kent@vf.jsc.nasa.gov (06/07/91)
In article <THOMAS.91Jun5081932@capitol.capitol.com>, thomas@capitol.capitol.com (Mark Thomas) writes: > 1. CD-I is expandable. There are provisions for keyboard, mouse, SCSI port, > parallel and serial ports, floppy drives... Just because Magnavox is not > using these capabilities doesn't mean they don't exist. There are at least > three other manufacturers that are going to have players by Christmas. One > of these is rumored to have a MIDI interface. So does CDTV. And it is right on the back of the machine. > > 2. By Christmas CD-I will probably have 50 titles out. I think you'll find > they will be of consistantly high quality both in content and image quality. > Don't judge CD-I by what you see in the demo booths, there's a lot of discs > that haven't been seen yet. > So will CDTV. > 3. One advantage CD-I has over CDTV IMHO is that all CD-I titles are > designed specifically for NTSC/PAL TV displays, a trait that seems to be > missing from CDTV. The CDTV I've seen (admittedly limited) suffer from some > poor design choices. If you see a CD-I title you'll notice most of the on > screen buttons/controls are quite large and inside the SMPTE TV safe area. > Some of the CDTV stuff I've seen has tiny buttons scattered all over the > screen. This is fine on a monitor, but the average joe consumer that hooks > up a CDTV player to his $299 TV is going to be hard pressed to use some > titles. I have seen CDTV on a TV. Looks just fine to me. > 4. Remember that CDTV vs CD-I is Commodore vs Philips, Sony, Masushita and > others. Who do you think will win a pissing contest :-) > It depends on who Commodore liscensces their CDTV to. Both sides are still recruting.... time will tell. CDTV is also now, not the down the road. -- Mike Kent - Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company at NASA JSC 2400 NASA Rd One, Houston, TX 77058 (713) 483-3791 KENT@vf.jsc.nasa.gov
sss10@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gun Control is a firm grip) (06/12/91)
In article <1991Jun7.124219.1@vf.jsc.nasa.gov> kent@vf.jsc.nasa.gov writes: >In article <THOMAS.91Jun5081932@capitol.capitol.com>, thomas@capitol.capitol.com (Mark Thomas) writes: > >> 1. CD-I is expandable. There are provisions for keyboard, mouse, SCSI port, >> parallel and serial ports, floppy drives... Just because Magnavox is not >> using these capabilities doesn't mean they don't exist. There are at least >> three other manufacturers that are going to have players by Christmas. One >> of these is rumored to have a MIDI interface. I understand that magnovox's 1st CD-I unit will not be very expandable at all. but what the hell do I know :-) >So does CDTV. And it is right on the back of the machine. >> >> 2. By Christmas CD-I will probably have 50 titles out. I think you'll find >> they will be of consistantly high quality both in content and image quality. >> Don't judge CD-I by what you see in the demo booths, there's a lot of discs >> that haven't been seen yet. CDTV has 50 or close to 50 right now, as in June 12th 1991. By Xmas it should have more than double that figure <including lemmings!>. >So will CDTV. > >> 3. One advantage CD-I has over CDTV IMHO is that all CD-I titles are >> designed specifically for NTSC/PAL TV displays, a trait that seems to be >> missing from CDTV. The CDTV I've seen (admittedly limited) suffer from some >> poor design choices. If you see a CD-I title you'll notice most of the on >> screen buttons/controls are quite large and inside the SMPTE TV safe area. >> Some of the CDTV stuff I've seen has tiny buttons scattered all over the >> screen. This is fine on a monitor, but the average joe consumer that hooks >> up a CDTV player to his $299 TV is going to be hard pressed to use some >> titles. What do you mean "designed specifically for NTSC/PAL TV displays... missing from CDTV." ??? Its an amiga redone and while I wont say amigas are geared towards being connected to TV's but its done and looks nice. An amiga connected to a TV is not bad unless you are working out of WOrkbench, something CDTV wont do much of unless the person wants a computer and if they do, they'll probably get a monitor for it. > >I have seen CDTV on a TV. Looks just fine to me. > > >> 4. Remember that CDTV vs CD-I is Commodore vs Philips, Sony, Masushita and >> others. Who do you think will win a pissing contest :-) >> > >It depends on who Commodore liscensces their CDTV to. Both sides are still >recruting.... time will tell. > >CDTV is also now, not the down the road. > >-- > >Mike Kent - Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company at NASA JSC > 2400 NASA Rd One, Houston, TX 77058 (713) 483-3791 > KENT@vf.jsc.nasa.gov PiRho- Because its Co-Ed! Macintoshes should be accelerated at 32ft/sec^2 Gun Control means using both hands "Maybe You should be accelerated at 32'/sec^2 off a cliff onto some jagged rocks. Elitist smeghead" ianj@ijpc.UUCP in [L76131w164w@ijpc.UUCP]
kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) (06/12/91)
sss10@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Gun Control is a firm grip) writes: >In article <THOMAS.91Jun5081932@capitol.capitol.com>, thomas@capitol.capitol.com (Mark Thomas) writes: > >> 1. CD-I is expandable. [...] >> parallel and serial ports, floppy drives... Just because Magnavox is not >> using these capabilities doesn't mean they don't exist. > >I understand that magnovox's 1st CD-I unit will not be very expandable at all. >but what the hell do I know :-) No idea. But some of us noticed that he said the same thing himself :-) > [title count, etc] You (and another guy) are coming in late on this thread. The mention of CD-I expandability and titles were in response to someone else originally surmising otherwise. cheers - kevin <kdarling@catt.ncsu.edu>
giao@informix.com (Giao Tien Vu) (06/13/91)
In article <THOMAS.91Jun5081932@capitol.capitol.com>, thomas@capitol.capitol.com (Mark Thomas) writes: > > 4. Remember that CDTV vs CD-I is Commodore vs Philips, Sony, Masushita and > others. Who do you think will win a pissing contest :-) > According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sony appears to be rather reluctant in supporting CD-I. Its recent deal with Nintendo to develop a CD-ROM system for the newer Nintendo game machine could be considered strange marketing decision if Sony truly wants CD-I to be a success. Then, again, I might very well be misinformed :-( Giao UUCP: {uunet,pyramid}!infmx!giao
kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) (06/13/91)
giao@informix.com (Giao Tien Vu) writes: > According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sony appears to be rather > reluctant in supporting CD-I. Its recent deal with Nintendo to develop > a CD-ROM system for the newer Nintendo game machine could be considered > a strange marketing decision if Sony truly wants CD-I to be a success. There's a great deal of confusion about all this. I spoke to someone about it last night and also checked Reuters/UPI. The Nintendo deal is with Philips, not Sony. Part of the press coverage was: "Philips and Nintendo said that they will work together to develop a unique application format on Compact Disc for Nintendo's 16-bit hardware system. "According to Nintendo, the new Compact Disc video games will be played on a low cost CDROM-XA Compact Disc player (following the XA/CD-I bridge concept). Consumers will be able to attach these CDROM-XA players to their Super Famicom and Super NES hardware units. "The chosen application format assures the compatibility with CD-I players as well." Earlier news about Nintendo/CD-I is more directly applicable to CD-I: "Super Mario, Princess Zelda, Link and Donkey Kong, some of America's most popular video game characters, will soon be seen on television screens connected to compact disc interactive (CD-I) players. "The announcement was made [05/28/91] by Nintendo of America and American Interactive Media (AIM), following an agreement reached by the two companies that will permit the development and marketing of CD-I titles by AIM, featuring these popular Nintendo characters. "It is estimated that approximately one of every three U.S. households owns a Nintendo Entertainment System; household penetration in Japan exceeds 40 percent." So whatever Sony thinks about CD-I, has nothing to do with the current Nintendo/CD-I situation. cheers - kevin <kdarling@catt.ncsu.edu>
es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) (06/13/91)
In article <1991Jun13.020021.28169@ncsu.edu> kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) writes: >giao@informix.com (Giao Tien Vu) writes: > >> According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Sony appears to be rather >> reluctant in supporting CD-I. Its recent deal with Nintendo to develop >> a CD-ROM system for the newer Nintendo game machine could be considered >> a strange marketing decision if Sony truly wants CD-I to be a success. > >There's a great deal of confusion about all this. I spoke to someone >about it last night and also checked Reuters/UPI. The Nintendo deal is >with Philips, not Sony. Part of the press coverage was: > > "Philips and Nintendo said that they will work together to develop > a unique application format on Compact Disc for Nintendo's 16-bit > hardware system. > "According to Nintendo, the new Compact Disc video games will be > played on a low cost CDROM-XA Compact Disc player (following the > XA/CD-I bridge concept). Consumers will be able to attach these > CDROM-XA players to their Super Famicom and Super NES hardware units. > "The chosen application format assures the compatibility with CD-I > players as well." > I've seen two different articles, I believe referring to two separate products. There is definitely a Sony-Nintendo connection. The device I believe is for the 8 bit Nintendo, although that could be wrong. Both Sony AND Philips have different deals with Nintendo. -- Ethan Now the world has gone to bed, Now I lay me down to sleep, Darkness won't engulf my head, Try to count electric sheep, I can see by infrared, Sweet dream wishes you can keep, How I hate the night. How I hate the night. -- Marvin
swarren@convex.com (Steve Warren) (06/13/91)
In article <1991Jun13.063628.31351@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita) writes: >In article <1991Jun13.020021.28169@ncsu.edu> kdarling@hobbes.catt.ncsu.edu (Kevin Darling) writes: >>giao@informix.com (Giao Tien Vu) writes: >> >> "According to Nintendo, the new Compact Disc video games will be >> played on a low cost CDROM-XA Compact Disc player (following the >> XA/CD-I bridge concept). Consumers will be able to attach these >> CDROM-XA players to their Super Famicom and Super NES hardware units. >> "The chosen application format assures the compatibility with CD-I >> players as well." This brings up an interesting possibility. If these disks are recording with the same format at the lowest level (the actual encoding), would it be possible to put software for both systems on a single disk, and let the player sort it out? I'm sure that these arcade games don't even take up 1% of the capacity of the disk with actual code (who has written a 600 Mbyte application?), and the data that the code is using would be available for use on either type of CD player. Another thought; this sort of capacity in a storage peripheral (now I am talking about CD-rom for PCs) would allow the same CD to have the binaries for every major platform on the same disk. This would simplify and lower inventory requirements for those software houses that choose to support more than one or two platforms. Of course the drives would have to become much more common peripherals before large numbers of people begin to purchase them. I would guess that somewhere around $200 retail that these things are going to become indispensable to all PC owners everywhere. Please note and respect the Followup-To line. -- _. --Steve ._||__ Warren v\ *| V