Hardware Wii U sound output while on TV mode

[JoostinOnline]

I'm pretty sure the TV requirement is only true on the vWii. I'll test it out later.

 

[blaisedinsd]

Why would I get one when I have a PC.





Regarding tv play, you can play W101 fully on a tv or without one (using a monitor)

You can't play Wind Waker HD fully without one unless you buy adapters or have speakers to plug in the composite cables and waited for the 4.0 update.

You can clearly see who failed miserably, and who didn't.

Thank you based kamiya. As much as I like nintendo, boy do they need to catch up to the 21st century.

So you are talking about whether or not the gamepad outputs the full audio of the game or not?

Personally I do not like when it does, I end up muting the gamepad. Obviously off tv play will output full audio, but while both screens are active I find it obnoxious. Can you imagine if a wiimote speaker was playing all the audio of the game? Its the same thing IMO. I would prefer only certain sound effects to come from the gamepad.

It is good to know you can output audio through multiple ports. For some reason I was thinking that feature was specfic to wii mode. You still are only going to get stereo through non HDMI sound output thought right? No advantage for those of us who do not have an HDMI surround sound system......

 

[reprep]

So you are talking about whether or not the gamepad outputs the full audio of the game or not?

Personally I do not like when it does, I end up muting the gamepad. Obviously off tv play will output full audio, but while both screens are active I find it obnoxious. Can you imagine if a wiimote speaker was playing all the audio of the game? Its the same thing IMO. I would prefer only certain sound effects to come from the gamepad.

It is good to know you can output audio through multiple ports. For some reason I was thinking that feature was specfic to wii mode. You still are only going to get stereo through non HDMI sound output thought right? No advantage for those of us who do not have an HDMI surround sound system......

if your sound system support dolby prologic ii, you will get 5.1 audio from red and white audio plugs. though this audio is not as high quality as 5.1 from hdmi.

 

[trumpet-205]

if your sound system support dolby prologic ii, you will get 5.1 audio from red and white audio plugs. though this audio is not as high quality as 5.1 from hdmi.

That's only for vWIi. No WIi U title uses Pro Logic II.

 

[reprep]

That's only for vWIi. No WIi U title uses Pro Logic II.

i just checked and it seems you are right. even though wii and gamecube have been advertised as supporting pro logic ii, wii u doesn't follow the tradition. it is a shame.

still, there are a lot of 2.0 stereo games for different game consoles, which have multi-channel 5.1 audio via dpl ii, even if the game cover, manual say nothing about prologic ii. to avoid the fees i guess.

so even with the 2.0 stereo mode, some wii-u games might have 5.1 channel sepereation when dolby prologic ii mode is selected on home theater. it wouldn't hurt to try.

hell even some of the snes games support dolby prologic (it was dolby surround then) and i get multi-channel audio via my HT.

 

[trumpet-205]

i just checked and it seems you are right. even though wii and gamecube have been advertised as supporting pro logic ii, wii u doesn't follow the tradition. it is a shame.

still, there are a lot of 2.0 stereo games for different game consoles, which have multi-channel 5.1 audio via dpl ii, even if the game cover, manual say nothing about prologic ii. to avoid the fees i guess.

so even with the 2.0 stereo mode, some wii-u games might have 5.1 channel sepereation when dolby prologic ii mode is selected on home theater. it wouldn't hurt to try.

hell even some of the snes games support dolby prologic (it was dolby surround then) and i get multi-channel audio via my HT.

That's unlikely. There is a reason why Nintendo stick with LPCM and not Pro Logic II this time for WIi U, to avoid license fee. Although per unit wise it'll only add about $5 to price tag.

The audio system on Wii U is getting too ahead this time around. Nintendo stick with Pro Logic II back for GC and Wii because digital receiver back then was expensive. Now to get surround sound you must use HDMI based receiver which is more costly.

The advantage of LPCM beside license fee is rather moot, considering that musics stored on game disc rarely are lossless.

 

[reprep]

PS2 and XBOX (same gen as gamecube) and PS3 and XBOX 360(same gen as wii) both had optical outputs even though ps2 didn't support dolby digital in-game. optic output is still much clear than red and white cables even for stereo audio.

shame on nintendo for not supporting a)optical out b)dolby digital and/or DTS on HDMI audio output for wii-u.

 

[JoostinOnline]

That's unlikely. There is a reason why Nintendo stick with LPCM and not Pro Logic II this time for WIi U, to avoid license fee. Although per unit wise it'll only add about $5 to price tag.

How could they support it on the vWii without paying a license fee?

 

[trumpet-205]

PS2 and XBOX (same gen as gamecube) and PS3 and XBOX 360(same gen as wii) both had optical outputs even though ps2 didn't support dolby digital in-game. optic output is still much clear than red and white cables even for stereo audio.

shame on nintendo for not supporting a)optical out b)dolby digital and/or DTS on HDMI audio output for wii-u.

I recall some PS2 games use DTS 5.1 for some FMV. PS2 is required to have optical anyway, since it also serve as a DVD player. To be certified as DVD player, it must have digital audio out. Same thing with PS3 being certified as Bluray player.

How could they support it on the vWii without paying a license fee?

Nintendo most likely paid it, considering many people complained about lack of 5.1 in vWIi. Although I doubt Nintendo will extend it to Wii U title in the future, cause that'll require even more money.

 

[JoostinOnline]

Nintendo most likely paid it, considering many people complained about lack of 5.1 in vWIi. Although I doubt Nintendo will extend it to Wii U title in the future, cause that'll require even more money.

But it's the same system.

 

[trumpet-205]

But it's the same system.

License fee usually goes like this,

Fixed amount + per unit sold + per game using licensed technology.

 

[reprep]

I recall some PS2 games use DTS 5.1 for some FMV. PS2 is required to have optical anyway, since it also serve as a DVD player. To be certified as DVD player, it must have digital audio out. Same thing with PS3 being certified as Bluray player.

yup, but still not having a DVD/Bluray player shouldn't be an excuse to not putting optical out for 3 generations (gamecube, wii, wii-u)

not everybody has hdmi inputs on their hometheaters, and for the ones who don't have, nintendo is not supporting DPL II which is around in some form or another since SNES days and forcing them to stereo only audio.

 

[JoostinOnline]

yup, but still not having a DVD/Bluray player shouldn't be an excuse to not putting optical out for 3 generations (gamecube, wii, wii-u)

not everybody has hdmi inputs on their hometheaters, and for the ones who don't have, nintendo is not supporting DPL II which is around in some form or another since SNES days and forcing them to stereo only audio.

It's the only one of the next-gen systems to support outputs other than HDMI, so I don't really think you should be complaining about it not supporting enough TV's.

 

[reprep]

i am not complaining about supporting enough TV's, i am complaining about supporting enough home theaters.

and PS4, xbox one not supporting analog video outputs make wii-u justify not implementing optic audio out or not supporting dolby prologic ii? what kind of a twisted logic is this?

 

[JoostinOnline]

i am not complaining about supporting enough TV's, i am complaining about supporting enough home theaters.

and PS4, xbox one not supporting analog video outputs make wii-u justify not implementing optic audio out or not supporting dolby prologic ii? what kind of a twisted logic is this?

I meant audio, but I hadn't remembered that the X1 and PS4 supported optical out. It's been so long since I read the specs that I forgot.

 

[blaisedinsd]

if your sound system support dolby prologic ii, you will get 5.1 audio from red and white audio plugs. though this audio is not as high quality as 5.1 from hdmi.

To be clear you will be getting the Pro Logic II sound processing that it does on any stereo source as opposed to a Pro Logic II encoded soundtrack.

I guess I may be completely mistaken, but my understanding is that it works like the 3D button on some TV's that allows you to turn any 2D content in to 3D...it applies some generic filtering to give some 3D effect but that is not the same as actually watching 3D content. Pro Logic II does the same thing with any stereo input....but it is not the same thing as actually having a surround sound Pro Logic II soundtrack.

To actually get the Pro Logic II soundtrack you have to set the Wii U to surround sound setting and play a Wii game that has a Pro Logic II sound track. No Wii U games have this (no Dolby support at all).

Actually now that I think about this there may be some advantage. Normally Wii U games will not sound right in surround setting through HDMI....for example some dialogue may be muted when my Wii U sends audio over HDMI and then my television outputs sound over toslink to my 5.1 system. I am thinking if I output the sound over the red and white audio plugs all the audio will be on those left and right channels and will be heard on my 5.1 system through the generic stereo to 5.1 Pro Logic II encoding. At least this way I could actually take advantage of ProLogicII Wii games with out having to constantly change my Wii U setting back and forth from stereo to surround to ensure I don't screw up the Wii U game audio.

 

[tbgtbg]

Why would I get one when I have a PC.

By that logic, why would you get a Wii U when you have a PC?

There are always gonna be games with no PC version.

Both PS4 and Xbox 1 have optical out (TOSLINK) as secondary audio output.

That's not going to be of any help getting the red/white RCA jacks he then converts for headphones, though. If he doesn't want to buy a TV he's probably not going to want to buy expensive audio equipment to connect TOSLINK to.

PS2 is required to have optical anyway, since it also serve as a DVD player.

My PC serves as a DVD player. It doesn't have optical. I think I have a standalone player without it too (a super cheap Radio Shack player).

 

[reprep]

To be clear you will be getting the Pro Logic II sound processing that it does on any stereo source as opposed to a Pro Logic II encoded soundtrack.

I guess I may be completely mistaken, but my understanding is that it works like the 3D button on some TV's that allows you to turn any 2D content in to 3D...it applies some generic filtering to give some 3D effect but that is not the same as actually watching 3D content. Pro Logic II does the same thing with any stereo input....but it is not the same thing as actually having a surround sound Pro Logic II soundtrack.

To actually get the Pro Logic II soundtrack you have to set the Wii U to surround sound setting and play a Wii game that has a Pro Logic II sound track. No Wii U games have this (no Dolby support at all).

Actually now that I think about this there may be some advantage. Normally Wii U games will not sound right in surround setting through HDMI....for example some dialogue may be muted when my Wii U sends audio over HDMI and then my television outputs sound over toslink to my 5.1 system. I am thinking if I output the sound over the red and white audio plugs all the audio will be on those left and right channels and will be heard on my 5.1 system through the generic stereo to 5.1 Pro Logic II encoding. At least this way I could actually take advantage of ProLogicII Wii games with out having to constantly change my Wii U setting back and forth from stereo to surround to ensure I don't screw up the Wii U game audio.

yup, i know what you mean. for example when i am listening Satriani on my HT, guitar sounds travel across the different speakers when i turn DLP II on. with different audio cds, surround sound isn't that evident. so the content should be optimized for DLP II which is available on gamecube and wii games but not wii-u games unfortunately.

in your setup, your best bet is to directly connect the white and red plugs to your HT as you said. TVs aren't good as audio amplifiers or converters. Your TV probably won't know what to do when it gets 5.1 LPCM audio through HDMI.

the problem you encountered could be easily avoided if a) wii-u had optical output b)wii-u could send 2.0 LPCM for stereo games not 5.1 LPCM with 4 channels empty (center, subwoofer, surround left and right) which confuses your TV and most home theaters

 

[trumpet-205]

That's not going to be of any help getting the red/white RCA jacks he then converts for headphones, though. If he doesn't want to buy a TV he's probably not going to want to buy expensive audio equipment to connect TOSLINK to.

Unlike HDMI, optical to RCA adapter is cheap. A "proper" HDMI audio extractor can cost around $100, while optical to RCA cost at most $30.

My PC serves as a DVD player. It doesn't have optical. I think I have a standalone player without it too (a super cheap Radio Shack player).

Having digital audio out does not mean it has to be optical. Coaxial (orange RCA) is also a form of digital audio out. DVD player must have either optical or coaxial out.

PC is a different story since PC is not sold as a DVD player to begin with. For PC, DVD certification is limited to DVD drive and software player (both must support CSS properly).

To be clear you will be getting the Pro Logic II sound processing that it does on any stereo source as opposed to a Pro Logic II encoded soundtrack.

I guess I may be completely mistaken, but my understanding is that it works like the 3D button on some TV's that allows you to turn any 2D content in to 3D...it applies some generic filtering to give some 3D effect but that is not the same as actually watching 3D content. Pro Logic II does the same thing with any stereo input....but it is not the same thing as actually having a surround sound Pro Logic II soundtrack.

To actually get the Pro Logic II soundtrack you have to set the Wii U to surround sound setting and play a Wii game that has a Pro Logic II sound track. No Wii U games have this (no Dolby support at all).

Actually now that I think about this there may be some advantage. Normally Wii U games will not sound right in surround setting through HDMI....for example some dialogue may be muted when my Wii U sends audio over HDMI and then my television outputs sound over toslink to my 5.1 system. I am thinking if I output the sound over the red and white audio plugs all the audio will be on those left and right channels and will be heard on my 5.1 system through the generic stereo to 5.1 Pro Logic II encoding. At least this way I could actually take advantage of ProLogicII Wii games with out having to constantly change my Wii U setting back and forth from stereo to surround to ensure I don't screw up the Wii U game audio.

Correct, if you tell receiver that 2.0 is encoded using PLII even though it is not, it'll apply some filter to simulate 5.1. You do NOT want receiver to apply PLII on 2.0 that does not use PLII, do so will throw off the sound.

To be fair, Nintendo even messed up on 5.1 LPCM. Try to play some Wii U games that support 5.1 and you'll know what I mean. There's practically no audio for the center channel.

 

[Heavy01]

By that logic, why would you get a Wii U when you have a PC?

There are always gonna be games with no PC version.

I'm not sure I'm following you.

Wii U has a lot of unique games you can't find on PC, while PS4 and Xbone are basically smaller PCs, with mostly games you can find on PC except for a few exclusives (most being shooters anyways, gee).

PC and Wii U complement each other nicely, they are complete opposites.

PC: western gaming

Wii U: japanese gaming

PS4 and xbone are kind of redundant.