Microsoft Xbox 360 (PepsiMax prize edition)

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The CDTV.

The Commodore CDTV... what a curious contraption it is. Packaged in a form factor resembling a component from a HiFi setup of the era with a modified Amiga 500 motherboard and a CD-ROM drive, the CDTV represented Commodore trying to think outside the box. The 90s was the era of multimedia as a buzzword and the CDTV was Commodore's first big foray, competing against machines like the Philips CD-i.

On paper, the thing makes perfect sense. Take the proven Amiga 500, graft on a CD-ROM drive and infrared peripherals, build the TV modulator in, develop some special features (the CDXL format was built for the CDTV originally) and boom, you've got the ideal living-room friendly ~~computer~~ media appliance. It originally didn't even ship with a keyboard or mouse, just a remote control.

There was a couple of issues with this plan though... for starters, the period of time - launching in 1991, the CDTV was decades too early for the concept of a computer being used in a living room. Further, Amiga owners didn't leap at the machine as they knew well that Commodore would invariably release a CD-ROM kit for the Amiga 500 later on... they were right, that would be the A570, which worked with CDTV software too. The price was certainly the nail in the coffin though... allegedly the launch price in North America was 800 USD. Yeesh!

Specifications

Motorola 68000 @ 7MHz

1MB Chip RAM

1x CD-ROM drive

Amiga ECS chipset

Kickstart 1.3, CDTV firmware ROM

Unique features

You had to have some party pieces when you're that early to the game and frankly beyond its stunning aesthetics of the machine itself, the software that was included looked great with the CD playback interface being particularly attractive with a sweet representation at the bottom of the screen of the drive's laser moving over a CD.

The CDTV also included some basics because of its design the 500 did not, such as the integral RF modulator allowing both RF and colour composite out off the hop - something the 500 needs an A520 modulator to achieve.

The accessories for the CDTV are all black equivalents to other Amiga accessories, including a full black variant of the 1084S monitor, a black A1011 floppy drive, a black version of the Amiga 3000's Mitsumi keyboard and some machine-unique stuff like an infrared wireless mouse and my favourite (and the thing I want for mine!) the infrared wireless trackball which includes two DE9 ports for standard Amiga controllers! Internally installable genlocks were also supported as standard.

Personal history

You ever been looking at a local auction site, seen something and had a radical urge to acquire it? Yep, it's one of those... I bought my CDTV for 300 NZD back in 2008. It was a heck of a lot of money for an old Commodore machine back then, now though? Unfathomably cheap for a CDTV!

Mine is bog standard, no RAM upgrades, genlocks or other nonsense. The only accessories I have are the standard remote control and two IR mice. Why the previous owner bought two IR mice is beyond me!

Software I have includes the CDTV specific version of SimCity, in this case developed by Infogrames... yes, oh yes... it's very european!