Description

The Philips CD-i 180 was the first CD-i system. It was developed by Philips and Kyocera in 1988. Whereas the CD-i 205 (1991) was a test case product for the consumer market, the CD-i 180 was the first attempt to make a CD-i player for developers and the profesional market. Because it is more a prototype than a commercial product all technologies where intergrated to test the capabilities of the platform.

The CDI 180 system was modular and consisted of three layers of hardware connected on the side of the console (see pictures). Power was also distributed from between the layers (on the back). Only the CD drive (CDI 180) and the MultiMedia Controller (CDI 181) were needed to make it operational. The CDI 182 module (not on picture) could be added for additional capabilities, featuring two floppy disk drives, SCSI and parallel ports and an additional 1 MB of RAM. The system could not be extended with a Digital Video cartridge.

There is no regular disc tray incorparated. CD-i’s could only be inserted with a special disk loading caddy. These caddies are specifically made for this particular model and are therefore hard to find nowadays.

The CD-i 180 came with a special remote control and a mouse. These do not work on other CD-i players. However, the other way around same later produced infrared remotes work on the 180.

The CD-i 180 was mainly used by developers and was only distributed in limited numbers. It is therefore a very rare machine.