Quote Team Symbiote's hack looks simple, although it requires you to start up from a CD and then change to the DVD pressing the z button. However, this shows that Nintendo can do this themselves with current hardware.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: LuigiHann on August 19, 2007, 08:39:35 AM
Good to know. I won't do this mod, but it does mean there's hope that I won't need to buy a new Wii... I'd pay for a "dongle" or a software upgrade.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Ghisy on August 19, 2007, 09:48:38 AM
Interesting news. Let's see what Nintendo's next move is gonna be now...
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Michael8983 on August 19, 2007, 12:43:20 PM
Yeah I think an official "movie" channel is on the way. Nintendo has commented several times in the past about the Wii eventually having DVD capabilities. Most speculated this meant a new model but I think this is more likely. They just didn't want to risk the DVD features getting in the way of the first-year game sales.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 19, 2007, 12:45:05 PM
DVD playback via Gamecube Linux has been available for a while.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on August 19, 2007, 12:47:11 PM
DVDs fit in your GameCube?
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 19, 2007, 01:15:31 PM
I've never used Gamecube Linux - but you can run it on Wii and play DVDs. Also, if you use it on Gamecube, you can rip DVDs and use many many passes to reencode the video, as well as get rid of the 5.1 soundtrack, or reencode it to stereo and get the movie down to 1.5GB, mainly just to be able to say you did it. It's not necessary to do this on the Wii, since even in "Gamecube mode" the Wii can read the full capacity of a DVD/DVD9.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Mashiro on August 19, 2007, 02:28:11 PM
I just tried it, DVD discs do not fit into GC. So I fail to see how GC Linux works.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: stevey on August 19, 2007, 02:34:00 PM
Wii disks are dvds spinning backwards .... Are you talking about GC?
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Mashiro on August 19, 2007, 03:26:11 PM
Sorry fixed.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 19, 2007, 04:28:27 PM
Wii discs do not spin backwards, neither do Gamecube discs. Mashiro - read my last post. You can buy 8cm DVD-R discs, just about every DVD camcorder uses them.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Mashiro on August 19, 2007, 04:32:16 PM
Oh I see . . .
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Ghisy on August 19, 2007, 09:07:14 PM
Quote Originally posted by: Professional 666 DVDs fit in your GameCube?
I've seen modded cases with a bigger opening lid so you can fit a regular DVD in the GC. But back on topic, I read on another forum that this DVD playback thing was far from working correctly: picture looks terrible, movies skip a lot, it crashes very often and it's almost impossible to watch a whole movie.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Michael8983 on August 19, 2007, 09:48:45 PM
It will be interesting to see if Nintendo ever officially makes good on their promise of DVD movie support. Tt was originally suppose to be a given feature, then it was said to require some extra piece of equipment to be sold separately, and after launch they made mention of it eventually being a feature.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on August 19, 2007, 09:50:54 PM
Is DVD playback even necessary anymore? You can easily get a DVD player that would surpass the Wii's for $50-70. Just seems like a waste of time now days, back when the PS2 came out it was cool because not many people had them, but now about everyone has a DVD player and if they don't they can get one for cheap that is of good quality.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Terranigma Freak on August 20, 2007, 03:05:14 AM
Quote Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix Is DVD playback even necessary anymore? You can easily get a DVD player that would surpass the Wii's for $50-70. Just seems like a waste of time now days, back when the PS2 came out it was cool because not many people had them, but now about everyone has a DVD player and if they don't they can get one for cheap that is of good quality.
Thank you! Who cares if you can play DVDs or not by now? I have like 6 freaking DVD players in my house and the last thing I want to do is to use my Wii to watch a movie. I bought it to play games, I can watch that DVD stuff whenever I want wherever I want in my house now. I could probably get a DVD player into my bathroom if I wanted something to watch while I crap.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Chozo Ghost on August 20, 2007, 05:18:01 AM
Quote Originally posted by: GoldenPhoenix Is DVD playback even necessary anymore? You can easily get a DVD player that would surpass the Wii's for $50-70. Just seems like a waste of time now days, back when the PS2 came out it was cool because not many people had them, but now about everyone has a DVD player and if they don't they can get one for cheap that is of good quality.
I completely agree. In addition, you probably don't want to wear your Wii out running 2 hour movies all the time. Normal use of disc drives causes wear and tear, and a Wii is a lot more expensive and harder to come by than a $20 DVD player...
So even if the Wii had DVD playback, I wouldn't use it. A better solution would be to allow movies to play off of SD cards and/or a hard drive. I would make use of that by ripping my dvd collection to that and watch them on my Wii that way...
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Ian Sane on August 20, 2007, 06:06:00 AM
"It will be interesting to see if Nintendo ever officially makes good on their promise of DVD movie support."
I think they just quietly cancelled that. When DVD support was annouced the Wii was black, most people called it the Revolution and we had no idea what the controller looked like or that the console would be much different than the standard hardware upgrade. It seems almost like a different Nintendo, like they hadn't finalized all the details yet. Back then it probably made sense to have DVD playback and then they revealed that they wanted to keep costs down to have mass appeal and the extra DVD player cost probably got the axe.
These days the feature isn't important anymore anyway. The only problem is that lying about the feature looks bad but most people will never know they did that. The time for the DVD support was last gen. Nintendo f*cked that up and that's that.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Ghisy on August 20, 2007, 09:04:40 AM
To be honest, I don't care about DVD playback either but I thought the fact that some modification allowed it was interesting.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Nile Boogie on August 20, 2007, 11:15:25 AM
I CARE! I've had the same DVD player since "98" and since it's dying I would like if I didn't have to clutter the living room TV with another disc spining box. And I'm very cheap!
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on August 20, 2007, 11:21:47 AM
The very cheap audience is an extremely important audience in this industry. Word.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: LuigiHann on August 20, 2007, 12:04:36 PM
At first I didn't care about the lack of DVD support, but switching the cables on the back of my TV is getting annoying, and the Wii remote would be a good way to navigate DVD menus.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Chozo Ghost on August 20, 2007, 01:34:42 PM
Quote Originally posted by: Ian Sane "It will be interesting to see if Nintendo ever officially makes good on their promise of DVD movie support."
I think they just quietly cancelled that. When DVD support was annouced the Wii was black, most people called it the Revolution and we had no idea what the controller looked like or that the console would be much different than the standard hardware upgrade. It seems almost like a different Nintendo, like they hadn't finalized all the details yet. Back then it probably made sense to have DVD playback and then they revealed that they wanted to keep costs down to have mass appeal and the extra DVD player cost probably got the axe.
These days the feature isn't important anymore anyway. The only problem is that lying about the feature looks bad but most people will never know they did that. The time for the DVD support was last gen. Nintendo f*cked that up and that's that.
It wasn't really a lie if they meant what they said when they said it. Circumstances may well have changed and that may be why this isn't coming around. Besides, it isn't the first time Nintendo promised something they failed to deliver. Look at the disk drive thing for the N64, or online play for the Gamecube. Both were promises Nintendo failed to deliver (well, in any meaningful way at least).
Also, is there any direct quote of them making the promise that there would be DVD support? I can only recall them saying it *could* be added with a dongle, but not actually promising that would for sure happen.
In the end, all companies make promises they fail to deliver on. Nintendo is still more honest than its 2 competitors at least.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Chozo Ghost on August 20, 2007, 01:45:33 PM
Quote Originally posted by: LuigiHann At first I didn't care about the lack of DVD support, but switching the cables on the back of my TV is getting annoying, and the Wii remote would be a good way to navigate DVD menus.
Get yourself an input selector. Then you just push a button to change your input rather than fiddling behind your tv with wires every time. I have one with 4 inputs. 1 for the dvd player, 1 for the Wii, and 1 hooks up to my computer's display output, and 1 is not being used at this time but I take comfort in knowing I can add something else with ease.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: anubis6789 on August 20, 2007, 02:04:48 PM
I would so by a DVD channel, and a Music channel that allowed the Wii to play CDs and MP3s from the SD card. This would make the Wii my perfect little media player. Considering that with this evidence the Wii seems to only need a firmware update to do play DVDs, they could just release a 35 dollar channel which would get them a five dollar profit after the licensing is paid (kind of like how the DVD remote for the original Xbox worked).
The only real problem for Nintendo would be factoring if the investment to develop the channel would be worth the effort.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on August 20, 2007, 03:01:19 PM
NST could do it. They're not working on Project Cancelled anymore.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Tanookisuit on August 20, 2007, 03:10:09 PM
I'd buy a DVD channel for $10 or less. I'd love to not clutter up my TV area with multiple devices.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: EasyCure on August 20, 2007, 10:37:25 PM
I'm with the wear and tear worrying crowd on this one. we have more than enough dvd players in this house (5 and 2 pc's with dvd drives) so i could care less. Besides the player in my room is almost as small as the wii so space isn't a problem for me.
on a similar note, gonintendo had a picture up of a white dvd player about the size of a wii with a white box and a giant “WEE” name in the wii font plastered on the front of it. it actually looks alot like the dvd player i have, just in white (mine is black)
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Kairon on August 21, 2007, 09:27:07 AM
My DVD player offers me way more functionality than a Wii DVD channel would, I'm sure. Also, it's a combo player with VHS. VHS!!!
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: EasyCure on August 21, 2007, 05:01:05 PM
Pft standalone vhs player ftw. Its basically the center of my entertainment center...
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: NeoThunder on August 22, 2007, 10:28:32 AM
I wana know if this DVD playback on Wii is in progessive scan or 480i
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: JonLeung on August 22, 2007, 04:30:07 PM
I'm in the camp of "I already have half a dozen DVD-playing devices in my household", but if the Wii is capable, I wouldn't mind making full use of it.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: the1st_fret on August 29, 2007, 06:51:04 AM
I don't want the Wii to play DVD's. I already have a DVD player. It was said at the conference last year they weren't putting one in coz most people already own one or more, plus it would have added to the price of the system. I like that the Wii is a "Games Console" with no bells and whistles. The Wii is seen as a step behind the PS3 and 360 because of Graphical capabilities, and since those 2 have moved onto HD-DVD and Blu-Ray its just another way of makin the Wii look behind if they're gonna use a DVD player.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: matt oz on August 29, 2007, 08:37:42 AM
Quote Originally posted by: JonLeung I'm in the camp of "I already have half a dozen DVD-playing devices in my household", but if the Wii is capable, I wouldn't mind making full use of it.
Exactly.
Don't piss on an idea just because you don't like it, or you may not make use of it. If they implement it, then don't use it! Let everyone who wants to use it do so.
Same argument for voice acting in Zelda games.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: UERD on August 29, 2007, 10:55:06 AM
If they can do it without raising the price, why not? Otherwise, it's just not worth it for a lot of people.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 30, 2007, 07:50:30 AM
Well, Nintendo would win the "format war" if they added DVD support to the Wii, if you think about it. PS3 and 360 already support DVD, but if Nintendo touted it as a new feature or something, it could really hurt Blu-Ray and HD DVD, because if it was successful, it would show that people don't want to move on yet.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Mashiro on August 30, 2007, 12:52:38 PM
Quote it would show that people don't want to move on yet.
People don't want to move on yet lol. I don't think Nintendo is needed the show the big companies that. But like every conversion it takes time, and when it involves the medium of video in our homes (which involves just about everyone with a TV) it takes that much longer.
The vast majority of the market won't be upgrading to HD-DVD or Blu-Ray anytime soon. Much like the conversion from VHS to DVD, DVD to whatever no format emerges as the champion will take some time.
The fact that 2 formats are still batting over which will be the next mainstay format is enough reason for the masses not to adopt either yet. DVD will be here for quite some time.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 30, 2007, 04:04:30 PM
I refuse to buy HD DVD for now, because the XBox 360 plays WMV HD movies, which are virtually identical to HD DVD and Blu Ray as of now.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: UERD on August 30, 2007, 04:08:29 PM
I don't think either format will really catch on. It'll take at least five or so years, and by that time there'll be some new technology that's more than an incremental step forwards, and people will move to that.
Most people aren't willing to make the huge investment, especially because neither format is overwhelming the other, dual-format hardware is rare and expensive, and the near future may very well be discless (digital distribution, perhaps).
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Michael8983 on August 30, 2007, 04:43:27 PM
This "new format" thing is crap. Whichever one wins, neither Blue-Ray nor HD-DVD will become the new standard replacing DVDs. They'll simply find a place with a small niche market of tech-nerds who are willing to put several thousands of dollars into their entertainment centers. DVD will remain the standard for a few years to come until eventually they're replaced with digital distribution. Much as CDs have been replaced with MP3s. It's just a matter of allowing the technology to evolve to the point of making it accessible to the mainstream.
This is why the PS3 is doing so poorly and the 360 is doing ok but still being outsold by past-generation hardware. Sony and MS made the mistake of making consoles for the small but deceptively LOUD minority of internet tech-geeks while Nintendo made a console for EVERYONE else.
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Rhoq on August 31, 2007, 04:26:13 AM
Quote Originally posted by: NeoThunder I wana know if this DVD playback on Wii is in progessive scan or 480i
I'm going to guess 480i. Have you seen how awful the film clips in the Godfather: Blackhand Edition and the trailer at the beginning of Scarface: The World Is Yours look?
I have no interest in playing DVDs on my Wii, especially since my Toshiba HD-A2 (HD DVD) is one hell of an up converting player.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on August 31, 2007, 03:30:03 PM
If games run in progressive scan, then so do the DVDs. If you have your Wii set to 480p, then it's outputting in 480p, even if the game is not, it's still technically being "upscaled", but you will still probably notice interlacing in said game. DVDs are all 480p (unless it's encoded improperly, or recorded from a VHS or another interlaced source), so if you had your Wii set to 480p, they'd play in 480p as they were meant to be. It's kind of like how your monitor may be set to 1280x1024 at 85hz, but you might be playing a game and only getting 15FPS, but the video card is still outputting 85hz.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: Chozo Ghost on August 31, 2007, 04:26:36 PM
I remember when I played LOTR on my Gamecube and it had full motion video of the cast talking about the game and playing it and stuff. I think it was encoded in Divx format, or something like that.
Anyway, my point is that the Gamecube discs could have held full length movies (with additional interactive content or whatever). If Nintendo were so inclined, they could ignore DVD entirely and release their own sets of movies in a new format specific to the Wii. This way they wouldn't be forced to pay licensing fees to the DVD consortium because it would be their very own format. It would also help if they would let consumers burn their own content to DVD-R discs and play them on the Wii. Remember, the Wii uses DVD discs, but the format is not DVD video. That's how they're avoiding the licensing fees for dvd playback. But video stored on DVD discs in some license-free format wouldn't cost anything extra and the functionality could easily be added with a firmware upgrade.
Remember, Nintendo already did something close to this with the GBA carts that had episodes of sponge bob and such on them... Why not with their own Wii format? Yeah, you might think of the PSP and how those movies failed, but if Nintendo allowed consumers to make their own movie discs then it would do better than UMD.
Title: RE: Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: UERD on August 31, 2007, 04:40:32 PM
Quote Yeah, you might think of the PSP and how those movies failed, but if Nintendo allowed consumers to make their own movie discs then it would do better than UMD.
The issue with this is (alleged) piracy. Studio executives are so paranoid about their movies being leaked and pirated that it would be very hard for Nintendo to get them to agree to a proprietary scheme that allows for creating your own discs. I mean, Microsoft is building content-protection into Vista so that you can't play movies on your computer over HDMI unless the hardware has copy-protection locks, and they said it was the studios which made them do that. (Although I call BS on that, personally, but it at the very least played a role.)
Title: RE:Modded Wii DVD playback
Post by: BranDonk Kong on September 01, 2007, 06:47:27 AM
That's just HDCP, it doesn't have much to do with Microsoft, and it only applies to HD DVD and Blu Ray.
