So whats the easiest/ best way to get my Wii on the Computer monitor?

Double_Faces

I'm running a Geforce 7900 GS on a Samsung Syncmaster 204BW. Can I just get an S-video cable and go straight from wii to card? Or should I invest in a VIVO card (which would let me watch tv on this thing)..

your thoughts?

meatflower

There's a couple Wii VGA cables out there. The quality is great, the only problem is that a few games don't support 480p and those will not work on it. The list of games is pretty small though, I'm sure someone can dig it up.

Here's a review of one: http://wiinintendo.net/2007/10/31/vdigis-wii-vga-cable-review/

edit: Also, $40 which isn't horrible.

LaCabra

What res does a Wii normally run?

TM2 Rampage

480i or 480p at 4:3 or 16:9, your choice.

Daedalus

Basically, 480i-only games won't work on it. These include many Gamecube games (but not many good ones! only good one that comes to mind is Killer7), a handful of early Wii games, and any Neo-Geo games on the Virtual Console. Other than that, everything should be fine (at 640x480, the VGA equivalent of 480p).

meatflower

Also, if the Samsung you've got doesn't have 1:1 pixel mapping the games that don't support widescreen are gonna be stretched.

Those are usually the same games that don't do 480p though, with the glaring exception of all(?) VC games.

Daedalus

meatflower wrote: »

Also, if the Samsung you've got doesn't have 1:1 pixel mapping the games that don't support widescreen are gonna be stretched.

Those are usually the same games that don't do 480p though, with the glaring exception of all(?) VC games.

1:1 pixel mapping will suck. Since it's a 640x480 signal, you'll get a tiny 640x480 box in the middle of the screen. You want aspect ratio pillarboxing, not 1:1, so it stretches to the top and bottom of the monitor without stretching out of proportion.

That said, the only decent Wii game I can think of (i.e. that I own) that doesn't support widescreen is WarioWare. It's goddamn endemic in Gamecube games, though. F-Zero GX is like the only Cube-exclusive game that does widescreen.

edit: yes, VC games also don't do widescreen, which is stupid, since the VC demos included in Smash Bros support widescreen just fine.

Double_Faces

so is getting the VIVO card not worth it?

just do that cable up there?

meatflower

Well your only option would be S-Video, which means you couldn't do 480p. Your videocard would be acting as the deinterlacer and no matter how good a job it does, it's still not going to compare to straight 480p over VGA. It's gonna look a little blurry at least and it's gonna cost you a heckuva a lot more.

And yeah, I meant aspect ratio pillar boxing, not the 1:1. Thanks Daedalus.

maximumzero

Daedalus wrote: »

meatflower wrote: »

Also, if the Samsung you've got doesn't have 1:1 pixel mapping the games that don't support widescreen are gonna be stretched.

Those are usually the same games that don't do 480p though, with the glaring exception of all(?) VC games.

1:1 pixel mapping will suck. Since it's a 640x480 signal, you'll get a tiny 640x480 box in the middle of the screen. You want aspect ratio pillarboxing, not 1:1, so it stretches to the top and bottom of the monitor without stretching out of proportion.

That said, the only decent Wii game I can think of (i.e. that I own) that doesn't support widescreen is WarioWare. It's goddamn endemic in Gamecube games, though. F-Zero GX is like the only Cube-exclusive game that does widescreen.

edit: yes, VC games also don't do widescreen, which is stupid, since the VC demos included in Smash Bros support widescreen just fine.

Am I the only one that likes playing some VC games in widescreen? The Sonic series, for example, looks great in 16:10 mode.

meatflower

Some people have issues watching or playing anything not being displayed at its original aspect ratio. To the point where they'd rather not watch it at all than watch it stretched.

I am one of these people, and I'm sure there are others out there. Yes, we have problems.

Double_Faces

So will this help? I've found an ATI HDTV Wonder TV Tuner on craigslist for a good price. Will this be what I need if i also grab that s-video cable for Wii?

yalborap

Minor hijack of the thread: Are there any options to allow for handling the games that don't do 480p? My HDTV lags like all hell on 480i content, and I'd like to be able to play the games without worrying too much about whether or not they can handle 480p.

Daedalus

yalborap wrote: »

Minor hijack of the thread: Are there any options to allow for handling the games that don't do 480p? My HDTV lags like all hell on 480i content, and I'd like to be able to play the games without worrying too much about whether or not they can handle 480p.

Nothing that won't lag like hell. VGA is a progressive-only signal, which means to get a 480i signal onto it, you need to do deinterlacing, which will either look amazingly shitty, lag like hell, or both.

If you use a TV tuner card and DScaler, you can choose between "looks amazingly shitty" and "lags like hell". If you go for a converter box, well, just randomly pick one of the three. The problem is that a TV tuner card only does 480i, so you can't use 480p on the games that do support it.

Double_Faces

Screw it, just buying a tv on craigslist for 10 bucks.



love technology.

Daedalus

Double_Faces wrote: »

Screw it, just buying a tv on craigslist for 10 bucks.



love technology.

the great thing about technological standards is that there are so many to pick from!