This is something we have to investigate further. CD-i member Dani Velasco Jurado posted a picture of his Bang & Olufsen BeoCenter AV5. He told us his unit does not have the controller ports on the back, but that the unit was in fact able to play CD-i discs by activating this feature in a secret service menu. It looks like Bang & Olufsen made one version and prepared it as a version with CD-i and without, but that the versions sold as 'without CD-i' actually still included the CD-i hardware inside. It just was not activated in the menu. Dani: "It reproduces some CD-i titles (except those which need the extension cartridge). Although it wasn't easy, because to play CDI, I had to activate this function in a secret service menu."
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| Unfortunately, the label doesn't give any info whether a CD-i was included, or does it? |
As you can see in the picture above, the unit that was posted by Dani (the left one) has a different color scheme compared to the one on the right (the version that we already knew). We're looking for other CD-i member who have a Bang & Olufsen BeoCenter AV5 CD-i unit who can hsare their experience with us. Please share some pictures so we can categorize the different versions that Bang & Olufsen created.
Retrostuff comments on the sticker info: "Regarding the missing controller ports, I've compared the English and the German manual of the AV5. The English manual tells about the CD-i functions and how to connect accessories to the ports. The German manual shows the ports greyed out and states that some models don't have these ports and even if they are there, they are without function. You might want to check a AV5 manual in your local language to see what it says about the CD-i function/the ports. I haven't seen clear pictures of any AV5 mainboard yet and don't know if they have pin headers with wired ports or if the ports are soldered onto the mainboard. Either way, it shouldn't be too hard to add the ports. Two of your pictures clearly show internal menus from a CD-i player:
- Storage Options - this is a 2nd player shell storage menu with a different design
- "curious menu" - This is the CD-i Service Shell.
[Thanks, Dani Velasco Jurado, retrostuff]