What are the proffessional CDIs?

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.
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smartlamppost
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What are the proffessional CDIs?

Post by smartlamppost » Fri Apr 23, 2010 2:03 am

What are they, exactly? What can they do? Would they be much better than a regular CDI, or have their obsoleteness ruined their features? Do you have one? Thanks, I'd really love to know! :D

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cdifan
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Post by cdifan » Fri Apr 23, 2010 9:13 pm

There are many more professional CD-i's then there are consumer ones; I don't think a comprehensive list exists.

They range from in-house educational to technical demonstrations and anything conceivable in between.

Such CD-i's would often be just a component of a system and it would not be immediately recognizable as a CD-i except to technical people.

Some samples from the Dutch market:

- The Dutch drive permit organization "CBR" used a CD-i based system for the theory exams for the latter half of the nineties (this replaced a dia/casette player based system and has itself been replaced by a PC-based system). This was coupled with custom hardware to allow a single CD-i system to handle many tens of exam candidates; it was also coupled with a networked PC to handle certificate printing and central registration.

- The Dutch national airport for several years used a CD-i based system for their "Apron Safety Test"; it was a video-based test that drivers had to pass before being allowed to drive their vehicles onto the airfield (between the planes). This used a room of CD-i players that reported the test results of their individual users to a central PC that handled certificate printing and such.

- There was a disc called "Energie Potentieel Scan" that supposedly helped people to achieve energy conservation in their homes; I'm not sure of the distribution mechanism but it was probably freely distributed to the customers of some energy utility company.

- SPC did an Internet demonstration disc for Philips that served as a proof-of-concept of Internet on CD-i (it used a CD-i port of parts of the BSD-Lite TCP/IP stack and simple custom web browser).

- Remeron was a CD-i on antidepression medication that was used by medical salespeople, using portable CD-i players.

- Baxter had a CD-i on diabetic self-help (in several languages) that were on public display or for patient use in several hospitals.

- Philips had a "demonstration" CD-i for the full motion system (MPEG playback) that demonstrated the use of play/pause techniques including slow motion and seeking, as well as more exotic techniques such as window manipulation and seamless jumping (the latter very rudimentally).

- Lots of CD-i players came with an introductory disc on the CD-i system (not sure if this qualifies as "professional", though...)

I'm sure I could dig up others; but this should be enough to give you the general idea.

A large list (but by no means complete) can be found on the ICDIA site here.

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Post by oaacdi » Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:42 am

From 1992 until 1998 I used to work for Abbott P h a r m a c e u t i c a l s in Puerto Rico. I was sent from time to time to their headquater office in Chicago. To my surprise, they had a training room full with Cdi players, but the kind that needed a caddy to load the discs.

Sadly, my trainings did not required the use of a Cdi.

I remember also like 5 or more coworkers that got the unit since I promoted it so well. We used to get together at home to play and watch movies on Cdi. And display the graphics on CD+G. It was so hight tech that a single machine could do so much and not be tied to a computer.

I miss the CDi years :cry:

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Post by smartlamppost » Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:50 am

cdifan wrote:There are many more professional CD-i's then there are consumer ones; I don't think a comprehensive list exists.

They range from in-house educational to technical demonstrations and anything conceivable in between.

Such CD-i's would often be just a component of a system and it would not be immediately recognizable as a CD-i except to technical people.

Some samples from the Dutch market:

- The Dutch drive permit organization "CBR" used a CD-i based system for the theory exams for the latter half of the nineties (this replaced a dia/casette player based system and has itself been replaced by a PC-based system). This was coupled with custom hardware to allow a single CD-i system to handle many tens of exam candidates; it was also coupled with a networked PC to handle certificate printing and central registration.

- The Dutch national airport for several years used a CD-i based system for their "Apron Safety Test"; it was a video-based test that drivers had to pass before being allowed to drive their vehicles onto the airfield (between the planes). This used a room of CD-i players that reported the test results of their individual users to a central PC that handled certificate printing and such.

- There was a disc called "Energie Potentieel Scan" that supposedly helped people to achieve energy conservation in their homes; I'm not sure of the distribution mechanism but it was probably freely distributed to the customers of some energy utility company.

- SPC did an Internet demonstration disc for Philips that served as a proof-of-concept of Internet on CD-i (it used a CD-i port of parts of the BSD-Lite TCP/IP stack and simple custom web browser).

- Remeron was a CD-i on antidepression medication that was used by medical salespeople, using portable CD-i players.

- Baxter had a CD-i on diabetic self-help (in several languages) that were on public display or for patient use in several hospitals.

- Philips had a "demonstration" CD-i for the full motion system (MPEG playback) that demonstrated the use of play/pause techniques including slow motion and seeking, as well as more exotic techniques such as window manipulation and seamless jumping (the latter very rudimentally).

- Lots of CD-i players came with an introductory disc on the CD-i system (not sure if this qualifies as "professional", though...)

I'm sure I could dig up others; but this should be enough to give you the general idea.

A large list (but by no means complete) can be found on the ICDIA site here.
Thanks; the one I want to know about is the 640, which I recently found on Ebay for a rather *ahem* "unsatisfactory" price. I want to know if it would be worth buying, or if it's just a cdi 220 with a mouse.

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Post by phatrat1982 » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:41 pm

When I worked for Shop-Ko they used a CD-i for their training videos. This was in 2003 and I was so amazed to see a working system still being used.

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Post by Gaara » Tue Jun 14, 2011 1:14 am

I have an odd question on the portable CD-i players: Were they well made in terms of build-quality? Could they handle being sent in the mail a long distance? I am just curious since I wouldn't mind getting one as a novelty but I live in Australia and our postal service is, um, less than perfect.

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Post by Shroo-man » Fri Jul 15, 2011 2:04 am

as long as they are well packed they can. even full size players can survive. but if you're paranoid about players breaking being sent from overseas I have a player for sale, im also in australia btw

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