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But still, 3 years later, the Playstation did the same thing and it was a fantastic success. CDTV was simply a bit early (hence the price) and a bit confused a
by toyg 1y ago
But still, 3 years later, the Playstation did the same thing and it was a fantastic success.
CDTV was simply a bit early (hence the price) and a bit confused about what it wanted to be. It cost like a development machine but it was a fundamentally end-user one; it provided continuity for Amiga developers but only a hard reset for Amiga users. It also debuted in harsh economic times.
- rasz 1y agoCommodore wanted $1000 for a 1985 computer combined with single speed CDROM barely able to play 160×100@12Hz CDXL video and called it multimedia! It cost less to just buy external SCSI CDROM and SCSI controller + A500. Playstation was a $350/$299 toy with a computing power delivering 3D experience only available in top end Arcades a year prior (Namco System 22). 60fps 3D gaming plus 320x240@30Hz ~MJPEG video playback. You couldnt buy anything with similar 3d power for a couple of years, closest would be $3000 top of the line 1997 PC (P200, dx5/glide).
- erickhill 1y agoCan't help being a little nitpicky, but the CDTV was an A500, not A1000. So it was 1987 tech inside a stereo box + CD player, not 1985. But at the end of the day it really didn't matter. I remember seeing a CDTV at a store and it wasn't even in the computer section. It was in the stereo department sitting in the middle of the sales floor in just a stack of boxes. You had to know what it was all about when you saw it. The sales guys didn't know what to do with it, sadly.
- rasz 1y ago>A500, not A1000 Not a single technical improvement, hardly any non cost reduction difference between them. Would be like arguing breadbin vs C64c are different computers so cant call C64c 1982 tech.
- erickhill 1y agoThe A500 came with a Kickstart ROM. The A1K required a floppy disk. The 500 could also use a 1MB Agnus chip and one could easily update trapdoor RAM. It wasn't light-years advanced over the A1K but it was a good step in the right direction and vastly more affordable. Hence why it was the best-selling Amiga and the A1K "did OK" but didn't set any sales records. "Not a single technical improvement" is ridiculous.
- icedchai 1y agoYes, the A500's main "innovation" was cost reduction.
- bogantech 1y agoWell they released the CD32 within a year or two of the PS1 launching. It was a patent lawsuit that took them down but an AGA 68020 console with a library of A500 ports was never going to make it either.