Another 'future CD-i project' would be to discover if the CD-i 450 can be powered by using a standard USB power supply. You might remember the Philips CD-i 450 to have an external power supply and a rather bulky one. The connector is a standard ethernet adapter which plugs into your CD-i player. This is probably done for internet purposes as we have seen professional CD-i 450 models with a modem hooked in between the power source and the player. The input of the CD-i power port is actually 5V, the same as a standard USB supply.
CD-i member Gameblabla (we know him as CD-i developer of the homebrew CD-i game Super Quartet) tried this on other consoles with success, like the Sega Mega Drive model 2. Gameblabla:
"It bypasses the 7805 regulator. Old chips are rated 5V like the USB standard. As a result, the power efficiency is much greater. (from 4.3 watts to 1.6 watts for Sonic 1)"
About the possibility if this would be possible on the CD-i 450, Gameblabla is positive:
"In theory this should be possible on the CDI-450, in which case all i would have to do is look at its voltage regulator, wire it up to the 5v pin and (optionally) filter the USB power."
So for now: It's a nice future project when more of these original power supplies will fail and it is a nice mod for your CD-i player to make it more future proof. One of our CD-i members will for sure look into this now in the near future. Although CD-i member Retrostuff has some doubts if this will work: "This is already on my to-do list for some years, but with a PC power supply. The CDI450 needs two voltages, +5V and -5V (23-30 W for EU units without and with DVC). This won't be as trivial as building an USB power source for a Mega Drive."
[Thanks, Gameblabla, Retrostuff]
