After acquiring my first DriveKey-powered "try before you buy" Wii game via torrent (and having a little fun fighting the Joker's minions off while occasionally blowing Robin into his component bricks with a well-placed BatBomb), I decided tonight to do a little more hacking. Thanks, CanadaMods.ca!
So, with the wife out watching some chick-flick w/ a friend, I got to spend a few hours playing with the HomeBrew Channel on my Wii. Very cool stuff available, from game emulators & ports, to new games, media players, and utilities. Complete list here.
To set up the HomeBrew Channel, follow these steps, including installation of the DVDx application so your Wii can play video DVDs.
Then, install the HomeBrew Browser, and grab some more software. After numerous tests, crashes, and reboots, I found that the best three options for playing video are these, all available through the HomeBrew Browser or via manual download from wiibrew.org.
Here's what I tested:
| App | 2G SD card w/ .mp3 | Bus-powered 2.5" 500G USB drive w/ .avi | DVD-R w/ .avi | DVD-R Video DVD (burned w/ growisofs from dl'd .avi torrent) [1] | Video DVD (original, possibly DVD-DL? or DVD+R) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GeeXboX (embedded linux) | Y | Y | N | N | N |
| MPlayer CE | Y | Y | Y | Y | N |
| MPlayer TT | Y | Y | N |
2 comments:
I've been using Mplayer CE for long now and it's been getting better all the time.
Furthermore, with Homebrew Browser installed, and Wii connected to the Internet, you don't have to bother if there are new versions: just look for updates of the installed software through the browser!
Another good feature of MplayerCE is the SMB browser which is useful if you don't have an USB Stick or HDD. It just lacks of browsing of files on DVD... but I hope this will be added soon.
I was watching .avi files last night on a DVD-R through Mplayer CE on my Wii (firmware 4.0u). Works fine.
Only problem is remembering which app to pick from the menu (Mplayer TT, CE, w/ Youtube support, or GeeXboX)... and remembering what the Wiimote buttons do while playing (pause/resume, vol up/down, OSD on/off).
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