Gaming How to play Wii on an external Monitor

[WiiUBricker]

Hi guys,

since my TV broke a while ago, I haven't played Wii at all. I didn't mind because I was too busy with real life anyway. Now I still don't have a TV but want to play a bit Wii. I was thinking about hooking up my Wii with my external VGA wide screen monitor and need some advice.

First off, what cables/adapters do I need for the best video quality possible? Can I play in 480p? What about Wiimote lags?
I would attach the sensor bar with some tape at the top of the monitor and hope that the pointer function works correctly.
Anyone has experience with this and/or is actually playing Wii on an external monitor and want to share his experience?

 

[PsyBlade]

All that depends on what inputs your monitor has. (I have never seen a widescreen with only VGA)
I hooked my wii up onto my monitors component input and it works great.
Taped the bar to it too.

 

[WiiUBricker]

All that depends on what inputs your monitor has. (I have never seen a widescreen with only VGA)
I hooked my wii up onto my monitors component input and it works great.
Taped the bar to it too.

Hi, my monitor has a resolution of 1366x768 pixels and only a VGA input. So I need a component2VGA adapter?

 

[PsyBlade]

The wii can't output vga so you will need some form of electronic adapter yes.
Since VGA is progressive you should use 480p.
Converting from component would be best yes.

I have not tried such converters and can't give more advice about them.

But there is another thing you could try.
I guess the monitor is hooked up to a PC.
There are expansion cards that for tv/video input.
Since everyone is switching to digital you might be able to get you hands on a free analog card.
If you can't get one free don't spend much. For me it laged and lacked quality, but might be the cheapest option.

 

[WiiUBricker]

I don't want to turn my computer on every time I want to play Wii. I googled a bit and found this here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Component-VGA-Converter-PS2-Wii-Xbox-360-1080P-/120890635966?pt=UK_AudioElectronicsVideo_Video_TelevisionSetTopBoxes&hash=item1c25a4b6be

From the description is says: "Adopts standard component video input, compatible with various game consoles and video devices, including the PS2, Xbox360, Wii, GameCube, etc"

I understand that VGA is progressive, so does that mean I won't get a picture if my Wii starts in 480i? How am I supposed to switch it to 480p blind? And I assume playing Gamecube and VC games is a no-go because most of them support interlaced video only?

 

[rehevkor]

You can get direct Wii to VGA cables, I have one (was given to me) that seems to be similar to this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nintendo-Wii-VGA-Audio-Cable-LCD-Plasma-Monitor-/400062415298

I don't know if you can get that in Spain, but it works well enough. There are some aspect ratio issues and you'll have to set your Wii cirrectly (according to that listing, composite 480i). Don't forget that VGA doesn't support sound so you'll have to find a way to rig it up to speakers.

 

[WiiUBricker]

You can get direct Wii to VGA cables, I have one (was given to me) that seems to be similar to this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nintendo-Wii-VGA-Audio-Cable-LCD-Plasma-Monitor-/400062415298

I think this cable will is not what I'm looking for. It says it supports composite (480i) only and most likely I will just get a blank screen since my VGA monitor accepts progressve video only.

 

[FAST6191]

I would check your monitor as well- some had "hidden" functionality or functionality purchased via a nice cable that cost about five times what it cost to build which could save you some hassle.

I am not aware of anything like the N64- http://gbatemp.net/topic/324709-need-help-tracking-down-a-resistor/ , megadrive/genesis- http://gbatemp.net/topic/325236-sega-genesis-rf-connector/ or original xbox (this used some interesting tricks to get it done that did not work on various monitors unless you added in stuff to convert it properly) for the wii although that might make for an interesting project at some point (some people seem to have headed down this path but nothing like the N64 and xbox stuff just mentioned although the internals seem to have been quite well mapped/understood).

Those inline cables tend to be one of two concepts- house some electronics similar to a VGA box in an end cap (the requirements for basic conversion are not that big these days and modern chips can do a basic line in it well enough) or some half hearted attempt at a dodgy method like above (VGA is not that complex a format/transmission method although the trick mainly comes in the initial setup or having a monitor that can accept less than spec compliant imagery).

If it says only 480i it probably means it only uses/converts from 480i- it will probably work (give or take any issues with 50 vs 60 Hz and stuff there- much of this is made for the NTSC world with token PAL support) on the VGA just fine though as it should output it to a proper format.

I have used a VGA box for years (primarily as I have not owned a TV for years) and it works OK (games get played without any lag although quality if you look is less because of the odd bit of ghosting (usually overzealous deinterlacing), improper colour conversion (mainly darker/averaging) or sub par upscaling) but I have not used enough recent ones or a had a great experience with a recent that allows me to make a good recommendation. Once upon a time it was pay over a certain amount it should be fine but there are some ideas these days and with the rise of HDMI and DVI adapters have been made to convert to that and with the previously mentioned somewhat cheaper/easier conversion available via modern chips it means find a well reviewed device or something with a good return policy.

Wii remotes- worked fine whenever I did it and usually by virtue of sitting a bit closer to the screen worked quite well/better than usual although I did not do anything like the house of the dead game or something that confuses the wii remote for a good input device/what it wants to be.

 

[PsyBlade]

I understand that VGA is progressive, so does that mean I won't get a picture if my Wii starts in 480i?

That depends on the converter.

It is possible to convert interlaced to progressive
(actually thats quite common, ALL LCD/Plasma/etc TVs do this since only CRT can display interlaced)
But not including the required components makes the converter cheaper.
You will have to carefully read its feature list/data sheet.

 

[WiiUBricker]

@[member='PsyBlade'] and @[member='FAST6191']: Thanks a lot guys. After reading a lot of incredible good things about the HD Box Pro, I ordered it. Many say that it's the best cheap VGA box there is, although there exists cheaper clones. I have checked my monitor, it does have only very basic functions and it doesn't seem to support interlaced video signals, but with the HD Box Pro it shouldn't be a big problem because I read it supports 480i to 480p deinterlacing.

I will post an update when it arrives here

 

[WiiUBricker]

Okay, yesterday I recieved my HD Box Pro and I can confirm all the good things you can read about it on the internet. I love it.
First off, the build quality is very cheap. When I recieved it I had to open it and fix it because the board inside was loose. Good that nothing broke while in the mail. But I guess you can't expect more of a chinese 50 bucks product.

Anyway what's important is what this thing can do and it can do awesome stuff I hooked it up with a cheap, 5€ component cable from ebay and my cheap VGA monitor and the results were amazing. Not only does the HD Box Pro support 480i (60Hz) and 480p, but also shitty 576i(50Hz). This means that all PAL games and even VC games work. No green screen, no blank screen, you will always get a nice colored picture with this Box.

Which brings me to the video quality. Granted there is a lack of sharpness if you stretch a 480p/i screen to fit in HD resolution, but the quality is nonetheless awesome. To be honest I couldn't see much difference between 480i and 480p, possibly no difference at all. With 576i however you can notice that everything has slowed down a bit, due to the lower frequence of 50Hz, but games are still playable (although if you have the option you should always use 480p). As I said I have a cheap monitor, so the video quality is probably even better on better monitors.

Finally I didn't notice any lags at all. First I was afraid that you would experience lags when you press a button but that's not the case. To conclude this small review I can give a recommendation to anyone who wants to play Wii on a VGA monitor.

PS: Does it really makes a difference if you use an expensive component cable instead of a cheap one?

 

[FAST6191]

Glad it works for you- I see the clone boards/boards it uses are available as standalone so I might consider grabbing one (especially if I can use it to augment a few things).

Also if you can it might be better to drop the resolution on the device and allow the monitor to scale it up- real time upscaling is probably worse on the little board than it is on the monitor (some monitors are pretty good at it and you can always jump back up).

Component cables- theoretically it might but usually it is a dodgy end/connection or less than stellar shielding that cause troubles with cheap cables.

"With 576i however you can notice that everything has slowed down a bit, due to the lower frequence of 50Hz"
Are companies still going down that path? I know it was the case in the 16 bit era for a lot of things but most shook it around the time we moved to the 32/64 bit stuff (PAL region stuff being able to handle just about everything).

 

[WiiUBricker]

Glad it works for you- I see the clone boards/boards it uses are available as standalone so I might consider grabbing one (especially if I can use it to augment a few things).

Also if you can it might be better to drop the resolution on the device and allow the monitor to scale it up- real time upscaling is probably worse on the little board than it is on the monitor (some monitors are pretty good at it and you can always jump back up).

Component cables- theoretically it might but usually it is a dodgy end/connection or less than stellar shielding that cause troubles with cheap cables.

"With 576i however you can notice that everything has slowed down a bit, due to the lower frequence of 50Hz"
Are companies still going down that path? I know it was the case in the 16 bit era for a lot of things but most shook it around the time we moved to the 32/64 bit stuff (PAL region stuff being able to handle just about everything).

The HD Box Pro supports up to FullHD resolution, but I couldn't notice any difference between the Box doing the upscaling or the monitor. I tested several resolutions from 640x480 to 1280x1080 (my monitor doesn't support any resolution that it bigger than it's own). All looked the same to me.

Also you can adjust the brightness and switch between 4:3 and 16:9 (although the latter is pointless because you can already do that natively with the Wii). However the brightness option makes the picture look like a shining bowl of fruity pebbles. It's better to adjust the brightness with the monitor itself.

Yes although this is 2012 Nintendo of Europe apparently is still somewhere in the 90s when it comes to PAL games, especially with VC games. While absolutely most PAL Wii games support 60Hz, there are still a few that are 50Hz only, no matter if you force a video mode with a loader. PAL VC games are all 50Hz only, except a few "exotic" ones from Japan that Nintendo uploaded to the europeans Wii Shop.