain what CDTV is? I just bought one (a local store
closeout for $169.00) and am wondering what to do with it.
I allready have an AMIGA 500 gathering dust. Will this unit run my A500
games? Is it worth upgrading with memory, newer ROMs or whatever? What is the
availability of CD-ROMs for AMIGAs?
Is there any "authoring" programs for developing CD-ROM based games for
CDTV?
If this unit can do everything my A500 does, I plan on selling/trading my
A500 for accessories or software.
Thanx in advance for your help.
David
David: I picked up a CDTV on closeout, too. I'm using it with my VCR as a
video titler and to play CDTV-based games.
Basically, it's a 1-meg (all chip RAM) A500 with a CD-ROM drive built into
it. It'll play CD audio discs, CD+G audio/graphic discs, CD-MIDI discs,
CDTV discs (about 100 available including games, an encylcopedia, image
discs, MOD discs, interactive storybooks for kids, etc. etc.) and some Mac
and PC discs (it won't run their software, but will access data on many
such discs).
Of course the advantage of CD-ROM is that it holds 600 megabytes on one
disc. You can get the entire Fred Fish collection on one CD-ROM for $40
and even boot up Workbench with it. Safe Harbor mail order has a
reasonable collection of CDTV discs and CD-ROM discs that'll work with the
unit. I suggest "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective" as an excellent
game with some interactive video sequences.
Using the shareware Parnet device (and a special cable to hook up the
parallel ports), you can network a CDTV to any conventional Amiga, which
lets it act as a CD-ROM file server. Parnetting CDTV to your A500, for
instance, would let you access files on the CDTV via your A500, using its
keyboard and mouse. Cheaper than buying a keyboard and mouse for the CDTV
itself.
Non-compatibility issues: CDTV at present only runs Workbench 1.3. The
CD-ROM driver uses up a bit of RAM so a one meg A500 has a bit more free
RAM than a 1 meg CDTV. There is only one accelerator board I'm aware of
that works with CDTV (see below). You need to put discs into a CD-ROM
"caddy" before inserting into the machine, just as on many CD-ROM drives
available for Macs and PCs. Caddies cost about 8 bucks each; you can of
course get along with just one caddy. Hook CDTV up to your stereo system
and it'll play regular audio CDs very nicely, and if your TV set is on,
you'll see an on-screen control menu while the audio CD is playing; you
can control the CD via the remote.
Otherwise, CDTV is almost identical to a plain vanilla A500. One
advantage: It's got color composite output built in, so you can dump stuff
directly to videotape or use your TV set as a monitor. If you do any video
titling or other video stuff as I do, this is nice. The CDTV remote
control device does double duty as a mouse and joystick.
If you get a standard Amiga external floppy drive and plug it into the
rear drive port, you can run almost any Amigaware that'll run on an
equivalent A500. For $99, Commodore will (until end of June, I think —
call the Commodore Express 800 number and ask) sell you a keyboard,
diskette drive, mouse and Amiga system and application software. The
package is tailored for the CDTV (the keyboard and mouse are painted black
and use CDTV's special plug-ins; you can use an ordinary Amiga mouse or
keyboard only if you buy a third-party adapter; one such adapter is called
the Brickette).
As for authoring CDTV software, Amigavision Professional has CDTV hooks
and will let you develop CDTV applications. However, you'd need to add a
hard drive and memory to the CDTV to run AV Pro, which needs about 4 megs
RAM. I think Scala and Showmaker also will fairly easily do CDTV type
programs. You dump the finished work to a removeable hard drive, ship it
to Commodore, and they master the CDTV disc for you. There's also a firm
in Texas that does it. The applications can, of course, be interactive.
There are a couple of SCSI interfaces for the CDTV expansion port on the
rear to let you add a hard drive. Also, the Blizzard board 8 meg RAM
expander/accelerator will work in CDTV. There's a CDTV-specific genlock
available, too.
Any printer or modem will plug right into the CDTV parallel and serial
ports. Any MIDI device will plug into the MIDI ports, for making music.
Didn't you get a CDTV "Welcome Disc" and manual with your closeout? Call
Commodore Express and see if you can get a set without buying a CDTV.
— Ron Legro, Milwaukee
via AUTOPILOT (the only way to fly)
Ron,
Thanx for all the info. I was out of town when I bought the CDTV unit and
haven't had a chance to try it. I have called around to see what titles are
available, doesn't seem to be well supported.
Do you think it could take a "IBM-PC" emulator and handle those CDs? Since
it can read and write the files it might work. That would open up a whole lot
more software.
Does the Genlock replace the video port in the back or the spare slot?
Who makes the "Blizzard board" you mentioned?
Do you have any CDTV titles you're tired off and would like to sell/trade?
I'm planning to buy the pro upgrade from commodore if they ever get it in
stock and then trade my A500 for the Megachip2000/500 2 Meg upgrade.
Thanx again for taking the time to reply.
David
David: I don't know of a PC hardware-based emulator that works with the
CDTV. I presume you could run a software emulator like PC Task. Either
way, you'd need a device driver to access the CD-ROM drive, and it would
have to be a PC-based driver. CDTV will handle standard ISO format discs
so maybe that's possible, but given that the drive is tied into the Amiga
side of the system, maybe not. I just don't know; I haven't heard of
anyone doing it.
The genlock goes in the video port. I saw it for $150 at Safe Harbor. Safe
Harbor also carries a fair selection of CDTV software.
US distributors seem to shy from CDTV software, even though there's lots
of it out there and new titles on the way. The best selections are from
outfits in Great Britain (not as hard as it sounds; you just have to get
hold of a British Amiga magazine and look through the ads). CD-ROMs that
play in CDTV are available lots of places. The "GIFs Galore" and "Ultimate
MOD Collection" discs are two of the best. Walnut Creek Software offers
others, too.
The latest Amiga Euromags talk of a "CDTV II" machine that will
essentially be an A1200 with a CD-ROM drive but no keyboard. This would
take advantage of AGA graphics. But Commodore has not officially announced
this, yet. It has said it will incorporate CD-ROM drives into all future
Amiga machines, but that's about all we know. Exactly what compatibility
they will provide, no clue.
The Blizzard Board is made by a German outfit. I don't have much info on
it. You could try some of the bigger mail-order shops. I know it was being
sold stateside.
If you can't get the CDTV "Pro" pack, there are, as I said, third-party
adapters to let you use a standard keyboard, mouse and joystick. But then
you'd need to have all those input devices, as well.
I've only got about 10 CDTV discs and most of them I plan to keep. I'd be
willing to part with:
* "Guy Spy," a shootemup role-playing game from Readysoft. Uses animated
characters, a la "Space Ace" and "Dirk the Daring." I'd let it go for $25,
about half price.
* A CD+G disc of "St. Matthew's Passion" by Johann Sebastian Bach. This is
an audio CD with graphics. The graphics include wood cuts pertinent to the
music and mulitlingual lyrics. Ten bucks.
— Ron Legro, Milwaukee
via AUTOPILOT (the only way to fly)
Ron,
I have given the PC emulation idea some more thought, and it's not too
promising. Oh well.
Don't think I'll try to expand other than maybe upgrading my A500 to an
A2000. Might get that Genlock though. I did a video and filmed my animation and
titles using a video camera pointed at a monitor with the lights out. It worked
and I just spliced it into the various segments I was putting together. Not the
best quality though.
How good is the quality of the CDTV Genlock?
I ordered "Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective" and "Battle Chess", would
like to see some different things that demo what can be done by CD based
multimedia. Figured I'd track down a source of some of those Brittish titles,
like "Psycho Killer I or II". Considering the amount of data a CD-Rom can
store, there must be some games that can only be done on a CD!
(Saw a description of a game (in AC's Guide) called Lunar Rescue that seems to
meet the above criteria, but of course it was never released.)
Would like to buy your copy of "Guy Spy". Give me your address and I'll
send you a check for $25.00 and a stamped self addressed envelope big enough
for the CD.
Thanx for the info on upgrading, etc…
David
David: Safe Harbor had a copy of "Psycho Killer" in stock last I looked.
SH is a national mail order shop, but I'm a local and SH has a store front
here. Give 'em a call. Their prices are good, too. They'll special order
stuff, oftentimes.
The CDTV genlock is not pro quality, but it's serviceable for my needs. My
office had a Supergen and from memory I'd say that's much nicer — also
three-four times as expensive. I would imagine one could buy an external
genlock and use it with CDTV, which would offer some flexibility, but I
haven't investigated that possibility. I liked the idea that the thing
could be tucked inside the machine, out of the way. It will let you use
the remote control to switch from computer to video to overlay, a nifty
feature.
For "Guy Spy," send the check and SASE to:
Ron Legro
2877 N. 47th St.
Milwaukee WI 53210
I'll get it right out to you. It's a great game, but you have to work at
it. Without fast reflexes, Guy gets splattered by the bad guys. I just
haven't had the time and patience to get past the first couple of levels.
Lots of action! It's fun having CDTV plugged in the big living room TV
monitor and playing the sound through the stereo system!
— Ron Legro, Milwaukee
via AUTOPILOT (the only way to fly)
Ron,
I gave Safe Harbor a call yesterday to see what they've got. They're sending
me a listing of CDTV stuff. Got "Sherlock Holmes consulting Detective" in the
mail today. Thats more like what I expected from CDTV!
Saw a CDTV like unit in Radio Shack today. Has it's own disks, but they can
also be used in their PC compatable. Didn't look like they had expansion
capabilities (keyboard, etc..) but with TANDY pushing it, they might catch on.
With used TOASTER prices dropping, I may go with a more Professional quality
Genlock. It's hard to justify the expense when I'm not doing any video stuff.
I sent you the envelope today; you should have it by teusday. Inside the
inner envelope is a money order for $25.0 for the Guy Spy CD. I saw a game in
the video arcades around 1985 that sounds similar to what you describe. Look
forward to seeing it.
I have my CDTV hooked up to the 27" TV in my living room. It's under the
A500 whose sole purpose has beem FALCON, which works great with the GRAVIS
Mousestick. One reason I bought CDTV was the picture on the box showing FALCON.
Turns out Spectrum Holobyte didn't release on CD.
By next year the 3DO machine and ATARI's Jaguar should be out, maybe they'll
have a good flight simulator or arial combat game.
Please let me know when you get the envelope.
Thanx,
David
I sent you a separate message that your m.o. arrived and "spy" is on its
way today.
"Sherlock Holmes" has been followed up by two more volumes. Unfortunately,
II and III aren't available on CDTV yet, only MPC (for power PCs).
Apparently, the CDTV version of "Holmes" did quite well in Europe but
almost no business in the USA. Probably reflects the dearth of marketing
here, plus the relative dearth of CDTV units. That changed in a hurry the
past few months with sale prices. Supposedly, there are 100,000 CDTVs and
A570s out there, which surpasses the number of CD-I machines. Also,
there's more software for CDTV than any other type of TV-ROM player; like
you noted, however, a lot of it doesn't max out the machine. Now that you
mention it, I'm not sure whether there are any flight simulators actually
released for CDTV. It would seem like a natural; get Falcon and all the
mission disks on one disc! Psygnosis showed "Planetside" as a demo — a
3D-fractal flight simulator that was astounding. It appears as a demo on
the "Lemmings" CDTV disc. But it's never been released as a full game.
The Tandy VIS machine is based on "Modular Windows," a stripped down
version of Microsoft Windows. It isn't as powerful as CDTV, but the
software was maxed out and there is some cool stuff for it. However, the
machine appears doomed; relatively few have sold. CDTV remains the only
TV-ROM player that can be expanded with a keyboard, mouse, etc. into its
own computer.
CD-I is hanging in there. The new 3DO machines may take over the market.
Then again, maybe not. Some outfit in the UK reportedly has figured out
how to cheaply convert ordinary audio CD players to handle movie-length
videos!
— Ron Legro, Milwaukee
via AUTOPILOT (the only way to fly)
Hi Ron,
>> "Supposedly, there are 100,000 CDTVs and A570s out there, which surpasses
the number of CD-I machines."
Over 100,000 CD-I units (and over a million CD-I discs) had been sold by
sometime back around January. Philips predicts sales of 300,000 by the end of
this year, and a million total by the end of 1994. Not exactly fast sales
compared to Sega/etc, but respectable. They're saving their big PR push for
the delayed intro of their addon MPEG FMV cartridge; now scheduled for this
Fall.
I believe that Tandy has cancelled their VIS effort.
The latest rumor about 3DO is that some of its better hardware SFX will *not*
come with the standard unit, but will be available in an addon cartridge.
In the good news department, Philips, Sony, Matsushita, JVC, Samsung and a
bunch of others have agreed on the new "White Book" standard for "Video CDs",
CD-ROM movie discs using MPEG-1… which should be displayable by a
cross-section of players, including any (future) MPEG-equipped CDTV models.
BTW, Lemmings is being ported to CD-I.
best – kevin
"…its better hardware SFX will *not* come with the standard unit…"
*Which* standard unit? Isn't 3DO just a standard? I thought that since
different companies could build systems based on that standard, they could
add different parts into their systems. It'd still be standard…they'd
just have high- and low- end boxes.
Hasn't Lemmings been ported to just about everything? I know it's been
ported to the Lynx. I'm just waiting to see it show up someplace like the
display pad of my microwave oven. 🙂 🙂
Steve
Steve,
I don't know the details, just the rumor that some of the glitzier FMV-like
features demonstrated for 3DO won't be included in the base standard.
BTW, remember when I mentioned that two ex-Amiga-addon-company guys worked with
me now? Recently, they needed to add a temporary debugging error alert to one
of our graphics terminals… so guess what this alert screen looks like?
Yep, just like an old Amiga red "guru" box! I just about fell off my chair
with surprise the first time I saw it come up 🙂
cheers – kevin
Hi Kevin.
Where did you see sales figures for CD-I ? Previously, it was a policy of
Philips to not announce sales figures for their products; so I'm wondering if
your number is from Philips itself, or an industry 'experts' estimation.
andy
Hi Andy,
I don't recall the exact date, but it was sometime early this year when Philips
themselves announced the 100K player / 1 million disc figures. Both numbers
were for retail sales to actual customers.
They expect the sales rate to grow quickly once the FMV cartridge and Video CDs
become available. As with Photo CDs, platform-independent MPEG "Video CDs" will
also have embedded CD-I code.
best – kevin