Homebrew Wii DVD Support - from Disc Channel

[NewGBAXL]

I am making this thread so that we might be able to get DVDs back on the Disc Channel, as well as for educational purposes.

Here is the download link to the project!

The Wii could originally read DVDs from the Disc Channel, it just needed a few things.

(1) patched .brlyt to show and center DVD .tpl
I have implemented it in my theme, tested and ready to be downloaded!



(2) patched boot cycle to accept DVDs.
This would be implemented in Priiloader (unless Nintendo was lazy, see bottom of post).

(3) DVDbann.ash present in System Menu
Just like how GameCube games have a banner when you insert them, so did DVDs. I'm guessing the file was named DVDbann.ash (the GameCube one was called GCbann.ash).
A quick fix is copy/paste GCbann.ash and rename it to DVDbann.ash
4/29/21: I went thru 00000098.app, where SysMenu 4.3U reads the .ash files. There was no mention of DVDbann.ash, meaning I need to find perhaps an older version of the Wii System Menu, or perhaps the banner is included with CinePlayer.


(4) DVD Channel
The software was officially known as 'Sonic CinePlayer CE DVD Navigator'
WiiMC may work as a temporary program to boot, but I am working really hard to find the unreleased software.

I am assuming the DVD Channel software is in the form of a hidden channel, much like the End User License Agreement, Region Select, and Set Personal Data channels. This is a .wad which is lost to the ages until we get lucky with another Wii prelaunch leak.

Where do we go from here?
We take the WiiMC forwarder, change it to hidden, and rename it to an unknown Title ID.

If Nintendo wanted to make this process way too easy, they could have just programmed the Wii to search to a hidden channel with a certain Title ID, if it is there, DVDs work.
Maybe this "hidden ID" is somewhere in the boot cycle and Priiloader isn't required?

If anyone knows this hidden ID, please share!

 

[NewGBAXL]

Guess: the ID is HA*A. H is for System Channels. The last A is for region free. The middle two letters are for the actual title ID.

Unused IDs: HAHA, HAIA, HANA, HAOA, HAQA, HARA, HASA, HAUA, HAXA.

HAMA has been recently leaked last fall to be Virtual Console Manual Viewer Menu. It is a debugging menu.
HAKA & HALA are EULA & Region Select, respectively, 2 of 3 known hidden channels.

 

[NewGBAXL]

BIG UPDATE!!! I emailed one of the people that used to work for Sonic Solutions (I won't disclose who for privacy reasons)!
"I was heavily involved in the DVD authoring software and hardware, but not so much on the playback side." He said he was "aware of the project, but did not participate in it."

He finished with "With your permission, I will forward your note to some of my ex-colleagues and see if it rings a bell."

Sooo exciting!!!

 

[NewGBAXL]

Working on a custom Wii theme similar to this one, but is official
Should be ready by tomorrow

Update: It is finished and you can download it here!

 

[Spectremint]

This is neat! I'll have to try this at some point soon. Maybe we can get a dark theme with support for this? lol

 

[XFlak]

I think I get it, but pics and maybe even a video demonstrating it in action would be stellar

 

[NewGBAXL]

I think I get it, but pics and maybe even a video demonstrating it in action would be stellar

Yeah, sorry about that
It is basically like booting a GameCube game. You insert the disc, a custom banner shows up, you click 'Start'

I don't actually have footage of CinePlayer CE or the beta yet, or I would have shared it

I have made a poor video taken of my Wii from my phone of what the theme looks like:

 

[Undwiz]

if I remember right , even after modding only Wii's with a serial ending in like 54 and lower can play DVD's ... I have 2 one that can on latest firm and one that can't ... in a box some where .... was able to play using WiiMC

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

I am excited to see where this goes

 

[wiiloversans]

Yeah, sorry about that
It is basically like booting a GameCube game. You insert the disc, a custom banner shows up, you click 'Start'

I don't actually have footage of CinePlayer CE or the beta yet, or I would have shared it

I have made a poor video taken of my Wii from my phone of what the theme looks like:

how did you get the dvd support???

 

[NewGBAXL]

how did you get the dvd support???

I haven't yet, I am speaking hypothetically.
the facts are
(1) Sonic Solutions was making CinePlayer CE so the Wii could play DVDs (never released)
(2) there is a DVD icon on the Disc Channel, hidden and off-centered (fixed with my custom theme)
(3) GameCube games don't have a banner, there is a preset one that is used on all GCN games, assuming DVDs had something similar
(4) The System Menu has three known hidden channels that add features to it, this supposedly would have been a fourth.

My imagination led me here

 

[tmnr1992]

This is pretty cool, sadly my Wii's disc drive died years ago, but I'll keep an eye on this, looks very interesting.

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

This is pretty cool, sadly my Wii's disc drive died years ago, but I'll keep an eye on this, looks very interesting.

still hold on to the control board, if it's an early model (maybe you could swap out the board on an incompatible model.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

Any chance this would allow us to load game backups on a disc through a backup loader?

 

[NewGBAXL]

Any chance this would allow us to load game backups on a disc through a backup loader?

If you want to run burned backups from Disc Channel, that would be something that would be done via Priiloader, I found a link for that:
https://www.reddit.com/r/WiiHacks/comments/g8q31p/the_quest_to_run_burned_disc_games_directly_from/

And he added "My guess is that if you use RiiConnect24's Wii Mail, it would stop working since it relies on IOS80."

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

And he added "My guess is that if you use RiiConnect24's Wii Mail, it would stop working since it relies on IOS80."

It would work if you replace Nintendo's RSA key with Riiconnect24's RSA key in the 00000006.app file of the IOS. It's as easy as finding Nintendo's RSA key and replacing it with RC24's

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

I'll be keeping an eye on this. It has been attempted from what I can remember, but this here looks promising. Keep it up.

 

[Crazynoob458]

interesting can wait for more develpoments

 

[MikaDubbz]

This can't with done on a Wii U right? Like only earlier models of the original Wii have the ability for DVD video playback, and even the Wii U lacks the ability, right? Or am I misinformed on this matter?

 

[BlazeMasterBM]

This can't with done on a Wii U right? Like only earlier models of the original Wii have the ability for DVD video playback, and even the Wii U lacks the ability, right? Or am I misinformed on this matter?

yes correct