CDTV (Kickstart v34.5)
Release date: 1991 New software only
Shipped with: CDTV units only
Major enhancements:
  • CD Audio, CD+G (CD and Graphics) player
  • Card slot for saving game data
  • Boot from CD's

Screenshots:

Boot ScreenCD PlayerPrefs
Media information:

Descriptions & Part Numbers

One CD-ROM
CDTV Multimedia Demo Disc
PN: AU0400B
Hidden messages:
  • Timo Weirich found the following message in the CDTV-ROM at offset $00F098:

    "CDTV ROM is dedicated in memory of our friend and fellow Amigan: Robert A. Peck"
  • Oliver Hannaford-Day contributed the following Easter Egg snapshots & details:
    CDTVCD32

    Here are the steps to follow to see this Easter Egg:

    1. Go to the Preferences screen and select "American"
    2. Push the left arrows on the remote if the letter isn't "O".
    3. If it is "O", press right to type the phrase "Commodore CDTV Remote Controller" which is: LRLLRLRLLLLLLLLLRLLLRLLLRLLL.
    4. This Easter Egg changes the language choices to the people responsible for the CDTV.

    The CDTV and CD32 both have this egg (although the CD32 has the extra CD32 team added).

Notes/comments:
  1. Brian Handscomb notes the following regarding the A570: The A570 "extended ROM" was in fact different to that of the public CDTV "extended ROM". Mostly this was because the A500+ shipped with Kickstart 2.04 and the A570 ROM code had to be compatible with this and the original 1.3 of the CDTV and the original A500. The A570 ROM included two new ROMTAGs (can be located using FindResident() exec call) "A690ID"--note this refers to the original development name of the CD-ROM add-on "kludges"--it looks like the CDTV titles "World Vista Atlas" and "Classic Board Games" needed special handling to work correctly. For reference, the A570 ROM version was "2.30" (in the same way Kickstart 1.3 was "34.5")--CDTV ROM version was not set. I believe, though I do not know for sure, that the original developer-only PROM upgrade to allow Kickstart/Workbench 2 on a CDTV matched the A570 ROM (guesswork based on www.cdtv.org.uk/1515.html).
  2. Ross Vumbaca notes: "the CDTV has two sets of ROMs; Kickstart 1.3 ROMs, and special "CDTV ROMs". The screenshots shown above are from the CDTV ROMs and not Kickstart 1.3 (naturally). These special ROMs were also present in the "A570 CD-ROM drive" from Commodore. This drive was a side bus expansion for the A500(+) and produced the same boot-up screens, etc. on the A500--which in effect made it a CDTV."
  3. Amiga of Minnesota Interest Groups Alliance (A.M.I.G.A.) has obtained the only license to provide the hardware to upgrade the CDTV to OS 3.1. This involves changing 2 PROMs in the CDTV, and installing the 3.1 OS ROM at the same time. The machine will then boot to 3.1 from floppy with the CD drive active. It can also boot to 3.1 from the CD drive, but will reboot when the "eject" button is pressed. The upgrade will work in ALL CDTV's that do not have the upside down Flash ROM Board, which was the unit released to developers. For further information, contact Ben Deemer, with "CDTV Upgrade" as the subject.
  4. Although CDTV units were supposedly Kickstart/Workbench 1.3 only (the majority of software written for the CDTV was programmed with only 1.3 in mind), some are capable of running WB 2.04+. However, Ben Vost notes that: "Although some CDTV's could be upgraded to Workbench 2.04 or higher, there were a lot sold in the UK that couldn't. Unfortunately the only way to find out was to open up the machine and try an A500 Kickstart 2 chip (37.175) and see if it worked. It didn't on mine, which was one of the first machines in the country."
  5. 8-bit wide CDTV ROM Chip Part Number (Even): 391008-01
    8-bit wide CDTV ROM Chip Part Number (Odd): 391009-01
  6. Ronald van Dijk notes that: "the A570 may contain the same data in ROM [as the CDTV], but here it is stored in a single 16-bit wide ROM. My A570 has ROM V2.30, PN: 391298-01.