Wii Video Converter

[RTSDaddy2]

If you were not aware of this, there is a converter out for the Wii.  I just tried it out on a small piece of video a second ago and it worked swimmingly.  BTW I found this at wii.yahoo.com:

http://www.redkawa.com/videoconverters/wiivideo9/

I suspect that any program that converts MPEG to Avi would do the same (as the Wii reads only avi), so I wouldn't say this is a necessity...I believe my Pinnacle Studio may do the same thing.  I've not tried it yet, so that's yet to be seen - I know Red's program works!

While we're on this topic, planning to try and email myself a longer video clip once the Wii and my PC are working in tandem...see how that goes so that - perhaps = I'm not tied to what will fit on an SD card.  More soon!

[RTSDaddy2]

Tried converting a 45 minute video file.  Converted fine, is about 1.5 GB in size, so worst case scenario it would fit on a 2 GB SD card (I believe I've seen those).  Takes about 20 minutes to do the conversion, but no problems / glitches that I can see.

The converter has a feature called "move to device", but right now it moves it to a file on my computer currently.  I figure I have something set up wrong, or that due to the flash not being activated on the Wii yet it is not possible to send the file directly to the machine.   Knowing my lack of tech skills though - I figure it's something I don't have correct.

Just FYI for you Wii owners, like myself  .......

[RTSDaddy2]

The saga continues....

I haven't been able to send the 1.5 gig video clip to myself via Wiimail...just too big I suppose.  Will try and zip it, hoping to get it below a gig to see what happens that way.

[sphetr2]

So, how would you play the video? In the photo channel? 

BTW, I don't think nintendo will allow you to receive files that huge. Heck, normal freemail won't allow you to do that.

[AlanS17]

Excuse my ignorance, but what's the advantage to this?

[Howard_Casto]

Well the wii only supports mov and avi files, so the "advantage" is you get to play them on the wii. 
Most files on the net are divx-based and probably won't play on the wii without this conversion process. 

Basically if the transport method is improved this could allow people with modded xboxes (like myself) to retire xbmc and just watch digital media in the living room via the wii.

[shmokes]

I'd understand it if you said, "Basically this could allow people who don't have modded xboxes to watch mediai in the living room.  The idea that the Wii will ever surpass XBMC in functionality seems so incredibly unlikely that you may as well just call it impossible.  The Wii doesn't even support Dolby Digital or DTS for crying out loud, and 480p is the best picture you can get out of it (XBMC upconverts to 1080i).  Not to mention that it also can't play DVD movies.  And, btw, XBMC WILL play DivX files, as well as practically every other codec known to mankind.  You're going to need more than an improved transport method (and good luck with the digital surround sound).

I know you're pulling for Nintendo.  So am I.  But I think you've got your head in the clouds just now.

[Howard_Casto]

I'd understand it if you said, "Basically this could allow people who don't have modded xboxes to watch mediai in the living room.  The idea that the Wii will ever surpass XBMC in functionality seems so incredibly unlikely that you may as well just call it impossible.  The Wii doesn't even support Dolby Digital or DTS for crying out loud, and 480p is the best picture you can get out of it (XBMC upconverts to 1080i).  Not to mention that it also can't play DVD movies.  And, btw, XBMC WILL play DivX files, as well as practically every other codec known to mankind.  You're going to need more than an improved transport method (and good luck with the digital surround sound).

I know you're pulling for Nintendo.  So am I.  But I think you've got your head in the clouds just now.

No I'm a realist. 

Let's be blunt for a sec.  People use xbmc to play video rips they got from torrents sitting on their computer on their tv.  These torrents use compressed divx formats which don't have surround channels and aren't hi res.  At least not more than 480p.  The few files that do support surround sound and hi res seldom work right in xbmc because they weren't encoded properly by the poster.  So unless you are into encoding everything yourself manually most of the vids you'll be playing are standard def with good old stereo and maybe analog surround. 

And up converting to 1080i is like using a vga converter on a nes.  Sure it's a vga signal, but the source is still pumping out state-of-the-crap 8bit graphics. 

Yes xbmc does a lot more stuff, a lot of really cool stuff actually, but the stuff is essentially useless.  I don't think I'm in the minority here when I say I use xbmc to play the movie files off my pc and that's about it. 

I can't believe you threw the dvd comment in there.  It's 2006, if you don't have a dedicated dvd player at this point then you have more things to worry about than videos on the wii seeing as how your cave doesn't have wifi access.   The xbox plays dvds, but it also sounds like a freight train when it plays em. It's a servicable dvd player at best and this is coming from a m$ fanboy. 

And let's not forget that the wii is tiny and light while the xbox is heavy and huge.  Don't misunderstand, I LOVE my xbox, but once the flow of games stop for it, it'd be nice to get my shelf back.  When the xbox was current gen, it was a lot easier to justify xbmc... you had an xbox in your living room anyway and you used it all the time, why not mod it for emulators and movies?  Now that it's last gen it's going to be difficult to justify keeping something the size of a desktop pc in your living room when fairly decent alternatives (such as the 360 wii and ps3) exist. 

The only thing the xbox has going for it is it's harddrive.  Personally that's a non-issue for me as I stream em from my pc via file share, but it could be an issue on the wii due to the puny 512mb flash drive.  So like I said originally, if they can just figure out a better transport system (such as streaming) it could easily replace modded xboxes. 

Just a final note, you kind of sound like a sony marketing exec with some of the points you bring up.    Nintendo was correct in their statment that the majority of the US still uses standard def televisions in their homes.  My xbox is hooked up to my state of the art 15 years ago 27 inch crt television, complete with rca and coaxial inputs.  My surround sound system sports dolby pro logic 5 (not 5.1) analog surround sound, which btw, should work just fine on the wii.   

Granted the tv is a little old as it doesn't even have svid, but I would bet with the exception of the size of the tv that is pretty much a standard setup.  Most people don't have digital surround sound systems and gigantic hi-def tvs.  I'm not saying a good portion don't, I'm just making a point.

[shmokes]

Upconverting makes DVDs looks noticeably better. 

Also, I do encode ALL my own movies (though I bittorrent a lot of TV content) so they've all got a working AC-3 5.1 track (as long as it was available on the original DVD).  And while the average Joe may not have a 5.1 surround system, we're not talking about the average Joe here.  We're talking about people who stream media from their computer to their TV in another room.  When you narrow the demographic like that you suddenly realize that the number of people with 5.1+ setups hovers more around the 95% range.  The average consumer doesn't even know what streaming is.  EVERYBODY knows what surround sound and DVD players are.  Those come first; you graduate to media streaming much later.

Hell, even if they got streaming going (can the Wii read DVD-R/RW?) do you really think, even without a HD TV or a 5.1 receiver, that you would switch if it meant you had to reencode all your media to plain-vanilla AVI?  Lack of DivX support kills it even without all the serious hardware limitations.

But . . . whatever.  I do have an HDTV (that I've had for more than five years, and it was fairly affordable even then).  I also have a 5.1 setup.  For me, the idea that I will ever replace my XBMC with the Wii is laughable.  Don't get me wrong, I WILL replace it.  But I'm a realist.  It ain't gonna be with the Wii.  And my situation isn't that uncommon.  Dolby Digital is more common than Pro Logic by a long shot and HDTV sales for 2006 are up 80% over 2005 in the U.S..

. . . and so on.

[Howard_Casto]

I've seen upconverting in action and I would argue that it looks worse.  It reminds me of the poor misguided fools err um patrons that buy vga convrters for their dreamcast.  It's just all blended, the picture looks the same only with a filter on it, which imo removes some of the detail just like it does when you apply a filter to a emulator when displaying it on the pc. 


And you are absolutely right, I don't see myself converting all of my videos.  Luckily this isn't going to be an issue.  Hackers have already discovered that 90% of the nintendo os is basically a web-browser, probably based on the official opera one they will be using for web access.  That'll make it easy for hackers to add new codecs and find all kinds of ways to expand support.  Heck I don't even think the resolution issue will be an issue for long.  The wii can output component, meaning on the hardware end it is capable of 1080, it's just not supported on the software end.  Since the wii is very hackable (considering it's been out for a week and people are already doing some fairly serious software hacks) I see a xbmc-like piece of custom software popping up anytime.  The specs are roughly 1.5 times that of the xbox, so it has more than enough horsepower to deliever hi-def video and I wouldn't be suprised if nintendo themselves didn't add such support later down the line. 

But as it stands, just right now, you are in the extreme minority.  Even people with hi-def tvs seldom actually use the hidef inputs according to recent surveys.  The reason is the sheer lack of content.  Blue ray (which imho is destined to be the next beta max) and hd dvd are just now starting and people are reluctant to re-buy their practically brand new dvd collections all over again atm.  Online hd content is even more impractical.  I was thinking it was something like a 20 min clip in true hidef with true digital sound took up a whole dvd?  Mind you harddrives are cheap now, but the average size is still only about 250 gigs and you only have so many slots in your pc.  You really can't store a lot on your pc.  On the other hand divx rips are usually around 700 megs, meaning you can store more than normal.  I even doubt many xbox users take advantage of 1080 in xbmc simply because either they don't know it supports it, or don't care as the games themselves don't. 

I know some people are all about storing uncompressed dvds, menu and all on their pc, but that really doesn't make a whole lot of sense when you could just, well play the frikkin dvd!  I mean I have my entire music collection stored on my harddrive, but I sure as heck didn't store them as uncompressed wav files, they are 128 kbps mp3s.  If I'm playing them on something
that requires more clarity I (gasp!) play the frikkin cd!

Recent info points to the fact that the wii probably can read dvd media, it just doesn't support it in the os and doesn't have a software dvd player.  When the time comes to install homebrew software, it'll probably happen via the sd slot or by burning fake gamecube discs which are supported, as well as the memory card based bootloaders, which btw also work if you transfer the data to a sd stick, meaning hacking a wii might be free. 

[RTSDaddy2]

And to those that wondered why I even did this...

1) I just wanted to see how much the converter would handle
2) I wanted to find out exactly how much I could send to Wii

I forget who asked, but yes...if I so desired, I could place the converted video on a 2 GB SD card and play it in the photo channel.  The picture would really stink, being .avi, but it would allow me to see this particular piece of footage via the Wii.

I'll second Howard though - who needs it when you can get a DVD player cheap these days?  Just thought it'd be fun to try out!

[lloydcom]

Sorry I would be just too interested in the games and the ability to play and get a work out at the same time.  The Wii has just been released in the UK and there is no units to be bought.

Is the console so boring that people have to resort to playing video on this console when its main attraction is wireless game play?

What about the channels?  Is there a way to play the old favorites via download?

Why video on a device that doesn't support viewable DVDs?

If this thing loses its appeal so quickly should I be urged to buy thie console?

[Zero_Hour]

lloyd,

Some folks just like to see what they can do with a given piece of hardware. I don't think there is any correlation to someone pushing video through the Wii and it's playability as a gaming console. Besides, with only a few titles available for the console thus far, it's a little early to determine it's long term potential in the marketplace.

Also there has already been talk of DVD playback on the Wii - http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/14/nintendo-confirms-dvd-enabled-wii-in-07/

Besides, why do you have to have physical media to do video playback? Digital distribution is a growing market, and the desire to be able to stream media to my living room without a dedicated PC there is certainly appealing. Most of the original programming I watch these days is on the net exclusively (lots of video podcasts I'm hooked on), and I'd much rather stream it than have to continually burn it to disc (and often transcode it too) just to watch it away from my PC. Since the Wii is the only console in my near future (and yes, I'm buying it for the game play), and has a wireless connection built in, I'd be interested to see how this develops. It would be great if someone figures out how to simply stream a video instead of dumping it to an SD card. It would certainly give me a greater return on my investment in the Wii, so to those experimenting with this stuff, I say, carry on!

[RTSDaddy2]

I feel like I'm beating my head against the wall...

Lloyd, once again I was doing this for a curiosity factor. I never once said the Wii had gotten old, nor is that implied in ANY of my posts.

Since that last post of mine on 11/30, I've done nothing more with the video experiment.  The remainder of my free time, however, has been throwing cows and bunnies (via Rayman Raving Rabbids), playing Wii Sports, or running through dungeons via Link.

I'm sorry about there being no more UK units to be had - but to answer your question again, NO it's not a boring console, and 2) yes it's worth your wait if you really want great gameplay.

[boykster]

I wonder if this video transcoder would constitute a violation of Nintendo's TOS by being able to view video(s) not originally intended for viewing on the Wii?

Would this constitute a "soft-mod"?

 

[RTSDaddy2]

Good question - and probably a moot point at best. Again, just to store 1 hour of video, you'll need an 2 GB SD card.   Think anyone will be porting movies that way at $200 a pop? I doubt it (2 x $100 for card = $200).

Family video I could see someone porting - maybe 30 minutes at a time, but again, who needs it with the DVD players we have today? 

[lloydcom]

I have seen some good DVD recorders go for amazing prices here in the UK. Daewoo and Nissan have units that play movies through SD media.  I agree too, its easier to take the SD card out of the video camera and slot it in to the DVD device or Wii if it came to it.

SD cards have come down in price, and the 2gb cards were at the same price a 1gb card was 6 months ago.  Much easier than streaming or transcoding.

I wasn't criticising the method, I just thought it was one of those console that look good on TV and turn out to be less than expected.

Soft mod.  I like It 

[RTSDaddy2]

Again, this is a bit of a goofy point, but going back to the question of violating Nintendos TOS, how could it be a violation if some video company decided to release DVDs in .avi (the Wiis video presentation of choice) format?

I grant you that there would be few takers...but at that point the whole discussion would cease anyway, far as I can see.

The fun of it right now with Wii would just be to port family video in and then choose your own mp3 song to play with it.  Call me crazy, I think that's kind of a neat feature...

[RTSDaddy2]

Well, a final note - for now - on this video conversion issue....the Wii apparently only allows 15 minutes of video to be played at any one time in .avi format (read this on another converter page).  So any future discussion about violation of TOS is certainly moot. 

Best  you could do would be short home movies right now...but again, I think it's a pretty neat feature (well I DO have a four year old!)

[xxabsentxx]

It couldn't violate the TOS because its made to play video.  If you uploaded something to the Wii to make it play videos then it would be a "soft mod", but viewing a video is no different from viewing a picture.   So no worries really.

Oh, and SD cards are cheap.  Check newegg.com... I just ordered 2 micro SD cards and paid less than $55 (shipping, tax and the whole 9 yards).  SD media may be expensive in stores, but online not so much...

I played with the video feature as soon as I heard about it.  Snagged the converter, converted a video and tested it.  I haven't had time to see how big of a file it will play, but I do know you can do all the same things to the video while its playing that you can to a picture in the Photo Channel.  After the video is done you can even play it backwards.  Play your video backwards and put the negative effect to it... its fun.

[boykster]

I was just yanking lloydcoms chain about the TOS violation.  i can't see how converting video to play on a console would be a direct TOS violation

 

[ChadTower]

I was just yanking lloydcoms chain about the TOS violation.  i can't see how converting video to play on a console would be a direct TOS violation

 

Technically, anything can be a TOS violation if the TOS forbid it.  The TOS are not the DMCA laws.

[Zeosstud]

I have a modded xbox hooked up to every tv in my house and have been using XBMC to play music and movies from a "media server" machine for alongtime.  I agree with Howard that since the flow of games for the Xbox has slowed way down, I tend to use the boxes almost exclusively for streaming movies and music.  Naturally I had on my media shelf, HD Tivo, DVD Player, Xbox, Receiver, Component Switch Box, 2nd ATSC tuner.  Once I got my Xbox360 however, I installed the Tversity software on the media server, dumped the DVD player and the additional ATSC tuner and modded xbox.  I can now stream my movies, music and digital pictures through the xbox360 and if I want to watch a DVD the Xbox360 is a good progressive scan DVD player and the surround sound coming through my system in the first 5 minutes of Air Force One convinced me the system was gonna be okay.  If is the converter discussed in this thread is step one for a folks who have a Wii, I say good for them.  Heck I could probably sell all the stuff I removed from my cabinet on Ebay and buy a Wii (if I could find one) and let everyone know how it all compares.  Oh yeah, when there are 2 TV shows I want to record and a 3rd I want to watch, the Xbox360 is an excellent media center extender also, allowed me to dump the extra ATSC tuner I had for just that occasion.  Shmokes is right, he wont be replaceing XBMC with a Wii, but I am here to tell you, you could do it with an Xbox 360 and with alittle luck, you can get the wife hooked on either Zuma or Bejeweled 2 Deluxe and she would be on you to get it done ASAP.

Zeosstud