Philips CDi Player/Disc compatibility?

[Jef.]

I'm brand new here, and hoping I'm posting this to the appropriate place.

20 years ago, I did the voice-overs for the Philips-Polygram program "TREASURES OF THE SMITHSONIAN", bur never saw the final mix.
I just bought a CDi player and the TREASURES... disc, but it won't play.
Seller says it's not the hardware, but a bad disc. Or the unit is incompatible, time/manufacturing-wise with the disc. System claims to be fully functional and disc is clean and scratch-free.

Can anyone tell me how to determine which player I need to play this disc? It's the ONLY thing I want to see or hear.
Thanks-
Jef.
Feel free to email me--
jefo715@comcast.net

[Ed Oscuro]

Hey there, thanks for sharing that information with us. Aside from the usual suspect - a possible Digital Video RAM cartridge requirement - I can't offer up any concrete suggestions because I don't have this particular title (although I have been thinking about it since another of our members found a white-labeled copy in a dealer's demo pack), but it may help if you can disclose which model of player you have, and also what error you see onscreen, if any.

Also would be interested to hear about any other works you've lent your voice to.

This website (http://blackmoon.classicgaming.gamespy.com/statements/dale_desharone.html) says that Treasures of the Smithsonian had a multi-million dollar budget - did it seem to be the case to you? How long did they make you sit in the booth?

Thanks again!

[jscott1980]

Check out my post and pictures. I have the white label/demo disc for Treasures of the Smithsonian.

[Jef.]

Hi, and thanks, both of you. I have a CDi220, bought on eBay. The URL is
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400058197863&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

The problem is, when I turn it on and insert the disc, I get the animated American Interactive Media logo, and then it shifts to the TREASURES OF THE SMITHSONIAN title screen. (So, I get sound and images.)

There are directional arrows there, and a cursor. No amount of button pushing (on the unit, itself or with the remote) accomplishes anything. It just sits there. It will not respond, and I'm stuck on this intro screen. I might as well be waving a stick at it.

I've been told that as they made more of these, they changed codes or something and compatibility issues became a problem. Some older discs wouldn't work on some newer players, or vice-versa. I don't know if my player is too old, or my disc is too old or what.

It's frustrating to get stalled 20 years down the line.

Yes-- they spent a lot of money on the project. They paid me $300 an hour for the narration, and it took about 2 years to complete. That's not to say I had a 9-5 workday every week for 2 years, but theyd call me in every couple of weeks for an hour or two. It took quite a while. In addition to the vocals, they had to cut in the visuals (hundreds of images), and mix appropriate theme music to overlay everything. It was pretty complex.
Anyway, it's been making me crazy. All I want to do is see and hear this one disc...

[Jef.]

P.S.: I also did a national TV commercial for TIME-LIFE films, the James Bond Video Collection. "And the adventure begins with GOLDFINGER! Every month, you'll receive a new Bond title..." and blah, blah, blah. It was fun.

Most of my other stuff was for training films or instructional videos or comedy projects.