CDi Fan Appreciation Thread

[+sixersfan105]

On 1/5/2024 at 9:53 AM, louhiana said:

Hi! I'm hoping you can help me?

 

As kids my sister and I had a CDI 210 and played a fair bit until about the age of 9. It was the only games console we ever had. A couple of years ago we dug it out and played for a few glorious hours at my sisters house. Evoking lots of wonderful memories 🥰. But as life tends to get in the way, back to dad's it went and Dad sold it (!) Thinking we'd never use it again! (He'd stored it 20 years at this point so why the sudden sale I don't know!) Anyway, the time came when we went to get it again for another play, and noting our disappointment when we discovered it was gone, Dad rebought us a phillips 450. Now I have no recollection as to whether we actually got this replacement console up and working... (I have a smart to HDMI adaptor and I seem to remember getting the 3 red/white/yellow to scart working but can't be sure). Fastforward to last week, when I though I'd have a go and there's nothing. Power comes on, disc spins, but nothing works on the Tele. Trouble shooted and it might be that the HDMI port on my Tele doesn't work. But I have an old Tele with a scart input, so plugged in the 3 wire to the scart (no adapter needed) and still nothing. 

 

So I thought the console dead. This may still be the case...unless you know of something I'm missing wire wise?

 

My heart was still yearning for those old school memories...and for ONCE in our lives, we HAD to compete Zelda Wand of Gamelon. We just had to. So I but the bullet bought a CDI 210 on ebay...complete with the exact same controller as we had as kids etc... (ah the glorious reminiscing). Plugged it in and all is great, scart to scart on the old Tele. Fab. Decided as a warm up, (and now that I have a grown up brain), to tackle Lost Eden first...which we had zero understanding of the concept back when we were 6/7. So last night I spent a couple of hours playing my little heart out...and the same less-ideal flashbacks came back all too quickly... 20 minutes in, and the error message about "disc dirty" came up, kicked me off the game and ejected the disk. At this point I'd completely forgotten to save (rookie error) so had to start all over again. So I played for another 10 mins, saved the game, quit, ejected disc and reloaded. Fired her up and there it was!!! Game 1 saved and ready to go for me to pick up where I left off! Thrilled! So this time I'm religiously saving every new person/land/object I gain... and a few hours in and I'm further than I've ever been and super content on my journey to tick the box I've never managed to tick in my last 34 years!!!! 

 

Finish work today, tidy the house and get ready for another epic session, ready to dominate the dinosaurs 🦕, disc in, fire it up and WHERE THE HECK IS MY SAVED GAME??? Absolutely devastated to discover no game 1 available

 

What do I do? How do I fulfill this childhood dream of actually finishing these games without sitting at the TV for days straight? 

 

Your help would be massively appreciated!! 

 

Louise, 34, UK, (absolutely no technical know-how at all). 

Thanks for sharing, Louise! Glad you've once again got a CD-i up and running and are enjoying it. My best guess on the saved game(s) disappearing is that your 210 player suffers from the dreaded Timekeeper chip issues. Once a Timekeeper chip is no longer in working order, you will lose saved games as soon as your power off the console. Replacing a dead Timekeeper requires a decent amount of technical know-how and soldering experience, so I would recommend outsourcing such a job to someone with those skills  (as you mentioned you have "no technical know-how at all"). More information about replacing a Timekeeper can be found here. If you have any additional questions, don't hesitate to let us know!

[tsgthesportsgamer]

Looks like Limited Run has announced new USB "spoon" controllers for PC/Switch alongside the multiplatform CD-i inspired platformer Arzette: https://limitedrungames.com/search?q=arzette

[Blazing Lazers]

Just to check, does anyone know of someone, preferably in the US, that can repair the DVS VE 200 and LG GDI 700M CDi units? I have several that I've been keeping as spares but they seem to have issues reading discs even though they power on perfectly fine. It's really making me question their much vaunted reliability. 

[Onlyfordj]

Hi, I recently purchased a game controller called Roller Controller.
Which Philips Cd-I games will I be able to play with this game controller?

 

[Bill Loguidice]

3 hours ago, Onlyfordj said:

Hi, I recently purchased a game controller called Roller Controller.
Which Philips Cd-I games will I be able to play with this game controller?

 

All CD-I controllers, including light guns, work with every game/title. It's just a matter of how well. 

[+sixersfan105]

3 hours ago, Onlyfordj said:

Hi, I recently purchased a game controller called Roller Controller.
Which Philips Cd-I games will I be able to play with this game controller?

 

Hi there! @Bill Loguidice is correct that the Roller Controller will "work" with all CD-I software. That's one of the cool things about the platform, all "pointing devices," as Philips used to call the various controllers, will work with all titles. That said, the Roller Controller was designed with children in mind (huge trackball and large action buttons) and was a joint developmental effort between Philips (Philips Interactive Media of America) and Children's Television Workshop (the folks behind Sesame Street). Given the Sesame Street connection, it was likely designed specifically for the two Sesame Street titles, "A Visit to Sesame Street: Numbers" and "A Visit to Sesame Street: Letters." 
 

Many Roller Controllers are in need of repair these days, so if you're having issues with yours, a handy repair guide is available here. 
 

Keep in mind that the Roller Controller was not designed for precision movement. If that is required for a given game, I recommend picking up a Trackerball (aka a trackball) by Philips. It works really well for games like Alien Gate and others. I actually have a couple spares if you're interested, just shoot me a PM and I'll surely beat eBay prices. 

[+sixersfan105]

On 5/5/2024 at 10:54 PM, Blazing Lazers said:

Just to check, does anyone know of someone, preferably in the US, that can repair the DVS VE 200 and LG GDI 700M CDi units? I have several that I've been keeping as spares but they seem to have issues reading discs even though they power on perfectly fine. It's really making me question their much vaunted reliability. 

I'm in the process of packing up a couple 550s and 490s in need of repair, to be sent to a TG/16/PCE contact of mine. He is fairly new to CD-i repairs and mods and has only worked on 450/550s to date. I'll let you know how he makes out and check his pulse on LG repairs!

[Austin]

3 hours ago, Onlyfordj said:

Hi, I recently purchased a game controller called Roller Controller.
Which Philips Cd-I games will I be able to play with this game controller?

Every game.

[cdiscrapbook]

Just thought I'd point anyone interested in the direction of my CD-i Scrapbook Blog for it's 1st Anniversary. There are now over 100 CD-i and Video CD related articles shared on the blog from multiple issues of over 25 different magazines and catalogues from the early 90s.

I hope to keep building up the blog into an archive of magazine coverage of the Philips CD-i and the Video CD format, if you'd like to head over there just click the link below!

 

https://cd-iscrapbook.blogspot.com/

 

[Dopy25]

Hey fellow CDI fans and owners of this spectacular system. (I'm new to it). 

 

I bought a 450 that had no power supply. Instead of buying a 30 year old power supply, I found a design by Jeff Chen. I made a few extras and posted in the sale section of the forum. 

 

Take a look if you're interested!

 

 

I also made/modified something else but this one is not for sale. I needed a pointing device and this comes in handy. 

 

 

[+sixersfan105]

On 8/1/2024 at 4:47 PM, cdiscrapbook said:

Just thought I'd point anyone interested in the direction of my CD-i Scrapbook Blog for it's 1st Anniversary. There are now over 100 CD-i and Video CD related articles shared on the blog from multiple issues of over 25 different magazines and catalogues from the early 90s.

I hope to keep building up the blog into an archive of magazine coverage of the Philips CD-i and the Video CD format, if you'd like to head over there just click the link below!

 

https://cd-iscrapbook.blogspot.com/

 

This is really cool! Thanks for sharing! I'll see if I'm able to edit the first post of this thread to include your link. Cheers!

[+sixersfan105]

22 hours ago, Dopy25 said:

Hey fellow CDI fans and owners of this spectacular system. (I'm new to it). 

 

I bought a 450 that had no power supply. Instead of buying a 30 year old power supply, I found a design by Jeff Chen. I made a few extras and posted in the sale section of the forum. 

 

Take a look if you're interested!

 

 

I also made/modified something else but this one is not for sale. I needed a pointing device and this comes in handy. 

 

 

Fantastic stuff. The 450/550 power supply is hard to track down and there is no easy modern equivalent, so thanks for doing the "grunt work" in creating a few from Jeff Chen's design!