Earliest cd-i memory

Anything relating to CD-i can be discussed in this forum. From the multiple hardware iterations of the system to the sofware including games, reference, music and Video CDs. Maybe you hold an interest in Philips Media and the many development houses set up to cater for CD-i if so then this is the forum.
Alan_Eng
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Earliest cd-i memory

Post by Alan_Eng » Sun Aug 31, 2008 9:03 pm

I thought I'd start a new topic... When did you first hear about the cd-i?

I was watching Saturday morning tv in early 1994. Back then, there was a lot of gaming coverage. They featured the portable cd-i 350 and I was totally blown away by it. They said it's only available to buy at Harrods and cost a fortune!

So, I went to Harrods to check it out and they featured Video Speedway and Palm Springs Open on a demo for people to try. I just had to have it.

I bought it in May 1994 from Mannerings, who was my cd-i supplier until almost the end.

I'd love to hear your earliest cd-i memories....

All the best,
Alan

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Bas
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Post by Bas » Mon Sep 01, 2008 6:54 am

Nice memories Alan, I guess with many people it started that way. And moreover these memories is what makes CD-i great in my view! Anyway, here in the Netherlands we have dedicated Philips stores where I saw a CD-i booth first in 1993 I guess. The 7th Guest is the first game I saw on it and before it was only available on CD-ROM. I was astounded to see it fluidly like this on a TV!

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Post by tgn_rogue » Wed Sep 03, 2008 1:30 pm

Hmm first time I heard of CDi ... Well I didn't really hear about it as I grew up with one in the livig room haha, but the first time i really heard the name was probably when I was 6 or something and was introduced to Escape From Cyber City and a Dinosaurs VCD/CDi title haha, good times.
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Post by yokohama » Sat Sep 06, 2008 11:56 am

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Post by Merijn » Wed Sep 10, 2008 12:36 pm

Cool.. mine was back in 1990 or 1991 or so. Picked up a magazine called ACE (Advanced COmputer Entertainment). On the cover was a Star Wars Picture, I believe of C3PO and RD-2D looking out of a big space window.
Next to that picture was a pic of a CDi player, I believe out of the 180 series, and the Caption said something like 'Play the Movie'.

Of course this was in the time of 8bit 16bit computer games, so the prospect of being able to play a movie seemed out of this world.
The magazine had a great article in it describing all this, and after that I just couldn't wait... of course we still would have to wait years and years for CDi to be finally marketed.. and the rest is history

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Post by milatchi » Fri Oct 17, 2008 4:42 am

It was 1993 or '94 and I was 11 or 12. My family and I were on our way to Florida for vacation and we stopped along the way to shop at an outlet mall. One of the stores was a Magnavox outlet; this was when Philips was still using the Magnavox name in America -- you know, "Magnavox. Smart. very smart." While my Mom looked around and my Dad sat around I looked in the Magnavox outlet and happened upon a large TV connected to a CD-i. The CD-i had an IR remote with a joytick and was loaded with a demo disc. I remember the demo disc had a Zelda demo, some type of card game, and maybe an encyclopedia and Mario demo, but I remember the Zelda demo most vividly. I played with it about 30 minutes and thought it was awesome but it had an outrageous price, something like $400 (outrageous if you're 11 or 12).
My Dad soon came to get me and I showed it to him (unimpressed) and the salesman tried to give him the pitch but he wasn't interested, especially not for $400. Anyway, the CD-i must have made an impression on me because that 30 minutes has always stuck with me.

A year or two later I remember seeing a TV commerical for Burn:Cycle.

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Post by lemmi » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:37 am

my first exposure to the CD-i was whenever that Infomercial aired on late night TV 1990 or 1991? in the USA
not sure when it aired but i remember the informercial vividly because i thought it was a regular commercial then i wondered when the commercial will end, it was also my first exposure to an infomercial

then in 1995 a friend told me his dad had one growing up but the system was still in georgia , then 2 years later i found my CD-i 220 in the garbage :D

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Post by Bas » Fri Oct 17, 2008 6:55 am

milatchi wrote:this was when Philips was still using the Magnavox name in America -- you know, "Magnavox. Smart. very smart."
They don't anymore? At least, with other consumer electronics in the US?

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Post by milatchi » Fri Oct 17, 2008 5:29 pm

Bas wrote:
milatchi wrote:this was when Philips was still using the Magnavox name in America -- you know, "Magnavox. Smart. very smart."
They don't anymore? At least, with other consumer electronics in the US?
Not really. It's been a while (years) since I've seen anything branded Magnavox. All of the major American electronics retailers: Best Buy, Circuit City, Sears, Target, Walmart* have only Philips-branded DVD players, Home Theatre Systems, TVs, etc.

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Post by phatrat1982 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:06 am

Ok well I will give this a try. My earliest memory is sometime in the summer of 94 and it goes like this I was reading through a stack of EGM magazines my sisters boyfriend recently gave me to get on my good side so he could do what guys do with your sister you dont want them to do. Anyways so I was 12 at the time and I liked reading every inch of a magazine I never left anything unread and there was this article in the front of the magazine I think it was part of the letters section I can't remember 100% but the guy was bragging about how he could pay video games, listen to music, do computer type stuff and watch movies on one system. All that other 'crap' (that was my view then not so much now) meant nothing to me what caught my attention then and has always intrigued me to this very day is the movie on cd I always thought how cool it would be to watch a movie on a cd. (yeah I was poor and like I said young so had no clue LaserDisc even existed) and so for me that was what I took away from the article.


Over the years I developed kind of an obsession with 3DO and CD-i both about the same although I gave 3DO more attention mostly cuz it sounded cooler and cuz it had SF and I think Samurai Showdown 2 of my favorite games back then. But to this day I have never seen an actual working 3DO console, I have seen 1 CD-i once it was at a store I worked at it was used for a training video and the only reason I remember is cuz it stood out in my mind how odd it was they were using CD-i when DVD was common place by that time.

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Post by Trev » Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:17 am

If you are a fan of 3DO, you should check out our sister 3DO forum ...

http://3do.cdinteractive.co.uk/index.php

:)

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Post by Gaara » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:54 am

Well, being born in 1990 and living in a country where CD-i was never issued, I never heard of it while it was current.

But I think it was 1999 or 2000 and there was a retro gaming/computer site ("Computer Closet") I used to visit regularly (they almost never updated, I just liked re-reading the same pages). I was surprised, shocked and fascinated that Panasonic, Samsung, Philips, and Pioneer ever entered the game industry in any way, and I instantly wanted each system.

proxy10

Post by proxy10 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:50 am

agreed,Gaara

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Post by phatrat1982 » Thu Jun 16, 2011 4:28 pm

well yeah I did sign up for that 3DO forum but haven't posted yet is it the same people or is it busier than this place? My 3DO knowledge is well only sightly more than my CD-i knowledge and I am only now learning more about both.

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Post by Trev » Thu Jun 16, 2011 5:41 pm

The froums have some of the same people, but mostly it is a different crowd. It is also much much more active than here, and there is almost always a decent number of new posts.

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