Philips CDi - Part 1 - Not reading discs???

[@boblowes]

There was a 3 button CDi joypad that was basically a rebranded version of one made by Tecno Plus, that was released for multiple systems in the mid-90s. I have a white & grey one for the Amiga, but it was also available on the Mega Drive, and as a 6-button pad for both the Mega Drive and the Snes. It wasn't a bad controller, as I remember. Anyway, it's generally thought of as one of the better 'proper' controllers for the CDi - so much so that they can go for about £200 these days.

[@lifeschool]

The first 8 seconds of this video just say it all! lol. In the rush to make CD multimedia games, Philips thought they were one step ahead thanks to co-inventing the CD with Sony. They are a dutch company but most people think they are british. Anyway, they had a plant in Blackburn right next to where I used to go for my YTS scheme. We were allowed in for lunch breaks and use their canteen and adjoining display room; where we could try out new stuff as soon as it came out. It was supposed to be a staff shop but me and another guy mucked about so much laughing at their CD-i Golf game (the only game worth playing) that the whole YTS lot were banned from the canteen after that. I dont know what parts the Blackburn plant brought to the CD-i table, I dont think it was final assembly plant, but lets just say the project (like the very similar CD-TV idea) was doomed from the start, given the expense. Console carts were relatively affordable to develop and disk and cassette based machines were basically free to use, but making huge CD games and burning them was expensive back in the late 1980s. I'd say it took Myst released 1993 to explode the market, after the Sega CD failure of 92. Really by 1995 we got the Playstation, and the Saturn, and finally CDs were so affordable now that it was cheap enough to mass produce for a globally hungry market.

[@CRG]

Haha, bet you weren't to popular getting banned for laughing at the next big thing... Maybe if they had come out of the gates advertising the cdi as a games console rather than the multimedia angle it might of done better. Not sure though as it's games library is a bit crap. The biggest problem I see with it is that the cdi is the jack of all trades yet the master of none. It became obvious that no-one wanted half an encyclopedia on a cd and the nolevity of watching blury videos from a disc soon wore off when people realised you can't record to it. Also it's not powerful enough for gamers and by the time they moved to call it a games console it was 1994 and way to late since the 3DO, saturn and PlayStation where just around the corner.

[@lifeschool]

@@CRG - After YTS was over for the day, we'd drop by the local Curry's and play on their display model SNES's. That was until we were kicked out. And then we'd usually go play Sensible Soccer on my machine at home, where he'd always win.

[@thefifthdoctor6780]

I brought a CDi 450 and 470. Going to replace the lasers, timekeeping mod and belt.

[@42markk42]

That was a gift of a fix :)

[@CRG]

I was so close to just buying the replacement laser anyway but glad I tested it first. Only thing I can think is someone has been heavy handed with a disc before knocking the spindle down. Next week should be more involved with making the snes to cdi interface.

[@thisnamewastaken413]

Thank you for this video! I thought it had something to do with the spinner, but couldn't quite get it to work. Thank you!

[@williambeucler]

You saved me from a massive headache. Thank you for this video! I had the same issue reading discs.

[@Scaze74]

Mark is a champ! Love my TF330 i bougt of him to my CD32

[@CRG]

Yep I've bought the tf328 and tf330 from him and he even updated my 330 for me a couple of weeks ago. Top bloke that I'd recommend to anyone.

[@anks888]

Can’t tap rgb off the BT chip but you can hijack the digital rgb before it and pump it into a dac or r2r after a buffer

[@CRG]

Hi Kris sorry for the late reply. There is an rgb mod you can do with the bt chip and you can make it generate rgb quite easily. This weekends video is goi g to show how to do it so keep an eye out.

[@ArtBound64]

Do you have any idea what component that CD Spindle holder could be? Not the laser assembly itself but the magnet that holds the disc in place on the top lid. I think that's the problem with mine, yours looks different. Mine is just a gray plastic barrel with nothing to hold the disc in place

[@CRG]

I'm not actually sure what that parts called but I know what you mean. You might be able to take one out of an old PC CD drive.

[@zezba9000]

For others adjusting the laser ohms down solved my problem. Then add a dab of super glue so it doesn't vibrate out of place.

[@CRG]

It would be unusual to turn the laser down, unless of course someone had turned it up so far maybe before you got the console. Good tip on the glue!

[@zezba9000]

@@CRG I have fixed GameCubes, Xboxes, PS2's, etc by adjusting the laser ohms. I have two CD-I lasers. The consoles had never been opened. Both were fixed by adjusting the laser ohms then adding some super glue to make sure they're stable. My guess is CD/DVDs spinning in these for 20-30 years can micro vibrate some of these out of place. I had a GameCube for example with its ohms way higher than normal and the dial was loser than other consoles. So might depend some on manufacturing error. Also sometimes it can be just a little corrosion and cause the ohms to fluctuate with just a little vibration from the disk (I saw this happen on one console). Twisting the dial back and forth can help stabilize this as well. Anyway those are just my experiences with these.

[@jameshiggins3215]

The lid was never spring loaded you did have to lift yourself them were the days. I still have mine 👍 tones of games/films and mad dog mccree 1/2 with light gun boxed really good condition still😀

[@garyhart6421]

Somebody else I watch (possibly My Mate Vince) had a similar (playstation) stuck spindle fix.

[@normalguy4147]

where did you get the power supply?

[@CRG]

Just got it from eBay, probably paid to much but they are hard to come by.

[@EviIove]

You can use CDI 210 power supply but you need to solder it to ethernet cable.

[@consolecoast7897]

Hey bud, I have one of these and my lid opens the same as yours. Hope that helps

[@CRG]

Thanks for letting me know.

[@snesfan8935]

Heh, that was a quick fix!!!

[@CRG]

Yeah I really didn't expect it to be so simple.

[@Uelop-b7f]

Sorry i dont really understand, what did you do with the spinner exactly? Push it down? Or just rub it clockwise? Do i really have to opened the case to fix the spinner problem?

[@CRG]

It had been pushed down and was stuck against the case. All I had to do here was lift it back up.

[@Uelop-b7f]

@@CRG okay thanks for your explanation :)