The Commodore Dynamic Total Vision is a home computer in disguise as a interactive multimedia and video game console system. It was developed by Commodore International and launched in April 1991.

More about the CDTV:
The CDTV is essentially a Commodore Amiga computer with a single-speed CD-ROM drive and remote control. With the optional keyboard, mouse, and floppy disk drive, it gained the functionality of the regular Amiga 500. Commodore marketed the machine as an all-in-one multimedia appliance. As such, it targeted the same market as the Philips CD-i. The expected market for multimedia appliances did not materialize, and neither machine met with any real commercial success.

Release Information:
Commodore announced the CDTV at the summer 1990 Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago, promising to release it before the end of the year with 100 software titles.

The product debuted in North America in March 1991 at CES in Las Vegas, Nevada and in the UK at World of Commodore 1991 at Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre in West London, England.

How much did the CDTV cost and what did it come with?
It was advertised at $999 USD in the United States and £499 in the UK. The retail bundle included the CDTV unit, remote control (gamepad), CD caddy and two software titles on Compact Disc:

• Lemmings – Developed by DMA Design and published by Psygnosis
• New Grolier Electronic Encyclopedia

Commodore also offered a Pro Pack bundle that included the CDTV unit, remote control/gamepad, keyboard, mouse and floppy disk drive along with the CDPD Amiga Public Domain Collection on CD-ROM by Almathera Systems.

The CDTV was supplied with AmigaOS 1.3, rather than the more advanced and user-friendly 2.0 release that was launched at around the same time. Notably, the CDXL motion video format was primarily developed for the CDTV, making it one of the earliest consumer systems to allow video playback directly from CD-ROM.

So what happened to the CDTV?
By 1994 Computer Gaming World described the CDTV as a “fiasco” for Commodore. Though the company later developed an improved and cost-reduced CDTV-II, sadly it was never released.

Commodore International discontinued the CDTV in 1993 with the launch of the Amiga CD32, which was substantially based on Amiga 1200 hardware but explicitly targeted the gaming market.