Hacking Can dev-hackers make Wii U play normal Blu-ray Discs of films/series?

[Sychophantom]

Well a stranger on the GBAtemp said he saved $150 on a console that sells at a loss, simply because he has "connections", so I guess we all should believe him for sure.

I like that. "Stranger". Been here longer than you, but I don't post as much.

Believe it or not, some people are just better at finding deals.

considering newer blu-rays use newer AACS versions and sometimes BD+, I do not think anybody would put the time into getting retail movie discs working as they would need to write Wii U mode homebrew that is capable of playing AACS/BD+ encrypted discs and periodically updating it for newer AACS versions over time. this is if it's even possible to trick the blu-ray drive used in the Wii U to read normal discs.

It makes much more sense (and is way more practical) to rip movies to MKV with something like MakeMKV (supports Windows, Mac and Linux)[ I use it and it just works, even for new releases] then use Plex to transcode and stream the movies to the Wii U via utilizing the Wii U's ability to playback H.264 w/ AAC audio via the Web Browser.

a downside that only affects people with 5.1/7.1 setups is that the Wii U's playback of H.264 (mp4 container) is limited to 2 channel audio.

if a homebrew player did come out, it would not be limited to 2 channel, it would be limited to 6 (possibly 8 if the hardware can do it) and thats really the only plus I see besides being able to not need to rip a movie first to watch it.

a bit off topic but still,
there is one really nice benefit of the Wii U not being a licensed Blu-ray player OOB. the Wii U does not include nor would ever need to include Cinavia detection ever. if the Wii U had been licensed, it would have been required that detect it as its a requirement for licensing now.

whats nice about this is that I can stream Cinavia protected movies to my Wii U, which will throw an error doing so on a ps3.

Why does everyone blow a load over MKV? It might be great for home setups, but for portable viewing hardly anything really supports it. Even the apps for both Apple and Android that claim to do so sometimes shit themselves over even small files.

I watch more content at work than at home. I have to convert most things to MP4 first.

 

[JoostinOnline]

I like that. "Stranger". Been here longer than you, but I don't post as much.

I consider everyone a stranger unless I know them personally. Finding a deal is one thing, but at the very least, saving $150 seems like a rather suspicious claim. Surely you can see that.

As for the time I've been here vs my post ratio, it's because I'm a developer, and because I enjoy helping people who have problems on their Wii.

 

[Joe88]

Why does everyone blow a load over MKV? It might be great for home setups, but for portable viewing hardly anything really supports it. Even the apps for both Apple and Android that claim to do so sometimes shit themselves over even small files.

I watch more content at work than at home. I have to convert most things to MP4 first.

Many high end devices can handle 1080p mkv's with file sizes over 2GB fine (on android anyway, no idea about i devices)

 

[Maxternal]

The DVD-reading functionality is obviously still in the drive's firmware since Wii and Gamecube discs are DVD's - the only difference is the BCA area.

I was under the impression that there was also some difference about the order the information was stored within each sector, too. It was something like hash checking information was moved to the end of the sector instead of the beginning or visa versa ... something like that. I'm not exactly sure where I read that, though.

 

[Foxi4]

I was under the impression that there was also some difference about the order the information was stored within each sector, too. It was something like hash checking information was moved to the end of the sector instead of the beginning or visa versa ... something like that. I'm not exactly sure where I read that, though.

Entirely possible, but that's probably more of a failed AP feature more than anything else.

 

[Sychophantom]

Many high end devices can handle 1080p mkv's with file sizes over 2GB fine (on android anyway, no idea about i devices)

Not a huge fan of Android (Fragmentation, and bad Samsung experience). Apple, well, with a jailbroken device I've run MKVs with not as many issues.Still random LOLNOPEGONNAFREEZE on occasion.

Out of the box, though, I just prefer mp4. Less trouble and time spent converting.

 

[driverdis]

Not a huge fan of Android (Fragmentation, and bad Samsung experience). Apple, well, with a jailbroken device I've run MKVs with not as many issues.Still random LOLNOPEGONNAFREEZE on occasion.

Out of the box, though, I just prefer mp4. Less trouble and time spent converting.

I store Blu-Ray movies in MKV and all the rest of my video collection (TV shows, random videos, etc) I re-encode or stream copy (I call it "recontainering" but its just remuxing into another container) to mp4 as its compatable with more devices including native playback on Wii U via the web browser if the video is H.264 profile 4.2 (7 ref frames or less) w/ aac audio and on the PS Vita even (I forgot what max profile and reference frames it allows)

in short, I prefer MP4 for compatability also.

 

[ARVI80]

The wiiu could run anything that is played as a texture. Yes you read that right, the U can play textures and anything can be called as a texture but nobody yet has made a media player to do so. A media player could be easily made using unity or an html5 studio with ninty web framework.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

The wiiu could run anything that is played as a texture. Yes you read that right, the U can play textures and anything can be called as a texture but nobody yet has made a media player to do so. A media player could be easily made using unity or an html5 studio with ninty web framework.

Wait... what...? The Wii U can see sound?

 

[ARVI80]

Wait... what...? The Wii U can see sound?

Yes, a sound file could be called as a texture and the u will try and play it, I do understand your being pedantic but you obviously dont understand graphics at all. You will not get very far just using a single line of code to call the texture file and tell it to play but its not far from a single line of code in c# and the correct library.

 

[TotalInsanity4]

but you obviously dont understand graphics at all.

Well, you got me there I guess I just don't understand... Why? I'd like to, if you could explain the concept briefly

(Please don't take this as me shooting down what you clearly know more about because, again, I know literally nothing about this. I'm just hear trying to learn)

 

[ARVI80]

Well, you got me there I guess I just don't understand... Why? I'd like to, if you could explain the concept briefly

(Please don't take this as me shooting down what you clearly know more about because, again, I know literally nothing about this. I'm just hear trying to learn)

It is no concept. Simply, you need to add a texture and script (a video playback/click to play script) to an object and use an appropriate wrapper. It cant get more brief than that. Hope that helps

 

[Derverd]

The wiiu could run anything that is played as a texture. Yes you read that right, the U can play textures and anything can be called as a texture but nobody yet has made a media player to do so. A media player could be easily made using unity or an html5 studio with ninty web framework.

Hmmm, I'm confused as to why nobody has done it yet since it would be relatively simple? Then again I don't know anything about it either so I can't really talk. But since the Wiiu is 1080p instead of the previous 480p or whatever for the wii you would think a proper dvd player app would be made...

 

[greenlanternx]

Hmmm, I'm confused as to why nobody has done it yet since it would be relatively simple? Then again I don't know anything about it either so I can't really talk. But since the Wiiu is 1080p instead of the previous 480p or whatever for the wii you would think a proper dvd player app would be made...

because like the wii and the gamecube, the disc driver spin in reverse, you can't play normal disc, if you could access the USB (IOSU needed) then you could use an external dvd/bd
I read in somewhere wiimc can use external dvd, but I only have an external bd and didn't worked (in vWii)

 

[TotalInsanity4]

because like the wii and the gamecube, the disc driver spin in reverse, you can't play normal disc, if you could access the USB (IOSU needed) then you could use an external dvd/bd
I read in somewhere wiimc can use external dvd, but I only have an external bd and didn't worked (in vWii)

Then how did we get DVD playback on the Wii? Did someone find a way to make the drive spin the correct way, or does it load data out of order, or...?

 

[greenlanternx]

Then how did we get DVD playback on the Wii? Did someone find a way to make the drive spin the correct way, or does it load data out of order, or...?

I'm not sure about that, but it seems some models had the "right spin" function, the last models can't play normal dvds, right?
think about it, why nintendo didn't include DVD/BD playback in wii, wii u/vwii ?

 

[TotalInsanity4]

I'm not sure about that, but it seems some models had the "right spin" function, the last models can't play normal dvds, right?
think about it, why nintendo didn't include DVD/BD playback in wii, wii u/vwii ?

Because Piracy(tm)

And IIRC the reason the later model Wiis couldn't play DVDs because of a lockout chip, although the spin thing may also have been part of that security measure

 

[Neouni]

I thought it had more to do with the reader being chipped not to read discs made of different color material in newer models.
They are not read counterclockwise, just outside-in, normal pc file systems are written from middle to last track.

 

[QuarkTheAwesome]

Hmmm, I'm confused as to why nobody has done it yet since it would be relatively simple? Then again I don't know anything about it either so I can't really talk. But since the Wiiu is 1080p instead of the previous 480p or whatever for the wii you would think a proper dvd player app would be made...

It hasn't been made because it's not that simple. @ARVI80 I'm not sure about HTML5 (which I assume you're talking about) but I'm pretty darn sure Nintendo wouldn't put the disc drive into the API; they certainly wouldn't have written a wrapper for it. There is a native h.264 library though.

 

[ARVI80]

It hasn't been made because it's not that simple. @ARVI80 I'm not sure about HTML5 (which I assume you're talking about) but I'm pretty darn sure Nintendo wouldn't put the disc drive into the API; they certainly wouldn't have written a wrapper for it. There is a native h.264 library though.

I was referring more towards a media file player that reads from sd, lan or wan. Rather than a disc drive player.