CDTV and the Japanese
7 messages in this thread
NEW YORK (OCT. 8) PR NEWSWIRE – Commodore International Limited (NYSE: CBU)
today announced that a joint effort to form "CDTV Consortium Japan" with
Mitsui & Co. began in mid-1991 for the purpose of promoting and developing
CDTV players and titles in Japan.
Commodore and Mitsui began inviting other Japanese companies to join the
Consortium prior to the opening of the Tokyo International Multimedia Expo
'91. Commodore, Mitsui & Company and Dai-Nippon Printing Company, one of
Japan's largest printing companies, are the managing companies to
disseminate information on CDTV to members. The consortium will develop
new software titles using multimedia techniques including motion pictures,
and new products on the CDTV platform. Japan Electronics Publishing, PCM
Complete and others have already commenced planning for the development of
software titles in Japanese.
ASCII and a number of other Japanese companies have expressed an
interest in joining the CDTV Consortium Japan. Japanese companies
interested in the multimedia industry are expected to join the consortium,
and a full list of members will be announced in the near future.
The CDTV player, which is already on sale in the United States and
Europe, is the first consumer interactive multimedia player to combine the
worlds of the computer and CD-ROM. For businesses and consumers, CDTV
simultaneously plays audio and displays video, graphics and text data in a
unique way. The first CD-ROM multimedia player for TV home use, CDTV
connects to a TV just like a VCR and is compatible with virtually any
television or monitor.
CDTV has been enthusiastically received since its launch a few months
ago and is developing an avid following. The large memory capacity and
interactive functionality of CD-ROM technology enables CDTV to provide
various types of information, presentations, educational materials,
technical manuals and product catalogs for business use, as well as titles
for music, information, education, entertainment and games for consumers.
CDTV has wide applicability in vertical markets like point of sale
displays, corporate training devices, and information kiosks.
Wow! That really came out of left field!
It'll be interesting to see where this goes.
Steve
Umm… actually, not that far out of left field 🙂 A CBM official
mentioned last summer that an announcement involving the Japanese would
come by August, I think (he was only off by a little bit).
Personally, I was hoping for something more exciting… like support for
the cross-platform CDROM-XA standard… or perhaps hardware second sourcing
or research involvement in the CDTV players themselves.
That is, instead of the simpler announcement that several publishers were
going to make Japanese-language CDTV titles. Many of those same firms
(Dai-Nippon Printing, for instance) will undoubtedly also be making CD-ROM
and CD-I versions.
Now for something really strange (well, partly, anyway)… Atari's Director
of Developer Services recently confirmed that the Atari TT would become a
development platform for CD-I players. – kev
I doubt you will see C= supporting CD-XA on their boxes.
They are quite happy with their own standard CD-XL. While it doesnt
do CD-DigAudio, the amiga sound it can play is decent enough for many apps.
They will be including CD-XL support in their 2-3000 compatible CDROM drive
when it comes out next year. They are asking all us developers to do great
things with CD-XL…which will not be available to Xetec, et al.
Umm, you lost me there.
What is there about CDXL which requires something special in the drive?
In other words, why wouldn't a Xetec (or other normal CDROM drive) be able
to use CDTV discs which implemented CDXL?
Thanks!
Because CDXL is a patented process.
I am not familiar with the details, but C= is not planning to release the
process to the world, especially Xetec. They want ya'all to buy their
drive.
Well that's a sad tale Jerry. I would hope CBM would try to encourage 3rd
party developer's with new hardware. If everyone had to wait for CBM to
come out with a CD Rom drive, 24bit graphics board, Video Toaster, etc.
then the Amiga would be almost be dead by now. So I would hope CBM wouldn't
be so dumb as to keep the CD Rom technology to themself. Anyway, Xetec has
done a pretty good job of emulating a lot of the CDTV software already, so
I wouldn't be surprised if they could come up with something to take care
of CDXL.
John – K7KB (via Whap!)