The New International CD-i Association

Comparison table of all Philips professional and authoring CD-i players

All CD-i players are similar in terms of audiovisual features and processor performance. There are only minor differences between the various models which are indicated for all Philips professional and authoring players in this table.

Please refer to the bottom of this page for a description of used terms and abbreviations in this overview. There is also some info about Philips' version indication method.

Philips professional and authoring CD-i players

Version	Shell	IR	NV-RAM	DVC	Disc loading	Main RAM	I/O	DO	CDM	PCB
CDI 180/00	early	RC5	8 KB	-	Caddy	1+1 MB	* 1)	* 2)	9	JNMS
CDI 601/00	1st	RC5	8 KB	-	Caddy	1 MB	A	-	9	Maxi-MMC
CDI 602/00	1st	RC5	8 KB	-	Caddy	1 MB	A	-	9	Maxi-MMC
CDI 604/00	1st	RC5/6	8 KB	9424	Tray	1 MB	A	-	9	Mini-MMC
CDI 605/00	1st	RC5	8 KB	9424 * 3)	Caddy	5 MB	A	* 2)	9	Mini-MMC
CDI 605T/20	1st	RC5/6	8 KB	9424	Tray	5 MB	A	* 2)	9	Mini-MMC
CDI 615/00	2nd	RC6	32 KB	installed	Tray	2 MB	D	Yes	12.1	Mono-IV
CDI 660/00	2nd	RC6	32 KB	installed	Tray	2 MB	D	Yes	12.1	Mono-IV
CDI 670/00	2nd	RC6	32 KB	installed	Tray	2 MB	D	Yes	12.1	Mono-IV

Terms and abreviations

Shell
Indicates the revision of the CD-i player shell that is used in a player. The CDI 180 contains a very early version of the player shell, which was especially designed for this model. Basically, their were two major different versions, each of which also had slightly different versions. The latter ones are not indicated. The 1st generation player shell was officially designed for the professional CDI 60x players, but it was used in the first generation of consumer players as well. The 2nd generation player shell is a bit more colorfull, and contains some animations.

IR
Indicates which Infra Red devices can be used with the player. RC5 (to be more specific: Enhanced RC5) is used by the early Thumbstick controller. RC6, which allowes for pressure differences resulting in various speeds of the cursor movement, is used in the CD-i Commander.

DVC
Indicates which Digital Video cartridge can be installed in the player. 9424 refers to the 22ER9424 cartridge, which is especially made for the CDI 604 and 605/20 slots since the boards are not housed in a cartridge but slide into the player's expansion slots immediately. These players can also take a modified VMPEG cartridge. Refer to Digital Video cartidges overview.
* 3) Although the original 605/00 player could not take a DVC cartridge, an upgrade kit was available to replace one of the two extension connectors with a DVC connector.

Disc Loading
Indicates wether the CD needs to be placed in a caddy or cartridge before being able to load it in the player, or that the player is equiped with a standard tray or drawer which accepts the disc.

Main RAM
Indicates the amount of RAM that is available to CD-i applications. For players with an integrated Digital Video capability, this includes the extra 1 MB that is usually mounted on a Digital Video cartridge. For the CDI 604 and CDI 605, which accept a modified Digital Video cartridge, this extra 1 MB is not counted in the figures.

I/O
Indicates what combination of general I/O ports for pointing devices (such as a mouse or a Roller Controller) and serial ports are available on the player.
A - Front port can be used for pointing devices, back port for pointing devices or RS232 devices.
D - Front ports can be used to connect 2 pointing devices, back port can only be used for RS232 devices.
* 1) The CDI 180 used a different interface for pointing devices. Therefore, only pointing devices that were made especially for the CDI 180 (such a the small graphic tablet, the wired remote and the mouse) can be connected.

DO
Indicates wether or not a Digital Out port is availbe on the player. This standard S/PDIF port is only used when playing CD-Audio discs. It delivers no signal when playing a CD-i disc.
* 2) The authoring player CDI 180 and CDI 605 contain a cinch port marked with DO. This port however is used to connect a CD-i Emulator and does not deliver a S/PDIF signal.

CDM
Indicates the version of the CD loading mechanism that is used. The versions are internally used at Philips to indicate follow-up versions and improvements. The older CDM-9 is generally considered to be very reliable, and even capable of reading good quality CD-RW discs, although it is no MultiRead drive.

PCB
Indicates the version of the Printed Circuit Board (or mainboard) used. Some players where produced with different PCBs, this is indicated in the version-number. Mini-MMC stands for Mini Multi Media Controller, which was a new version of the PCB used in the early CDI 181 player, but it was still very large resulting in big devices. Mono indicates the newer Monoboard-PCBs which combined a variety of player essentials in lesser ICs using very large scale integration. There were various versions of the Monoboard.

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