How utterly insane the construction for that system is. Great job taking it apart and getting it back together and working again. Btw, I loved the PiP showing your sped up tear-down, that's a great idea to both show the process but cut down on overall video time.
Wow, great video as always Chris. What a complicated bit of kit. Funny thing is if that was remade today it would probably fit inside the size of a deck or cards. That thing is a monster.
Wow, just wow, congrats on the "dismantling" and recaps and putting back together this CDTV monster, you're THE man!!! By the way, really nice piece of Commodore history right there :-] It reminds me of supposedly quick things to do on my arcade gear and in fact, it takes me forever because of strange screws, and just the love of things done right because I love and take care of my stuffs!!! ;-]
Great video Chris! You are a master!....Wow I think I should hope and pray my CDTV continues to work ok so I never have to take it apart :) I think I will just leave mine stock, other than the RGB2HDMI add-on that I put in.
Thanks for the Video Chris 👍🏻 (Bromigo! 😉). You can definitely see the progress between the CDTV and the CD32 there. Wow a lot of time and effort fixing that 1 x speed CD drive. There are plenty of different expansions I’m seeing you can get for this system. I take it this can also accept a 60810 CPU replacement as well? Cheers Mang! 😎
Great job Chris. You could adapt the CF card port to host a Gotek. Printed brackets are available. The CF card port is not really CF; it was originally intended for memory cards. Also; this machine is suited for eg RASCSI as it has an optional SCSI bus.
The next hardest part must be editing down to YT. Expansion may be PCMCIA. Soon as you popped the lid, I saw Panasonic/Matsushita hallmarks of layout... Some of their higher end VCR with S-Video were similarly complicated, in part because they had to fit into a form factor, around the mechanism. Sure the engineers had fun/nightmares getting it all working inside the box.
there apparently is an easier tutorial i found after i took it apart when i did the cap list. to which i added to the desc. a few steps that would have made a few minutes faster. but its still a weird mechanism.
That looked like bloomin' hard work Chris. Glad you got it all back together, but looking forward to seeing the rest of it being done. I've never even seen a CDTV, other than in magazines and videos. Not much room in there for upgrades, but it would be nice to have an '020 or '030 in there. As for that bespoke CD ROM drive... what were Commodore thinking?
I think they were NOT thinking at all, or at least good engineers were forced to back off just because of commercial and financial perspectives, hence the ongoing problems and final bankruptcy! ;-]
@@Zebpro The CDTV was originally from special projects. They did expensive high end one-offs. It was management who crazily said lets go to production with your prototype.
Interesting machine, but in 1 respect ahead of its time (like a HTPC), but in others a dinosaur running on 5+ year old 500 technology in the warp speed pace of advances in the computer industry of the early 1990's. The black main unit, external drive, keyboard, and monitor look sexy as heck. Someday maybe I will find a CDTV.
Chris, do you have a 570 to compare with it? I wonder how many components they share. My next project is making a cdtv-like rig out of a Checkmate case, 500 mobo, and a 570...
I have A570 but it wont boot to cdtv screen. Gives software failure guru meditation... it spins the disc. Green and orange leds working. Any help ? A500 1.3 1mbchip. rev6a. On 3.1 rev5 also not working.
motivated me to recap my cdtv cd drive as it would need the old 6 press of the eject button to spin up, post recap spins up 1st time every time and i can use cdr with the 2.35 extended roms, one cdtv down one to go, word to the wise there is a smd cap in the contoller than needs to be replaced they leak, the IR / Display cables are horrid
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration i battled with that clock cable for an hour to get it to work i did my best to get the wires straight then inserted them about 1mm into the socket making sure all were aligned then pushed down on the socket releasing the clamp force then inserted the cable the rest of the way then released the down force on the socket enguaging the clamp again, i was ready to order the replacement cables as well i thought my cable was faulty as i lost all mouse movment from the remote, after checking with another remote that all was well i discovered the 47uf 6v smd cap in the remote was leaking so i have ordered a replacment caps for both remotes i have
Commodore: We want to buy the oddest,strangest,most impractical cdrom drive you make that fits nothing on this planet.. Manufacturer:Have we got a drive for you!
You have to remember that the CDTV development circa 1989 predates *ALL* computer CD-ROM drives. ATAPI and ASPI CD-ROM protocols didn't exist yet. Even the forerunner MKE (Soundblaster CD-ROM) interface didn't exist yet.
@@a1exh It was a joke,but i did have a SCSI 1x CDrom on my A2000 in 1988. Many drives well into the 90's were proprietary interfaces . The first CDROM drives were shown at comdex in late 85' and high sierra format in 86' and iso9660 in 1988.
If you want to add an accelerator that has FAST RAM above 8MB (Like a TF536) you need to upgrade your Extended ROMs to the new 2.35 being developed today. Otherwise the CD-ROM doesn't work.
Look at all of that hardware. No wonder it was so expensive.
You looked knackered come the end of that recapping marathon!
well you know the drill.. 4 hrs sleep for a week my body just turns off.
Well done Chris great job.
How utterly insane the construction for that system is. Great job taking it apart and getting it back together and working again. Btw, I loved the PiP showing your sped up tear-down, that's a great idea to both show the process but cut down on overall video time.
Wow, great video as always Chris. What a complicated bit of kit. Funny thing is if that was remade today it would probably fit inside the size of a deck or cards. That thing is a monster.
Wow, just wow, congrats on the "dismantling" and recaps and putting back together this CDTV monster, you're THE man!!!
By the way, really nice piece of Commodore history right there :-]
It reminds me of supposedly quick things to do on my arcade gear and in fact, it takes me forever because of strange screws, and just the love of things done right because I love and take care of my stuffs!!! ;-]
people say its just an amiga 500 with a cd, its so much more than that. I hope to cover it all once i get it 100% sorted.
You know when he says he downloaded 77 images and then burned the discs he’s not joking, right? The man is a machine!
Great video Chris! You are a master!....Wow I think I should hope and pray my CDTV continues to work ok so I never have to take it apart :) I think I will just leave mine stock, other than the RGB2HDMI add-on that I put in.
Thanks for the Video Chris 👍🏻 (Bromigo! 😉). You can definitely see the progress between the CDTV and the CD32 there. Wow a lot of time and effort fixing that 1 x speed CD drive. There are plenty of different expansions I’m seeing you can get for this system. I take it this can also accept a 60810 CPU replacement as well? Cheers Mang! 😎
Much more to come
feel your pain - but you definitely did that the hard way Chris! The tear down guide on world of Jani makes this a whole lot easier, just sayin.
live and learn.....
Great job! Hope I'll not ever need to do it on my machine...
Wow and that was just the cdrom drive, think mine may have to wait a while, untill my pair grow bigger ;-)
"The Ultimate Home Computers"
Great job Chris. You could adapt the CF card port to host a Gotek. Printed brackets are available. The CF card port is not really CF; it was originally intended for memory cards. Also; this machine is suited for eg RASCSI as it has an optional SCSI bus.
Thanks for the info!
Chris, I learned you are a glutton for punishment and I shall never ever worry about trying to get a CDTV. My CD32 works fine
why not, I want to be a custodian to everything they ever made. (minus 8 bit and typewriters)
The next hardest part must be editing down to YT.
Expansion may be PCMCIA.
Soon as you popped the lid, I saw Panasonic/Matsushita hallmarks of layout... Some of their higher end VCR with S-Video were similarly complicated, in part because they had to fit into a form factor, around the mechanism.
Sure the engineers had fun/nightmares getting it all working inside the box.
there apparently is an easier tutorial i found after i took it apart when i did the cap list. to which i added to the desc. a few steps that would have made a few minutes faster. but its still a weird mechanism.
That looked like bloomin' hard work Chris. Glad you got it all back together, but looking forward to seeing the rest of it being done. I've never even seen a CDTV, other than in magazines and videos. Not much room in there for upgrades, but it would be nice to have an '020 or '030 in there. As for that bespoke CD ROM drive... what were Commodore thinking?
It was the beginning of cdrom technology and of course they went with a contract they had with matsushita
I think they were NOT thinking at all, or at least good engineers were forced to back off just because of commercial and financial perspectives, hence the ongoing problems and final bankruptcy! ;-]
well this was 1991, they were still rocking along then...
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration 1991 was when it went on sale. The first prototype was made at least two years earlier.
@@Zebpro The CDTV was originally from special projects. They did expensive high end one-offs. It was management who crazily said lets go to production with your prototype.
Interesting machine, but in 1 respect ahead of its time (like a HTPC), but in others a dinosaur running on 5+ year old 500 technology in the warp speed pace of advances in the computer industry of the early 1990's. The black main unit, external drive, keyboard, and monitor look sexy as heck. Someday maybe I will find a CDTV.
I’ll have to have a look at mine I bought as a non booting cdtv , I need a cd caddy for the drive as well
Ebay 6$ just search cd tray or cd caddy. Most are tan but you can paint it!
Sweating bullets
Chris, do you have a 570 to compare with it? I wonder how many components they share. My next project is making a cdtv-like rig out of a Checkmate case, 500 mobo, and a 570...
alot is the same. the cdtv roms/drive assembly, etc
i was hoping for a cap list and a link to the site as well, i have (and dont laugh) 2 of these that need a drive recap
Worldofjani.com it was in the description!
Just jumped on Ebay to see what a CDTV with remote goes for and guffawed out of my seat.
Ueaj
I have A570 but it wont boot to cdtv screen. Gives software failure guru meditation... it spins the disc. Green and orange leds working. Any help
? A500 1.3 1mbchip. rev6a. On 3.1 rev5 also not working.
recap the drive
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration i'll give it a shot. Do you mean drive PCB only what about main pcb?
@@sviru007 the cd drive pcb, they go bad and cause the drives not to spin , take your time... a few of the caps are bipolar so get the right kit.
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration mine drive spins no problem. Stops after idle amount of time so I don't think this is a drive pcb issue.
motivated me to recap my cdtv cd drive as it would need the old 6 press of the eject button to spin up, post recap spins up 1st time every time and i can use cdr with the 2.35 extended roms, one cdtv down one to go, word to the wise there is a smd cap in the contoller than needs to be replaced they leak, the IR / Display cables are horrid
I purchased new ones w sockets to solder in. I have yet to do it. And i have a few more cool upgrades for it coming soon
@@ChrisEdwardsRestoration i battled with that clock cable for an hour to get it to work i did my best to get the wires straight then inserted them about 1mm into the socket making sure all were aligned then pushed down on the socket releasing the clamp force then inserted the cable the rest of the way then released the down force on the socket enguaging the clamp again, i was ready to order the replacement cables as well i thought my cable was faulty as i lost all mouse movment from the remote, after checking with another remote that all was well i discovered the 47uf 6v smd cap in the remote was leaking so i have ordered a replacment caps for both remotes i have
Commodore: We want to buy the oddest,strangest,most impractical cdrom drive you make that fits nothing on this planet.. Manufacturer:Have we got a drive for you!
You have to remember that the CDTV development circa 1989 predates *ALL* computer CD-ROM drives. ATAPI and ASPI CD-ROM protocols didn't exist yet. Even the forerunner MKE (Soundblaster CD-ROM) interface didn't exist yet.
@@a1exh It was a joke,but i did have a SCSI 1x CDrom on my A2000 in 1988. Many drives well into the 90's were proprietary interfaces . The first CDROM drives were shown at comdex in late 85' and high sierra format in 86' and iso9660 in 1988.
If you want to add an accelerator that has FAST RAM above 8MB (Like a TF536) you need to upgrade your Extended ROMs to the new 2.35 being developed today. Otherwise the CD-ROM doesn't work.
Future videos. Much more to come. And hdmi!