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Use Your Wii as a Media Center

lifehacker.com — The best thing the Nintendo Wii got going for it is the excellent Opera web browser, but web browsing with the Wii remote is still a bit klunky. Luckily, using that very same browser, you can turn your Wii into a full-fledged media center with the freeware Windows application Orb. Here's how

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  • maxradical, on 02/20/2008, -11/+38This is where any technology really excels - when the innovative components are developed and released, then the users and the whole wide web are able to come up with applications themselves. It's awesome to see the Wii benefiting from this huge potential!
    • spyrochaete, on 02/20/2008, -6/+29Unfortunately the Wii is underpowered for this task. It's fine for viewing photographs and streaming music, but it's just not powerful enough to render fullscreen streaming video. I tried Orb a few months ago and found that I could watch content in a window up to about 75% of full screen, but any bigger than that and it started skipping frames. The same is true of YouTube and Google Video.

      I think the Opera browser is the bottleneck here. If there were a native application for the Wii that streamed content over the LAN instead of over the internet it might just do the trick.
      • spyrochaete, on 02/20/2008, -0/+16However, I'll add that Orb is really handy for watching streaming versions of your media library from remote locations. If you travel a lot and you don't want to miss TV shows you've downloaded this is a really handy bit of free software. The Wii functionality is an added benefit, not the primary function.
      • whahaa, on 02/20/2008, -1/+15'unfortunately the wii is underpowered for the task...'

        i don't own a wii so please excuse the stupid question... i'd thought the wii had comparable processing power to an old xbox... my old xbox with xbmc can stream everything fine except high def... why can't the wii do the same?
        • countingthedays, on 02/20/2008, -0/+5Probably just not optimized yet. Its a 700Mhz PPC, so it could probably handle it.
        • WorldGroove, on 02/20/2008, -1/+19XBMC is written in C++ and runs natively.
          This "WiiMC" is through the Opera-Browser.


        • nocaffeine, on 02/20/2008, -5/+2Probably because the Wii's version of the Opera browser is *****
      • EtherGnat, on 02/20/2008, -0/+3Are you sure it wasn't a problem with networking? I'm not sure about the current version, but the old version defaulted to streaming media over the Internet and back again even from a local source. The solution (in the Orb technical support) involved port forwarding. Once I did that I had much better local streaming.
      • AmazingAndrex, on 02/20/2008, -1/+7Full-screen YouTube works 100% fine for me...
    • NgrHader, on 02/20/2008, -6/+6This would be good for anyone who has has a tube tv and isn't looking to ugprade anytime soon, but having an HDTV and 360 or PS3 and the Wii pales in any comparison
    • humperdeath, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1I have tried this setup. It does work in a pinch, but I have my wii plugged directly into my TV (not through the stereo receiver) so playing music is not that great, but it's better than nothing. Also someone said it is good for watching you-tube vids, and the like, it is good for that! Anyway ORB is a good product in itself, even without a wii, since you can get all you music and video in any web connected device, like a slingbox.
  • booticon, on 02/20/2008, -5/+80As I said on Lifehacker: if you give a ***** about video quality, as Orb transcodes, eBay an Xbox and install XBMC on it. It supports SMB, and it can play just about any format under the sun.
    • barnis, on 02/20/2008, -4/+11x.264 ;(
      • matriculated, on 02/20/2008, -2/+6A Mac Mini with XBMC for OSX plays x.264 and HD content just fine - costs more though.
      • RobotBuddha, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2How well is the osx port coming along? Would you consider it as stable and visually pleasant as the original xbox version? I'm feeling the xbmc just starting to get a bit long in the tooth on the xbox, and not really sure what the best upgrade options are at the moment.
      • TheTap, on 02/20/2008, -1/+1I've heard this to be a known issue but i have yet to encounter any problems playing any m4v files and i have quite a few that I stream on there.
    • Sirocco, on 02/20/2008, -11/+5Xbox doesn't have enough under the hood to handle modern video rips, not to mention it automatically chokes on H.264 content.
      • iRelinquish, on 02/20/2008, -2/+7can the wii play h.264?
      • Ganja420, on 02/20/2008, -1/+20The wii can't do high def...
      • revjustin2, on 02/20/2008, -24/+2The Xbox also has a crazy-high failure rate.
        • dickardo, on 02/20/2008, -0/+8They're talking about the original Xbox, not Xbox 360.
      • deeceefar2, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2I play standard def h.264 content all the time without problem. It just won't handle 720p etc. bit rate is too high, but it does do a hell of a job upconverting it all to 720p. It used to be slugish on h.264 content at times, but the recent builds seem to be smooth as can be.
        • cawpin, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Yeah, I don't know what these other guys are talking about. All my movies are encoded with H.264 and they play just fine over G wireless. The original XBox wasn't ever intended to play HD content.
    • nbcaffeine, on 02/20/2008, -5/+7Can you turn your xbox on without getting off the couch?
      • Otto, on 02/20/2008, -1/+15Yes, in fact, I can. It cost me about $10 and a few minutes of messing about with a screwdriver.

        http://xir.us/

        http://www.xbox-scene.com/articles/xir.php
        • spyrochaete, on 02/20/2008, -20/+2And all it cost you was $10, 10 minutes, and your warranty. Though this is a pretty superficial feature we're talking about. I'd never void my warranty for that.
          • Otto, on 02/20/2008, -0/+8XBox's were only warrantied for 1 year anyway. So, considering they haven't been made since August 2005 (when NVidia stopped making their GPU's) , it's a safe bet that yours is already out of warranty.
          • dbz253, on 02/20/2008, -0/+4well if you have a modchip in your xbox to install xbmc, i don't think you are too concerned about your warranty.
          • lynx44, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Hahah, seriously? What Xbox is still under warranty?
        • nirav72, on 02/20/2008, -0/+8@spyrochaete - In case you didn't read Otto's comment properly - His warranty was pretty much voided when he added a mod chip to run XBMC.
          • Otto, on 02/20/2008, -0/+3Well, you can softmod to use XBMC as well. Although you're right and mine does have a modchip.
        • Tweak1313, on 02/20/2008, -3/+3Putting XBMC on your XBox voided the warranty anyway...
        • nbcaffeine, on 02/20/2008, -3/+1Yes, i know, i saw kevin rose do it several years ago, only his used a wireless doorbell. Either way, I also prefer XBMC, only problem is that my old xbox makes too much noise, so i have to turn the volume up.
    • skipdog172, on 02/20/2008, -0/+4So, the orb quality is worse than just running an S-Video out from your PC? I was mainly looking forward to being able to change videos without getting up out of the couch. Quite pointless if the video quality is degraded.
      • pox05, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1not to mention the bandwidth drag the orb puts on your home network
    • mrboratsagdiev, on 02/20/2008, -0/+5Not to mention XBMC can also play over 500 live television channels streamed from the Net, whereas Orb cannot reliably:

      http://www.op9.net/tag/xbmc-tv/
      • nocaffeine, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2So far the only worthwhile comment. Thanks!!!!!
      • centran, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2what the hell! Why isn't that a script!!! I never knew about it.
        • mrboratsagdiev, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Because it integrates directly with the menu system, making it seem like it's part of XBMC itself. Updating STRM files is a cinch and can be done by anyone that way. No need to make it into a script. Additionally, you can even get in touch with the author to send over new streams for implementation. He's going to be releasing a new version in the next couple of weeks I hear.
      • mrboratsagdiev, on 04/24/2008, -0/+1http://www.xboxmod.net
    • TheTap, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Just edit the sources.xml file and you can add any SMB file to the list of videos.

      and with the FCEUltra emulator I can play any original NES games (yes, I still love to play them).

      and since the Wii is in constant use whereas the xbox was collecting dust, why would I want to do this to our Wii?
  • whitezombie420, on 02/20/2008, -3/+76i think i'll just stick with the old pc hooked up to the tv.
    • yohnstoppable, on 02/20/2008, -5/+38Why do that when you can use it to stream youtube quality videos to your wii?!!!?!?!?!?!?!!??
      • dbz253, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2uh... if you've every used orb, it's less than youtube quality
    • pintomp3, on 02/20/2008, -0/+8same here, especially since the wii doesn't have any digital audio outputs. not so great for movies. but for someone who doesn't have a computer hooked up to their tv but do have a wii, this is a lot better than nothing.
    • dukeochutney, on 02/20/2008, -1/+4or the 360 with divx/xvid support
    • ziptnf, on 02/20/2008, -1/+6I'm extremely disappointed.

      The quality kinda sucks, it's slow, the user interface blows, and the massive internet toolbar is at the bottom. I'd rather just buy an HTPC.
      • counterplex, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1Press 1 to hide the internet toolbar.
    • Tyr7BE, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1I had that for the longest time and I gotta say, the moment I hooked up an xbox with XBMC to the TV I wondered how I'd ever gotten by without it. No more annoying keyboard and mouse. You can either use the xbox controllers to navigate your media, or you can get the dvd remote and use it like a tv. I use my xbox to do all my tv/video torrents, stream music from my PC (XBMC's library features are amazing, on par with itunes), and view pictures when the fancy strikes me. I'd highly recommend finding _something_ to replace the PC hooked up to a TV. You'll wonder how you ever got by before.
      • lynx44, on 02/20/2008, -1/+1I find the opposite to be true. XBMC is great, but its more limited than connecting a PC to your TV. I have a small PC connected to my TV running MythTV with a Dell remote. I also have a separate PC as a server to stream all of my content from. Again, I like XBMC, but the Myth, MCE, MediaPortal interfaces are all much more flexible than XBMC, and the biggest advantage is that a PC can play HD. I do use my Xbox in my room every once in a while though, since I don't have a computer connected, its an easy and pretty nice solution if you just want SD.
    • neodorian, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Same here. With a wireless mouse and kb it is the best.

      Still, Orb is great for my pocket PC. Since that is not HD by any means being able to listen to all my music and watch all my video from my file server on the road is fine in that quality. It even lets me look at my home webcams and check on things from my phone.
  • ucfbassguy, on 02/20/2008, -20/+4@maxradical I couldn't agree more - openness and standards compliance leads to awesomeness
    • solidus636, on 02/20/2008, -3/+19Why didn't you just reply to that comment?
  • PHovey, on 02/20/2008, -4/+20My wii is so extended that you can play movies on it.
  • doshindude, on 02/20/2008, -0/+23Sounds great, but I already have the 360 all configured for this stuff...so I'll stick to playing games on the Wii. This would be amazing if it could work remotely though.
    • Books, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Ya, that is about all I do with my 360 now. With the xvid/divx update, it has been the greatest thing since sliced bread. But, I leave you with this.
      Imagine the Wii had a built in LAN, streaming feature, coupled with a DVD drive capable of reading movies. How awesome would be then? I'd say about '10 fold'...haha
    • teh_techie, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1it COULD work remotely... why not. The software is streaming via IP on your home network... just open up the ports on your router and voila, streaming anywhere. Hook your wii up in your hotel room and watch your movies from home. (if the network speed is fast enough)
    • tb0x, on 02/20/2008, -1/+0it DOES work remotely. You can log in to your Orb account from anywhere that has internet to access documents, videos, music and pictures off your "server" computer. You can set up public pages, too, for anyone to view your stuff without having to type in a password.
  • GeorgeStone2, on 02/20/2008, -5/+20Meeeeehhhhhhh.
  • bitterg, on 02/20/2008, -8/+102A Wii Media Center is a ***** media center. Sorry, but you'd be much, much, much better off with a original Xbox.
    • revjustin2, on 02/20/2008, -2/+34I don't think the intent of this article is to convince people to run out and buy a Wii to use as a Media Center. This is more of a perk for people who already own a Wii and would like to play around with it a bit and extend it's functionality. People serious about having a computer-based media set-up would probably bypass gaming consoles in general and go straight to a PC or other, more dedicated media center solution.
      • Ender7584, on 02/21/2008, -0/+0Actually, I built a media center PC. It sucked in comparison to an Xbox running XBMC. PCs components just aren't made to output to TV's (unless you wanna spend more then the $800 I dropped on it)
    • ruyn, on 02/20/2008, -3/+4Yeah, I already own a wii and have XBMC on my xbox. This is just going to be something fun I can play around with. The xbox works well as a media center but it lacks the all important wireless aspect.
      • cawpin, on 02/20/2008, -6/+5It's called a router. Mine's been working through wireless for 2 years.
    • AmICoolNow, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1Also, this isn't anything new. You've been able to do this since the web browser has been available for the Wii. In fact, I set it up about seven months ago and it's not that great as a media center.
    • joegibes, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1Online media streamer does not equal media center. 360 trumps the Wii here (it still streams media, but at full quality at 100mbps over a network).
  • mrgreen4242, on 02/20/2008, -2/+7If Nintendo released a media center app/channel for the Wii and hooked up with Netflix for on demand movie, too it would make it a great purchase. I'm still waiting for the first price drop to get a Wii, but I'd buy one @$250 if it was a good media center extender. I already have a 360 that works as a decent media frontend (good format support and image quality, but the UI is pretty bad and the streaming/buffering setup is just plain terrible - it seems to refuse to buffer more than a few seconds worth, even if I leave it paused for a significant amount of time. Spikes in the bitrate of VBR files kill it about half the time) but I'd like to move the 360 and still have access to my media at its current location.
    • tonyscha, on 02/20/2008, -0/+4What you mean I cant stream my 1080p HD video over 802.11B?
      • mrgreen4242, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Don't be an ass. Trying to stream DVD quality h264 over .11g with good signal strength makes the 360 cry. I have no trouble sending much higher bitrate MPEG2 files over to my TiVo on the same wireless network in realtime or faster. The TiVo caches the files properly, though, so it never stutters. It MIGHT stop mid playback, but it won't auto restart on it's own - it just keeps buffering until the whole file is transferred. The 360 will only hold a few seconds locally, which is pretty useless.
    • spyrochaete, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2A media app won't happen. The console has next to zero storage so it can't store content locally and would have to be streaming, and users with slow broadband would be furious that the movies stutter.
      • wendelgee2, on 02/20/2008, -0/+5There's plug-in memory though. Couldn't you make use of that....it's like putting a saddle on a german shepherd, but still.
      • mrgreen4242, on 02/20/2008, -0/+3That's a valid point, but the easy answer is requiring at least a gig of free space on an SD card.
  • KevinFederline, on 02/20/2008, -3/+36I tried this some time ago. The video quality looks like ass. Such a shame, really.
    • robbob, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2By ass, you mean a bit fuzzy?
    • sabertooth, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2No, it is laggy, blocky and the audio is mostly out of sync. And this was over a local gigabit-to-wireless connection from a Athlon 64 X2 6000+ machine...
      • dbz253, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2you missed the joke
      • iofthestorm, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Probably because Orb is retarded and works over the internet. It's mainly meant for streaming media when you aren't home or something, but having your videos get encoded, sent over the internet, and then downloaded back onto the Wii is just retarded IMO. TVersity is better in that regard.
    • jrtcs, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Hey, in 500 years, Ass will win an Academy Award.
  • Itazura, on 02/20/2008, -13/+5You loved reggie for making fun of the ps3 for trying to be a media center not being "all about the games" Now look at you.
    • Bing11, on 02/20/2008, -3/+12You know this Media Center functionality isn't from Nintendo, right?
  • Bing11, on 02/20/2008, -5/+80"The best thing the Nintendo Wii got going for it is the excellent Opera web browser"

    Actually, I'd say it's the good Wii-exclusive games. At least those are why I bought a Wii, not hopes that I could watch movies on it. That's why I bought a DVD player.
    • revjustin2, on 02/20/2008, -2/+3I second that.
    • 33PercentGod, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1You're right. Why buy a car with heat when you have a blanket for that? Things that do more then 1 function are ridiculous and unneeded.
  • ghank, on 02/20/2008, -3/+47480p on a 52" TV looks like total crap. I love my Wii, but to use it as a media center is full of fail.
    • GerbilSoft, on 02/20/2008, -12/+5More like your TV is utter *****, as are most HDTVs. I haven't seen a single HDTV that properly accepts the TV's "native resolution". That, and they don't properly provide an EDID block on VGA input.

      On the other hand, I've used my Wii on an XGA projector in 640x480, and it looks great, even with a ~70" projection.
      • GerbilSoft, on 02/20/2008, -9/+3Bah, edit period expired. Yes, I know that the Wii has a maximum resolution of 640x480, which is below most HDTVs' native res, but even then, HDTVs can't properly upscale the image. That, or there's a significant lag period between button presses and video display. On the other hand, in my experience PC monitors and projectors have been able to upscale the 640x480 signal just fine without artifacting or lag.
        • Books, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1I guess smaller is better, as on my 32" the 480p image looks damn good.
        • ventralnet, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1Looks fine on my 42inch sony.. You must just suck
        • oldhick, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1You're just wrong. Many HD TV's can upscale with zero lag and no artifacts. Because yours can't doesn't mean everyone else's can't.
      • cawpin, on 02/20/2008, -0/+4My 42" Aquos has no problems whatsoever displaying the Wii's feed.
    • Sirocco, on 02/20/2008, -1/+4If you're watching on a ***** HDTV, then yes, it will look like ass. You need proper upscaling capabilities, which quality HDTVs and projectors have.
    • oldhick, on 02/20/2008, -1/+10I agree with GerbilSoft, thats a symptom of a really ***** hidef TV. I have a 62" DLP that makes 480p content look gorgeous. Now its obviously not as nice as my 1080p HD-DVDs (yeah, I'm a sucker), but still good.
    • teh_techie, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2LCD's usually happen to look terrible in anything BUT their native resolution... Some do upscale decently, but a Large DLP screen will look better with the Wii on it than the same size LCD... the images are processed differently.
    • YojimboJango, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1I remember back 5 years ago when 480p was the best thing you could buy at the store.
      • TheG2, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Thanks for that trip down nostalgic lane...
      • JigoroKano, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Before HD, I remember big CRT's that boasted 800 lines of resolution. 480p didn't even enter the vocabulary until the HD standards.
    • mrgreen4242, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1I have my 360 connected to a 480p (853*480) DLP projector which shoots a ~98" image. Looks great. 720p would be awesome, but I'm going to have to wait for the bulb on my current unit to fail to justify the expense ($750 PJ with new bulb, minutes $200 for selling the old unit vs. $200 new bulb for the old one). DVDs look very good at that size, too.
  • danutsnet, on 02/20/2008, -2/+13Why would you get a WII for browsing the internet? :|
    • EtherGnat, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2You wouldn't. But if you have a Wii, and it's the only thing connected to your TV capable of browsing the Internet it can be handy.
  • jull1234, on 02/20/2008, -9/+10"the original Xbox is the king of homebrew video-game-cum-media-boxes"
    uhh?
    • ddrhazy, on 02/20/2008, -1/+22That statement is correct jull. There are tons of emulators for xbox, there's the XBMC which plays any video format you can throw at it, there's samba file streaming, the xbox is a monster when modded.
    • mugicha, on 02/20/2008, -1/+9You obviously haven't seen one in its full glory.
    • kmoed, on 02/20/2008, -4/+2HTPC is million times better. No problems with 720P & 1080P. Can be upgraded. more storage etc...
      • saisumimen, on 02/20/2008, -0/+4You're missing the point. A lot of people have xboxes lying around collecting dust or can get one for cheap.

        How can you compete with "free"?
    • halobender, on 02/20/2008, -1/+5He's remarking on the use of cum not come.
      • iofthestorm, on 02/20/2008, -2/+2But cum is correct in this situation, or did the author write come instead? I read this (*****) article yesterday and I can't care less about it right now, Orb has been around for a long time and it sucks ass.
    • bitbytebit, on 02/20/2008, -0/+3I think he was uhh'ing about the word cum there .. kinda like in a beavis and butthead way. even though the author used it incorrectly
    • Bamborzled, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cum
      cum /kʌm, kʊm/
      –preposition
      with; combined with; along with (usually used in combination): My garage-cum-workshop is well equipped.
      [Origin: 1580–90; < L: with, together with (prep.)]
  • sagat, on 02/20/2008, -12/+11"The best thing the Nintendo Wii got going for it is the excellent Opera web browser"

    indeed...
  • SpookyApplePie, on 02/20/2008, -14/+3Nintendo is Cool, it just sucks at what their consoles can actually do.
    Mac is Cool................erm..........got nothing.
    Windows is Cool (sort of), it just sucks when it crashes, gets viruses and basically is a pain in the ass.
  • veriix, on 02/20/2008, -2/+8Novelty at best, if you want practicality, like people said, get an original xbox. Plays everything but hi-def.
  • pgrit154, on 02/20/2008, -2/+19Sweet... in its 480p glory and being streamed over my LAN onto the Wii.... I think that my PS3 has this covered in HD, and with little effort. I'll leave the Wii to what it does best... sit there and wait for Mario Kart to come out.
    • iofthestorm, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Not even LAN, Orb works over the internet so the quality is utter *****, basically limited to your upstream connection speed.
  • tarquell, on 02/20/2008, -6/+4out of the option laptop (PC via VGA) wii, xbox 360 and mac mini (via HDMI), the mini wins!
    • pgrit154, on 02/20/2008, -1/+1I completely agree! Oh how I miss my mac mini... thats all I used it for!
    • spyrochaete, on 02/20/2008, -1/+5You could buy a Wii and a 360 for the price of a Mac Mini. Why is the Mini best?
    • sancho, on 02/20/2008, -2/+1The Mac Mini doesn't have HDMI. What are you talking about?
      • Crazy_8, on 02/21/2008, -0/+1But it does have DVI output. Most devices that can output DVI can use a DVI -> HDMI cable as they share the same type of pins and data for video. Basically speaking all HDMI is, is DVI with audio and some encryption. So a mini or any other computer with DVI can be hooked to an HDMI port on a TV and you'll get full blown 1080p. :)
    • oldhick, on 02/20/2008, -1/+7Please explain the mini being best and why don't you simply get a DVI card for your pc with an HDMI adapter. I have a pc I spent less than $450 on playing HD video, playing my quad-channel DTS cd's and anything else I want to do.
      I'll grant you that mac minis look cooler, but they're just way over priced.
  • FunkyMan, on 02/20/2008, -1/+3This was on CNET TV a few weeks ago. It sounded intriguing, so I tried it. Unfortunately the Orb program keeps crashing on me, and the company has been unable to fix the problem. Hopefully it'll work in the next build.
  • Eldorian, on 02/20/2008, -1/+10A better alternative is to use TVersity.

    Orb sucks.
  • Enfilade, on 02/20/2008, -10/+6Seriously why do we need out gaming consoles to be media centers? This is exactly why I think PS3 is a step in the wrong direction. People are buying it because it is an affordable blue ray player, not because it is a good gaming console. I have a computer to browse the internet. I have a DVD player to watch movies. I have a gaming console to play games, and that is the only thing I need or want it to do.
    • zydeco, on 02/20/2008, -1/+5We all want one box attached to the living room TV that does everything. Since we can't get media centers that play console games, we make consoles that act as media centers.
      • buddahead9, on 02/20/2008, -1/+3Hence the camera/cell phone/calculator/mp3 player/internet browsing/gps device/dry clean reminding/car door opening bricks we carry in our pocket.
    • oldhick, on 02/20/2008, -1/+4I guess you either understand tech trends or you don't. See most of us would like fewer components and more integrated components in our living room. Why do I need a game console, movie disc player, computer attached to the TV, etc... When one device should be able to do all this. Don't fear convergence baby, embrace it!
    • Claude1971, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2how exactly did become a PS3 bashing rant? Use it or don't, it's cool to know you can do it on the Wii
    • Books, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Ya, welcome to 2008, not 1994. Sure, back in the day our dads had their VCR's, Sega Genesis', Laserdisc, etc... Today though as we are becoming more and more of nerds, wouldn't it be better to just have one solution? Downloaded TV shows/movies are probably one of the biggest uses of b/w on the internet now a days. What would you rather do? Watch them on your computer monitor, or sit back on your couch/bed and watch 'em on your nice HDTV?
    • pcpimpster, on 02/20/2008, -1/+1I have a server with redundant 1.5TB of storage. What i did was installed Orb on that server and then pointed my 360 at it and now i have all my movies, videos, pitures and mp3's at my fingertips in my living room. It really is quite slick. So technically my console plays games, streams my vast library of media content from my server and acts as a DVD player. I find great value in buying one device to do what three devices (as you see it) can do.
    • mrgreen4242, on 02/20/2008, -2/+1Personally, I'm looking this direction because DVDs suck, as do all disc based media. I'm tired of them getting scratched, lost, etc, and having to index and organize them and still have to dig through huge stacks of crap to find what I want to watch. I store all my DVDs as high quality h264 files and stream them to various front ends around the house. It's amazingly convenient. A game console for this function is/can be great because the cost of the hardware is being subsidized by software that you can choose not to buy. Plus, you get a game console out of it.
  • danielrh9, on 02/20/2008, -7/+5The Wii hardware would, in theory, support a better experience than the old XBMC or even the current offerings of the 360, based on the fact that it has built in WiFi and a controller perfect for this function. However, there's no software that can really do this. Orb is basically a reach around that enables it through Opera, but the functionality is annoyingly cramped.

    Hopefully, there will be some developer to write a channel via WiiWare that will be solely intended for this purpose, because if done right, it would be awesome.
    • oldhick, on 02/20/2008, -1/+7What did you smoke this morning? You have no digital audio on your Wii and it can't do HD so your comparison to the 360 went out the window. Your lack of storage space and customization hampers your old Xbox comparison.
      However, I do agree the controller is pretty bad ass.
      • iofthestorm, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Built in wifi and remote control are his reasons, but they kind of suck really.
    • pcpimpster, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Your lucky you said "in theory", i was getting ready to go all fanboy on you.
  • tucsonwc, on 02/20/2008, -6/+6A Wiidea Center?
  • LogicBomB, on 02/20/2008, -1/+11Just because you can doesn't mean you should.
  • iamthejeff, on 02/20/2008, -2/+8I was hoping this would at least let me stream over my home network, rather than up to the Orb servers and back down to my Wii.

    "full-fledged"?... hardly.
    • mailclient, on 02/20/2008, -1/+4You can use Tversity on the PC for that. Then stream locally.
      • iofthestorm, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1Yeah, TVersity is much better than Orb for this.
      • gudnbluts, on 02/21/2008, -0/+0I use TVersity to stream to my wifi music gadget. Are you saying I can do this to my Wii too? You might have just made my last gadget that only supports WEP redundant. Thanks very much.
  • davidwasman, on 02/20/2008, -3/+11Lifehacker is another of Gawker Media's whore sites that spams digg (along with gizmodo, jalopnik, gawker, i09, valleywag, kotaku, etc...)

    They are using digg to bring traffic to their sites. I'm sure you recognize all of them in the list above.

    Last week alone they had no less than 6 of their sites on Digg's front page at once.
  • digjam, on 02/20/2008, -6/+1I CAN HAZ WII -NDOZ MEDIA CENTER !
  • shadydentist, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2Music is fine, but video sucks.
  • txrangersxx, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2A better alternative to Orb is Weezo. It is specifically done for the Wii and Opera Browser and works great
  • jedimasta, on 02/20/2008, -3/+3I'm sorry, but what's new about this? I've been using orb and winamp remote since Opera became available for the console. Why is this front page news?
  • myranttoyou, on 02/20/2008, -4/+11Buried as redundant...
    http://www.digg.com/search?section=all&s=wii+orb
    The PS3 and 360 (esp. for TV) are 100x better media streamers BTW
  • hadak, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2Looks like a nice setup (from a glance). I'm wondering: what's holding us up from a MythTV frontend?
  • ventralnet, on 02/20/2008, -1/+2Do you have to have everything in flash video for this??? because that sucks
  • Cryoniq, on 02/20/2008, -5/+1Seems like a ripoff of WiiCR which runs under GNU/Linux and Windows OS:es. Not just crap Windows.
  • pcpimpster, on 02/20/2008, -5/+1I've been preaching Orb as a media extender for years now. Orb is a very unique app/service that should get more recognition then it does. Works great on my 360 for transcoding Divx compared to the hoops you jump through to get MCE to do it. There are so many devices and apps that Orb replaces with its functionality and config options. The slingbox being the main one.
  • reddog093, on 02/20/2008, -2/+1I've been using Orb for the past 6 months and I have to say it's an amazing convenience! My TV, Webcam, Music, Videos & Documents are accessible from any device I have. It works great on my Verizon EV-DO mobile phone (Samsung 760), my laptops, and my home desktops.

    The ability to easily change the way you stream is convenient as well!
  • scy1192, on 02/20/2008, -2/+1Winamp Remote has had a similar service that I've been able to use.
    • tb0x, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Winamp Remote is made by Orb and is basically the same service, except integrated into Winamp
    • havokdu, on 02/20/2008, -0/+2Winamp Remote it's a licenced Orb.
      Even their exe it's Orb.exe
  • user7, on 02/20/2008, -1/+7woohoo 480p!
  • thanakar, on 02/20/2008, -6/+2I'm sorry but I don't WANT my xbox or wii being a media center, that is why I have a DVD w/HDMI going to my TV. I want my game system to be good at GAMING, that is why I bought it. I do not need all those other bells and whistles game companies are tacking on to my gaming console.
  • ParaSwarm, on 02/20/2008, -4/+1Finally, something tangible and useful from Digg.
  • girlinseattle, on 02/20/2008, -4/+2mmmmeh, needs more cowbell.
  • scmiles, on 02/20/2008, -1/+4Can't hold the jock-strap of XBMC. I am old school, original XBOX v1.0 for 7 years, I have had this technology. Recently added PS3 and 360 to the mix, I have to say, being able to play BluRay and HD DVD rips on the PS3 and 360 is nice, but XBMC is the leader of the pack when it comes to user interface and format compatibility. Of course, look for a Linux version that will run on the PS3 soon, then you will have the awesome user interface and wide format support, in addition to 1080p playback.
    • cawpin, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1That's where I'm at, too. I have a 360 and a Wii but I use a 1.0 XBox for my media center because it works beautifully.
  • slayernine, on 02/20/2008, -6/+1Sorry but you can't exactly compare the original Xbox to the Wii as far as media capabilities go. Simply put the Wii has an internet browser that enables you to stream anything from you computers or other devices that are in another room or half a world away. I would love to see your Xbox try and do that.
    • cawpin, on 02/20/2008, -1/+4Mine does it just fine. Where have you been? Look up XBMC.
  • zhenate, on 02/20/2008, -6/+2Epic fail. Burried as lame.
    • apextek, on 02/20/2008, -2/+1XBMC rocks, BTW from the article:
      "The only downside to this method is that the quality of the videos you're streaming won't be nearly as high as the source, due mostly to the need to transcode the video and the fact that the video needs to be compressed enough to stream over the web. If you're hoping to someday stream video natively (which would be, of course, much cooler, and much more competitive with what the Xbox offers)"
  • apextek, on 02/20/2008, -1/+3you had me sold until the last line

    "The only downside to this method is that the quality of the videos you're streaming won't be nearly as high as the source, due mostly to the need to transcode the video and the fact that the video needs to be compressed enough to stream over the web. If you're hoping to someday stream video natively (which would be, of course, much cooler, and much more competitive with what the Xbox offers)"

    guess Ill stick with my first gen modded XBOX until things get a little cleaner.
  • doogly, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1While I admit, I haven't put the 360's media capabilities to the test; I love what my PS3 can do. I don't want to get anyone angry but it does everything I need it to do for media playback and more. All the media on my portable hard drive can be played directly through my PS3
  • ReyX, on 02/20/2008, -1/+0At the risk of sounding like a noob, what would it take to get the Wii to play regular movie DVDs?
  • pigfister, on 02/20/2008, -0/+1doesn't winamp also have the ability to stream via the new remote control feature?

    http://www.winamp.com/
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