A 'portable' CD-i 910 player

Alan posted some very cool pics on his CD-i Zone page of a portable CD-i 910 player:

First look at the only 'portable' cd-i 910 player I've ever seen. Built in to a briefcase!!! This is currently available for sale. Snap up a unique piece of cd-i history!!

As clearly shown here, the player was never designed to be removed from the case. Here we have discovered the first ever 'portable' cd-i 910!!

Lots of advertising but no sign of the famous logo - possibly too early.

Can you believe it? A 910 player BUILT IN to the case! Maybe this is the reason Philips created the portable players - they could see the potential for presentations, point of sales etc..

A very heavy item to carry on the train to work every day! Looks to be very well made and also has a key lock.

[Thanks, Alan]

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Bizarre flea market find

CD-i member candela: This morning I went to a flea market and I noticed the CD-i logo in a box of random audio cds. I went through the entire box and found a manual for Backgammon, a "Caesars World of Boxing" disc and some kind of boring professional thing called "De Gouden Brief 1993 op CD-i". Then I noticed a CD-r disc with a big sticker saying Lost Boys Interactive. Funnily enough, a few months ago I bought a few CD-i games and movies from the same seller (some old Turkish ? woman who most likely doesn't even know what CD-i is) and some of the movies had small stickers saying Lost Boys Interactive. Since it was only 1 euro I took it home hoping to found something cool CD-i gaming related. 

This is the cover. It's a big sticker attached to the Philips CD-r insert 

The disc itself has the following written on it: V.M.V.M. + a little heart. 

 There is also a manually written note inside saying the disc can be watched in a bunch of stores like Videoland, Freerecordshop, etc. It's signed with the name Chilus (I think) 

I was happy to find it was an actual CD-i disc (size is 120MB). Here's the disc layout 

 I eagerly started the disc and got the following: 

Title screen 

 Then a selection screen with 4 options. Options 1-3 start a slideshow with a few holiday pictures of some guy and girl. In the background we hear the songs "Dr Alban - Sing Hallelujah" and "Ace of Base - She Leads A Lonely Life" which, until today, I had successfully blocked from my memory 

 The 4th option DB gives us this screen which reads: Sweet Marije, I would love to go to the DB with you 

 So yeah, not exactly what I was hoping for. It seems to be something some Lost Boys employee made for his girlfriend. Anyone know what VMVM or DB means?

[Thanks, candela]

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A boxed CD-i 452

CD-i member Big M found a complete Boxed CDi 452 system. "Never knew that there was a 452 player model. Its was used for educational purposes, i got the system with a CD-i Course for Medical first aid."

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An interview with Dana Hanna about the unreleased CD-i game 'The Crow'

In 2004, The Black Moon Project published the first interview with CD-i producer Dana Hanna about her work on the unreleased CD-i game 'The Crow'. You can read it back here. In 2012, Alan from Philips CD-i Zone revisited Dana Hanna to gain more and new information about this cancelled CD-i project. I saved it here on Interactive Dreams for future publishing, but for now, head over to Philips CD-i Zone to view more artwork and the interview with Dana Hanna.

Thanks to Alan for this great contribution. Watch the artwork and read the interview here.

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A CD-i player with no front controller port & power button

Intended for professional usage, CD-i member 'Big M' posted a nice view on his CD-i 470/85 that has no front power button and no front controller port. The controllerport was placed on the back, so there are two controller ports on the back of the console. The original connections were nicely replaced with a cap, so the original parts are obviously the same. I can imagine these types were used as demo models in offices or stores to prevent people turn off the console or remove the controllers without notice. With the serial port it was possible to control the CD-i player from an external place (like, via a network)

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CD-i's early network possibilities

I used to have a CD-i 450 player with a serial port. It was, however, not positioned on the player it self but as a part of the power supply (connections were split). The owner told me it could be connected to the PC with it. Mainly used for professional players, he connected a printer to the CD-i player. The serial port is not intended for the consumer, but for professional players. 
I also remember CD-Matics using a serial port to connect the Tele CD-i Assistant to the CD-i. That was the first try of Philips to hook professional applications to the early internet. Later the official modem came with a converter to connect the modem to a controller port. We've talked before about the Tele CD-i Assistant, a early network tool (modem) to allow professional CD-i applications to access an external network (internet). It was never sold as a consumer product, but it surprises never and nowhere a picture surfaced on the internet. We only have a computer drawing that was published in catalogues. Like the picture you see in this post. Sometimes I wonder: Did it actually exist?

Professional players came with a serial port, and even consumer models were sold with a serial port.

From the CD-i FAQ: "Tele-CD-i had nothing to do with the CD-i Internet connection kit. Tele-CD-i was aimed solely at professional applications where the producer needed to access external data through a network connection. For this, the Tele-CD-i assistant, a 2400 bps modem, was introduced. Tele-CD-i could for example be used to send statistical information about the usage of a CD-i information kiosk to the head offices, or to gather the latest price information from a central location. One of the companies that used Tele-CD-i was Bose in its kiosk application about its Dolby Surround products. The kiosk in a store could be controlled from a central location using the network connection. Tele-CD-i was never sold as a consumer accesory. "

The CD-i 470 with a serial port on the back (and two controller ports on the back too)

We at Interactive Dreams would love to see a picture of a Tele CD-i Assistant. Have you seen one?

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CD-i driving classes were published until 2009

CD-i member Ozfer posted a very interesting post about CD-i discs manufactured until 2009! "I was amazed when I saw that in 2004 a real company made a set of health videos for the CDI and to my amazement I was even more surprised when I saw on ebay from 2003-2009 a company made driving lesson for cd-i.  After talking to the seller apparently they are used in Germany to teach people how to drive. The scanners can scan bar-codes on paper and play the appropriated videos. 

It seems crazy that a company in 2009 would use a system so old and out of production for so long as the main system for their videos. 

Have any of you guys seen this before? "

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