Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!stanford.edu!eos!aio!vf.jsc.nasa.gov!kent From: kent@vf.jsc.nasa.gov Subject: Re: CDTV misleading???!? Message-ID: <1991Jun7.124219.1@vf.jsc.nasa.gov> Lines: 48 Sender: news@aio.jsc.nasa.gov (USENET News System) Organization: NASA Johnson Space Flight Center References: <1991Jun4.204135.17497@cs.wayne.edu> Distribution: na Date: 7 Jun 91 12:42:19 -0600 In article , thomas@capitol.capitol.com (Mark Thomas) writes: > 1. CD-I is expandable. There are provisions for keyboard, mouse, SCSI port, > parallel and serial ports, floppy drives... Just because Magnavox is not > using these capabilities doesn't mean they don't exist. There are at least > three other manufacturers that are going to have players by Christmas. One > of these is rumored to have a MIDI interface. So does CDTV. And it is right on the back of the machine. > > 2. By Christmas CD-I will probably have 50 titles out. I think you'll find > they will be of consistantly high quality both in content and image quality. > Don't judge CD-I by what you see in the demo booths, there's a lot of discs > that haven't been seen yet. > So will CDTV. > 3. One advantage CD-I has over CDTV IMHO is that all CD-I titles are > designed specifically for NTSC/PAL TV displays, a trait that seems to be > missing from CDTV. The CDTV I've seen (admittedly limited) suffer from some > poor design choices. If you see a CD-I title you'll notice most of the on > screen buttons/controls are quite large and inside the SMPTE TV safe area. > Some of the CDTV stuff I've seen has tiny buttons scattered all over the > screen. This is fine on a monitor, but the average joe consumer that hooks > up a CDTV player to his $299 TV is going to be hard pressed to use some > titles. I have seen CDTV on a TV. Looks just fine to me. > 4. Remember that CDTV vs CD-I is Commodore vs Philips, Sony, Masushita and > others. Who do you think will win a pissing contest :-) > It depends on who Commodore liscensces their CDTV to. Both sides are still recruting.... time will tell. CDTV is also now, not the down the road. -- Mike Kent - Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company at NASA JSC 2400 NASA Rd One, Houston, TX 77058 (713) 483-3791 KENT@vf.jsc.nasa.gov