The Wii finally gets DVD playback -- no thanks to Nintendo
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted August 13th 2008 9:39AM
posted August 13th 2008 9:39AM
[Via TehSkeen; Thanks, brakken]
posted August 13th 2008 9:39AM
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i think you're being sarcastic, but 480p is not HD. progressive is better than interlacing, but it's not HD.
I'm sure the omission of the dvd playback was just a cost benefit analysis by Nintendo. Everyone pretty much has a dvd player already.
Not to mention Nintendo is the only console maker who earns a profit on each unit sold. That being said they'd be more pressed (but still probably profitable, just not as much) by adding in extra unnecessay features.
Well, let's see:
MPlayer - FREE
libdi hack - NOT NEEDED (when you're the manufacturer)
Yeah, it was an economic decision.
While Mplayer is free, it's also not legal to play back DVDs. To legally do that, they would have to pay the licencing fees, which would raise the price of each unit a fair amount.
@Jason: Unlike homebrewers who can crack CSS without repercussions, Nintendo has to pay a licensing fee per player. That's the cost here.
I'm waiting for someone to do the same for DivX. that would be useful to me.
Using the Twilight Hack and various Wiibrew programs for video playback, you can play just about any kind of digital video you want from the SD card (since most of these programs are based off of MPlayer).
This homebrew is also based on mplayer and SD card reading was already mentioned in the post, which means that you will be able to play virtually any video file in existence. How well it'll play things like 1080p h264 is another story though.
I'm inclining to believe that Nintendo wants to be stingy and not pay DVD playback royalties. That's all.
Exactly this. I'm pretty sure when they were evaluating the cost, they said "hey, we can save like $30 by not having to deal with DVD-Video royalties, so lets just not include that ability".
That's actually fine with me. You shouldn't have to pay frigging royalties just to read a DVD.
--but the Wii OS probably doesn't do Theora or Dirac either...
I believe you are correct sir! They removed MP3 playback for another format, to avoid the MP3 royalties.
Since Wii doesn't have digital audio output, how does one get discrete surround sound with this mod?
I don't think one does. Enjoy the stereo.
hopefully they dont use Waggle for FF and Rewind, because if im watching a nice adult film i dont want the movie ... oh shit TMI... sorry about that!!
Someone alluded to this above, but according to Wikipedia, there is a $15 to $20 license fee to the holders of the DVD patent in order to play DVD's. Plus there is a license fee to holders of the MPEG-2 patent.
Basically, Nintendo could have included this at virtually no extra effort, but it would have cost you an extra $20+ in the price of the unit. It looks like this was part of their effort to keep it under $250.
Is that to read DVDs or to play video DVDs, because that's an entirely different thing. If you have to pay a DVD patent fee, then that's already in the cost of the unit anyway and all they really needed to license was the codec.
The playing from the SD card interest me more. I want to dump divx onto a SD card, and watch it on TV!
Mplayer can already do that. not sure how good the Divx support is, but I'm fairly certain they have it.
Yay for another DVD player! I don't have enough ways to watch movies as it is....
I will never understand why people feel the need to have a dozen DVD players in their homes
awesome dude, people still working on Wiis
An idea... Access the USB port for a drive..... Skip the DVD...
Not sure if possible or how exactly they did this add on...
There's another piece of homebrew called GeeXBox which is basically a media center app for Linux that's been ported to Wii. It lets you play movies off a USB hard drive, and it's pretty fast too. The UI needs some work but overall it's very nice and convenient.
Right... I can't do it for four days but I will be back hoe soon near my wii which is already hacked so It shouldn't take long but will report back about it xD.
hey guys where do I get the software? Ive looked online and I cannot find it anywhere!! can anyone help?
Thanks, but I'll stick with my original modded xbox running xbmc. It upscales over the component cables (720p or 1080i) and has 5.1 digital audio, can play dvds or even video files off my NAS.
I'll stick to playing fun games like Boom Blox on my Wii.
I would be so thrilled if I owned a Wii!
I'm so thrilled that you don't.
For those commenting/compalining: "Yet another DVD playback device ..."
Our family Wii is in our Son's room.
With this "tweek" we can now have him watch DVDs in his room,
Instead of the main entertainment system, or via a laptop/computer (which are also primarily in the main room).
Think outside "your" world and understand that not everyone has the same setups as you do.
Could I have purchased a DVD player for his room... sure.
But now, I don't have to take up physical space for yet another device in his room.
Wow that is so necessary.... who does not have dvd player next to their wii anyway?? would look so damn empty without one....
Nintendo said way back when the Gamecube was released that they chose not to enable DVD playback on their systems because
a) Anyone who owns one likely already has a dvd player in every room
and
b) Commercial DVD playback requires a fee to be payed per unit to dvd standards comity or whoever the hell is in charge of licensing DVD hardware.
People really need to stop giving a damn about it and stop pretending like its a huge setback that they don't have ANOTHER dvd player.
Who cares? If you need to use a Wii to play DVD's maybe you'd be better leave your Y2K shelter and seek sunlight.
So when will Wii be able to link into Netflix Streaming like the Xbox 360?
Thats awesome! where do we get the file?
Http://www.squidoo.com/doughboy
I seem to recall Nintendo at one point saying that the system required hardware changes and not simply soft/firmware ones to enable DVD playback. Seems their bluff has been called, though not like it matters when anybody wanting a DVD player can just pony up the $40 (or less) for a standalone player rather than buying a $250 console to do the same thing.
Well as much as I want this to be a reality there is one thing that scares me. I don't go to Gamestop or whatever your local video game store is to buy Wii points cards, I do it online. And as far as I am concerned the Wii has been pretty hack proof. But this is almost inviting someone to steal info or simply just screw your Wii like a 5 dollar Vietnamese hooker (Full Metal Jacket reference by the way). I'll sit back for a few months before I install it to see what A) Nintendo will do about this (meaning they might brick your Wii like Steve Jobs and Apple bricked peoples hacked iPhones. Admit it this sounds like an app for the Wii) and B) see what happens to the people downloading it.
Thank the community for Freedom Software!
http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://hackmii.com/2008/08/libdi-and-the-dvdx-installer/
Here you Guys Goo
Well below my TV I have an XBOX with a broken DVD drive and a PS2 with a broken DVD drive. So this is good news, to me at least.
Can they play DVD's from multiple regions?! That's my question ..
YES! got it working, now watching Futurama on my WII!!!
Ok... i no nothing about computers, so KISS (keep it simple stupid) 1. what do I need 2. how do i get it 3. what do i do when i get it? of course it would be cool to have an all in one player. stop complaining! but since i know nothing about computers, will this jack up my system? or void my warrenty? someone please give me the low down...
I've never used mplayer before but it seems to work pretty good. the controller setup seems pretty logical. i would say comparible to most dvd players.
Ok i feel a little backward .
I have 1 dvd player in my house and 6 computers.
cant wait for the wii to play divx off the dvd's so i don't need to plug my laptop into the tv to watch some divx.
My media room has a wii and amp and a projector since my other dvd play went on the blink.
Mplayer Player works well could be better.
D ;)