Gaming Planning developing a Media Player for the Wii-U

[t3nk3n]

I'm in the process of putting a team to develop a Media Player that will take advantage of the Wii-U gamepad and hardware.

 

[Cyan]

If you need users to be interested to even start working on it, it's not a good idea in my opinion.
If you want to do it, do it. show other users what you can do, and users will want more.

 

[Foxi4]

I'd like to point out that the Wii U isn't (officially) hacked yet, the best result you can count on for now is a Wii version with tri core support, in which case I suggest modifying a pre-existing player source to include it. Maxternal is currently researching the use of tri core in vWii, i suggest contacting him if you're interested in the details.

 

[Arras]

I'd like to point out that the Wii U isn't (officially) hacked yet, the best result you can count on for now is a Wii version with tri core support, in which case I suggest modifying a pre-existing player source to include it. Maxternal is currently researching the use of tri core in vWii, i suggest contacting him if you're interested in the details.

I'm not exactly an expert on the matter, so I'm just asking because I'm curious, but would tri-core CPU really help a media player? I'd think the limited resolution and the low RAM would be bigger issues. I just tried a short vid in Media Player Classic and it took about 15% CPU (but the GPU might be included in that since I have Intel HD graphics) and 120MB RAM while the Wii only has 40.

 

[Deletedmember331810]

PLEX Media Sever equals 1080p on the Wii U. Enough said... No Media Center could EVER replace PLEX. It is really THAT GOOD on Wii U!

 

[Foxi4]

I'm not exactly an expert on the matter, so I'm just asking because I'm curious, but would tri-core CPU really help a media player? I'd think the limited resolution and the low RAM would be bigger issues. I just tried a short vid in Media Player Classic and it took about 15% CPU (but the GPU might be included in that since I have Intel HD graphics) and 120MB RAM while the Wii only has 40.

Using three cores would help with videos that are heavily compressed - you could use higer resolution frames if only the Wii could keep up with decompressing them in real-time. Since it does not, simple compression techniques and simple codecs are used instead which inflates the filesize, decreases the quality of the image but keeps the CPU usage well-within the accepted levels. Everything depends on the type of media you're going to play - the rule of thumb is "more processing power is never a bad thing".

 

[t3nk3n]

I'd like to point out that the Wii U isn't (officially) hacked yet, the best result you can count on for now is a Wii version with tri core support, in which case I suggest modifying a pre-existing player source to include it. Maxternal is currently researching the use of tri core in vWii, i suggest contacting him if you're interested in the details.

That's a good idea. I'll try PMing Maxtenal to see if he is interested. It will be a standalone player that will be optimized for the Wii-U hardware.

 

[Maxternal]

That's a good idea. I'll try PMing Maxtenal to see if he is interested. It will be a standalone player that will be optimized for the Wii-U hardware.

I'm presently trying to work towards BOTH a 3-core Linux port for vWii mode on Wii U AND a 3-core library of sorts that can be used to add SOME 3-core functionality to libogc apps. I'm not nearly done with either of them but I'd think the latter would be closer to what you'd be looking for. Here's the thread to check for progress on that : http://gbatemp.net/threads/coding-vwii-3-core-support-everything-you-need-to-know.347626/

 

[t3nk3n]

I'm presently trying to work towards BOTH a 3-core Linux port for vWii mode on Wii U AND a 3-core library of sorts that can be used to add SOME 3-core functionality to libogc apps. I'm not nearly done with either of them but I'd think the latter would be closer to what you'd be looking for. Here's the thread to check for progress on that : http://gbatemp.net/threads/coding-vwii-3-core-support-everything-you-need-to-know.347626/

By an chance do you have Wii-U SDK? If your interested PM me I'll see what info I can get you without getting in trouble with big N.

 

[the_randomizer]

PLEX Media Sever equals 1080p on the Wii U. Enough said... No Media Center could EVER replace PLEX. It is really THAT GOOD on Wii U!

Assuming you have a good wireless network

 

[Deletedmember331810]

Assuming you have a good wireless network

Plex is local as well. Just need a router... No internet connection whatsoever is needed to run PLEX.

 

[t3nk3n]

Plex is local as well. Just need a router... No internet connection whatsoever is needed to run PLEX.

Can you play media files off an USB HDD?

 

[Deletedmember331810]

PLEX

Plex is Poor Man's Netflix only a thousand-fold better because you are in complete control. Yes, you need to use hard drives to store your media on.

If you own a Wii U, PLEX is the only way to go.

 

[bezem]

PLEX

Plex is Poor Man's Netflix only a thousand-fold better because you are in complete control. Yes, you need to use hard drives to store your media on.

If you own a Wii U, PLEX is the only way to go.

I tried PlayOn when they had the free promo last year, but that expires soon and as more updates have been released the functionality has kind of dropped; caching of new files never seems to happen and I'm not sure if that's my PC (almost 5 years old) or Playon. Just curious if anyone has compared the two and if Plex comes out on top.

 

[Inuuto]

What do you mean by develop a media player? Do you mean homebrew?
Anyway, go ahead with it. It'll give some people another reason to buy the Wii U.

 

[ilman]

Media Players don't even need a good GPU.
I'm using a .avi player for my programs based on SDL, which doesn't have Hardware Acceleration.
But concerning resolution...I'm not sure that vWii supports better resolutions than 480p.

By an chance do you have Wii-U SDK? If your interested PM me I'll see what info I can get you without getting in trouble with big N.

You want a Wii U SDK? Tough luck getting one without spending hundreds of dollars and signing a contract with Nintendo.

 

[t3nk3n]

Media Players don't even need a good GPU.
I'm using a .avi player for my programs based on SDL, which doesn't have Hardware Acceleration.
But concerning resolution...I'm not sure that vWii supports better resolutions than 480p.
You want a Wii U SDK? Tough luck getting one without spending hundreds of dollars and signing a contract with Nintendo.

What do you mean by develop a media player? Do you mean homebrew?
Anyway, go ahead with it. It'll give some people another reason to buy the Wii U.

It will be a Wii-U application that will take advantage the gamepad and optimized for the Wii-U hardware. It will support all media codecs and play both local or network storage devices. Currently trying to get more information from Nintendo on what I can & can not do. Especially for reading filesystems such as exFAT/NTFS/HPFS on external devices. I want to give everyone who use this Media player get a unique experience on the Wii-U. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that got in the Introductory Development program that they had running early this year. I only got under 6 month to play with or develop something for them before I choice of send it back or keep it for little over 3K. That's why I'm hoping to get some programmers interested, since I'm terrible in coding, but I know what what is needed to develop this media player.

 

[ilman]

So you've got an SDK? Interesting.
But even with an SDK, you can't rely on others to do all the work for you. You need to specify what exactly you're going to contribute to the project.
Otherwise, chances are you'll not get many, if not any, volunteers.
Just pointing that out there.

 

[Inuuto]

It will be a Wii-U application that will take advantage the gamepad and optimized for the Wii-U hardware. It will support all media codecs and play both local or network storage devices. Currently trying to get more information from Nintendo on what I can & can not do. Especially for reading filesystems such as exFAT/NTFS/HPFS on external devices. I want to give everyone who use this Media player get a unique experience on the Wii-U. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones that got in the Introductory Development program that they had running early this year. I only got under 6 month to play with or develop something for them before I choice of send it back or keep it for little over 3K. That's why I'm hoping to get some programmers interested, since I'm terrible in coding, but I know what what is needed to develop this media player.

That's cool. Unfortunately, I'm not a coder...yet. But if i was I would have helped you.

 

[bezem]

So you're talking about an officially licensed and sanctioned product; I think the post title should be updated to reflect this because that makes a HUGE difference. On here, everyone will just assume you're talking about a theoretical homebrew application and pass it over.