The CD-i Application

last updated: 20-Dec-2002 | introduction | instructions | conclusions | back to index

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Introduction

CD-i compatibility is required for a VCD to be White Book compliant. When the VCD standard was first written, it was intended for these new discs to be able to be played in the then existing user base of CD-i players. Although this is not an issue for most people with stand-alone VCD or DVD players, it is a trivial thing to do. Furthermore, CD-i players are still around.

This is relevant for standard VCDs only. CD-i players don't support SVCDs so there is no point including the CD-i application (indeed, it SHOULD NOT be there). This is equally true when creating XVCDs.

Reasons FOR adding the CD-i app.	Reasons AGAINST adding the CD-i app.
Required for true compliance	Small loss of disc capacity (< 2 Mb)
Disc will play in CD-i player	Makes no difference to playback on stand-alone VCD and DVD players (i.e., laziness)
Easy to do

In my humble opinion, I believe you should ALWAYS include the CD-i application when creating a standard VCD.

Instructions

Firstly, download the CD-i application from here: vcd_on_cdi_411.zip
WinZip or a similar program is required to decompress the files into the folder where VCDImager is installed.
Now to add CD-i compatibility in future VCDs, the following lines should be included in the XML descriptor file:

In the <pvd> section (between <info> and <filesystem> -- click here for more information on the structure of the XML file):

    <application-id>CDI/CDI_VCD.APP;1</application-id>

In the <filesystem> section (between <pvd> and <segment-items> ):

  <filesystem>
    <folder>
      <name>CDI</name>
      <file src="cdi_imag.rtf" format="mixed">
        <name>CDI_IMAG.RTF</name>
      </file>
      <file src="cdi_text.fnt">
        <name>CDI_TEXT.FNT</name>
      </file>
      <file src="cdi_vcd.app">
        <name>CDI_VCD.APP</name>
      </file>
    </folder>
  </filesystem>

Note: if either your XML file or VCDImager isn't in the same folder as your CD-i application files, then you will have to change the locations in the "src" in the <file> tags. For example in the below case, the CD-i application files were downloaded and unzipped into the folder: C:\vcdimager\cdi_apps

  <filesystem>
    <folder>
      <name>CDI</name>
      <file src="C:\vcdimager\cdi_apps\cdi_imag.rtf" format="mixed">
        <name>CDI_IMAG.RTF</name>
      </file>
      <file src="C:\vcdimager\cdi_apps\cdi_text.fnt">
        <name>CDI_TEXT.FNT</name>
      </file>
      <file src="C:\vcdimager\cdi_apps\cdi_vcd.app">
        <name>CDI_VCD.APP</name>
      </file>
    </folder>
  </filesystem>

Conclusions

As stated in the introduction, you should always add the CD-i application to your VCDs are it is required for compliance. Although it is unlikely, you may encounter a CD-i player in the future and it takes little effort to include the CD-i app.

Although this guide is specifically on authoring the CD-i application using the VCDImager XML scripting system, you should always include the CD-i application if you author your VCDs with other programs (e.g., WinOnCD, Nero or Easy CD Creator). It may not be the default option in these programs.

Michael Tam <vitualis (at) michaeltam.com>
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