CD-i development article

[retro]

I came across an article in an old Sound on Sound that references CD-i development at ESP. I thought someone might find it interesting. Here's the online version:

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/1994...jun94/esp.html

I was interested to see their tech spec:

AUDIO PRODUCTION AND PROCESSING STUDIO
• DAR Sigma 16-track digital workstation
• Soundcraft Folio 12:2 mixing desk
• Macintosh Quadra 800 with Digidesign Sound Designer and Pro Tools
• Alesis Monitor One speakers
• Alesis RA100 power amp
• Sony PCM 2500A DAT
• Rotel RA1412 Integrated Amp
• Jennings Research ELAN speakers
• Various video displays

VIDEO PROCESSING STUDIO
• 2 Sony UVW 1800P Betacams
• JVC KY-F30 3CCD camera
• Photon Beard Redheads
• 486 66MHz 4Gb hard disk
• AT Vista video capture card with 16Mb RAM
• Quadra 800 with 32Mb RAM
• Kingfisher video capture
• Customised C-Cube FMV encoding station
• Iterated System Fractal Image Compressor
• Various video displays

CD MASTERING STUDIO
• Yamaha CD-Recorder
• Philips CD Recorder
• Sun SparcStation 10
• 20Gb hard disk storage
• Archimedes 540 computer
• 486 66MHz PC
• Mac Quadra 840AV
• Storage Tek 9-track tape drive
• HP DAT drive
• LEA Layered Error-correction code augmentor
• Dolby SR Encoder

PRODUCTION STUDIOS

Eight CDi development systems consisting of:
• Macintosh Quadra or Sun Sparcstation
• CD-i emulation card (ESP custom)
• 2Gb hard disk
• Philips 605 CD-i reference development system
• CD-i software libraries (ESP custom)
• Sony or Philips video display

Four SEGA Megadrive/Mega CD development systems:
• 486 66MHz PC
• 2Gb Hard Disc
• SNASM SEGA development environment
• Sony or Philips video display
• Logic Analyzer

Four Multimedia PC development systems:
• 486 66Mhz PC with 16Mb RAM
• 2Gb hard disk
• Dual Speed CD-ROM drive

Two 3DO development systems:
• Macintosh Quadra 800
• 2Gb hard disk
• 3DO development environment

CREATIVE PRODUCTION SYSTEMS
• Eight Macintosh Quadra 800 or 950s, 1Gb hard disk, 16Mb RAM
• WACOM tablets 24-bit graphics dual display
• Canon 24-bit colour scanner/printer
• Two Silicon Graphics R4000 Extreme Graphics
• Enormous number of software packages!

[JDBoyd]

I am intrigued by the mentions of Sun workstations for CDi development systems. I also am curious what the Archimedes 540 was used for.

[cdoty]

I am intrigued by the mentions of Sun workstations for CDi development systems. I also am curious what the Archimedes 540 was used for.

Or Macs, I thought CD-i development was done on PCs.

[CD-i Fan]

CD-i development was originally on Suns 68K and Macs (also 68K), the PC versions of most development tools were always lagging behind the Sun/Mac versions.

[Arkanoid]

WOW a while 4gigs of hard disc space. Yes i know that was a good amount but it seems funny now since my pc has more ram that that.

[qUE]

I am intrigued by the mentions of Sun workstations for CDi development systems. I also am curious what the Archimedes 540 was used for.

Dunno what the Arch. was used for, aparently the 540 had built-in SCSI support, maybe it was for controlling another device. Certainly developing controller stuff on the Arch. quickly would be easy since BASIC was built in on these machines, and I'm assuming if the SCSI was built-in RISC OS would have a Module for SCSI communication.