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From: es1@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Ethan Solomita)
Subject: Re: CDTV misleading???!? Air Mouse and things.
Message-ID: <1991Jun6.005113.7848@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu>
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References: <1991Jun4.204135.17497@cs.wayne.edu> <1991Jun5.002829.22492@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> <THOMAS.91Jun5081932@capitol.capitol.com>
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Date: Thu, 6 Jun 1991 00:51:13 GMT

In article <THOMAS.91Jun5081932@capitol.capitol.com> thomas@capitol.capitol.com (Mark Thomas) writes:
>

	Note that all my following remarks are based on the
assumption that the reports from CES made here were accurate and
complete.

>
> 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. 
>
	It is true that the CD-I specs allow for expansion.
However, I'd doubt that you'll see three other CD-I players by
Christmas, at least not in any quantity. If they weren't prepared
to show up at CES, even with a prototype, I can't believe they'll
finish in time.
	Also, if the intial CD-I aren't expandable, that will
hurt them in the long run, even if it changes. Mangavox will be
advertising this Christmas and they won't be able to claim any
expandability.

> 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.
>
	Same point as above. If they haven't been seen yet,
what's the likelihood that they'll be widespread by Christmas?

> 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. 
>
	Two things. First, most of the titles I saw did use large
boxes, so I think that what you saw was the exception, not the
rule. What did you see that used tiny buttons?
	Also, it is worth pointing out that the CD-I and CDTV
markets are NOT joe-consumer, but brad-consumer who has money to
spare. He'll have a $500 TV, most likely. Or at least a 18" or
so, my guesstimate.

> 4. Remember that CDTV vs CD-I is Commodore vs Philips, Sony, Masushita and
>others. Who do you think will win a pissing contest :-)
>
>Please note: I am somewhat biased in this. I do CD-I for a living. Also note
>that my views are my own, not my company's.
>
	No one will advertise a product that isn't shipping, so
only those companies that have a shipping-in-quantity CD-I
product by Christmas will advertise. Currently only Magnavox is
promising that, and they were saying October I believe. If the
others will be later than that they may be too late.
	And this Christmas will probably make or break one or the
other. If this Christmas, CDTV sells 600,000 units between the US
and Europe and CD-I (which Magnavox is pricing $400 more) sells
300,000, who will developers emphasize on?
	Software is the real game here. Just like with
Nintendo/Sega/etc., people won't buy something without software.
There is already SHIPPING a good deal of CDTV software.
	Basically, we'll have to wait and see what materializes
before Christmas. I am pretty sure CD-I will dominate Japan and
CDTV will dominate Europe. America is the question.

	So why not convince your company to develop for CDTV, or
are they waiting for Christmas to decide?

	-- Ethan

Now the world has gone to bed,		Now I lay me down to sleep,
Darkness won't engulf my head,		Try to count electric sheep,
I can see by infrared,			Sweet dream wishes you can keep,
How I hate the night.			How I hate the night.   -- Marvin
