As of today, the official CD-i FAQ on ICDIA has been updated to our newest version, the CD-i FAQ 2020! In the past year, you were already able to read the new and updated chapters of the CD-i FAQ 2020 on Interactive Dreams. Even today, the CD-i FAQ serves as a huge reference base for all current CD-i websites, and a lot of information originates from the ICDIA archive. Just like 20 years ago, the new CD-i FAQ 2020 was written by Jorg Kennis. Jorg: "This FAQ was initially published in 2000, with a substantial upgrade made to it in 2020. It was written to answer the many questions that are still being asked about the Compact Disc Interactive system. Its aim is to explain what CD-i is, for what applications it was used, how its technology works, what player devices were available, what the different disc types mean and how CD-i authoring worked. Furthermore it addresses some questions regarding connecting a CD-i player to a computer and how to use/emulate CD-i on other platforms.
The 2020 update was made as the result of a rise in interest in the CD-i platform within the retro computing and gaming world, and it addresses the current state of affairs of CD-i. Furthermore, the FAQ was adapted to accomodate comparisons and interoperability with current technologies. Most of all, the author intends for this FAQ to serve as a tribute to what he considers one of the most exciting and influential platforms in consumer electronics history."
The 2020 update was made as the result of a rise in interest in the CD-i platform within the retro computing and gaming world, and it addresses the current state of affairs of CD-i. Furthermore, the FAQ was adapted to accomodate comparisons and interoperability with current technologies. Most of all, the author intends for this FAQ to serve as a tribute to what he considers one of the most exciting and influential platforms in consumer electronics history."
This CD-i FAQ was written by Jorg Kennis. Jorg was involved from an early age with several projects within Philips Interactive Media Systems, including evaluation and testing of new CD-i hardware products, starting during the format's early development period around 1989. Jorg founded the New International CD-i Association around 1999 and started this web site. Around that time he worked at Philips doing research into the transition of professional CD-i towards DVD and Web. Spanning a period of 20 years, Jorg also built the ICDIA CD-i Software Archive, consisting of over 1,500 titles, which is now available to the public in a museum in the Netherlands.
Professionally, Jorg is active in business development and marketing of technology standards. He worked on DVD+RW, Blu-ray Disc and various codecs and content distribution formats for Philips. Currently, his main focus is professional IoT and connectivity standards. Visit Jorg's website for more information.
Professionally, Jorg is active in business development and marketing of technology standards. He worked on DVD+RW, Blu-ray Disc and various codecs and content distribution formats for Philips. Currently, his main focus is professional IoT and connectivity standards. Visit Jorg's website for more information.
During the active CD-i years, the author shared his love for the system with his friends Bart van den Heuvel, Stefan Peters and Wouter Robers, and he met other CD-i enthousiasts online, including Bo Raun Nielsen en Stephane Cazat. During the period of the renewed interest in CD-i, he befriended new CD-i enhousiasts like Sebastiaan Batenburg (of Interactive Dreams) and 'CD-i Fan' (the author of the CD-i Emulator). All those people contributed to the information that somehow found their way into this FAQ.
The CD-i FAQ 2020 has been updated with the following changes and additions:
- Better reflection of the current state of CD-i and the CD-i community
- Added and improved text to better explain several concepts and technologies
- New historical information based on recently (re)discovered sources
- Better representation of relation to current technologies (disc formats, codecs, connection types, other platforms)
- Updates on the availability of (authoring) software products and information on their support for current operating systems
- Updates on CD-i emulation and usage of CD-i discs on other platforms
- Improvements on style and readability, corrections of spelling and grammar errors
Next to the new CD-i FAQ 2020, the software archive of ICDIA also received a big update. Thanks to our exhibition in the Home Computer Museum in Helmond, The Netherlands, we were able to browse through the collection again and expand the existing CD-i archive with all language versions and catalogue numbers.
The New International CD-i Association maintains the world's largest archive of CD-i software titles. It contains around 500 consumer titles (available through regular retail channels), around 400 professional titles (created for one particular client company and not publicly for sale), as well as around 700 titles on CD-i related disc formats (like Photo-CD and Video-CD). The archive was built from 1990 onwards by Jorg Kennis. It was and is regularly used for research, documentation and demonstration purposes.
Since 2020, the entire collection is available to the general public at the Home Computer Museum in the city of Helmond, the Netherlands. The museum staff is able to demonstrate specific titles on request. The CD-i collection is accessible as part of the normal entrance fee. For more information about location, admission fees, opening hours, and to get a glimpse of the hundreds of other devices in the museum, please refer to the Home Computer Museum website.
[Special thanks to Jorg Kennis and CD-i Fan]