How to Play DVD on Nintendo Wii/Wii U

Photo Channel Feature of Wii/Wii U Supported Formats
Image Files	JPEG format, baseline only. Sizes up to 8192x8192 are supported.
Video Files	Quicktime (motion JPEG) format (MOV); AVI (Motion JPEG) format (AVI);
Audio Files	On Photo Channel 1.0: MP3 format; On Photo Channel 1.1: AAC format (extension .MP4, .m4a audio files);

It should be noted that some files in the formats listed above might not be well supported and recognized by Photo Channel feature due to the video encoding. Therefore, it’s quite important to choose a proper DVD to Wii converter that outputs MOV or AVI videos in the right video encoding if you want to play DVD movies on Wii/Wii U.

The below 2 methods would show you how to play DVDs on Wii/Wii U with different tools.

Part 2: How to Play DVDs on Wii/Wii U via The Homebrew Channel?

The Homebrew Channel is a channel for Wii that was neither made  nor supported  by Nintendo. This channel is a freeware program that can be used to launch unofficial games and programs, as well as programs that can bypass the regional lockout or use normal DVDs. This method enables Wii users to play their DVDs. Using this solution, you need to download the homebrew video player which is also known as Wii unlocker - MPlayer, copy the file to the SD card and then use the Channel to patch  for playing back DVDs on Wii.

To play DVDs on Wii/Wii U through the Homebrew Channel, you need to firstly get these things prepared:

1. A Nintendo Wii console with system version 3.2
2. A FAT/FAT32 formatted SD card below 2GB as Wii cannot read SDHC cards
3. An SD card reader/writer
4. The Legend of Zelda : Twilight Princess for Wii
5. The Twilight Hack. It is a modified Zelda game that runs the Homebrew Channel Installer.
6. A Homebrew Channel Installer
7. MPlayer for playing commercial DVDs
8. DVDX app which allows Wii to read the inserted DVDs

With all the above things ready, you could now follow the below steps to play DVD on Wii/Wii U:

Step 1: Install the Homebrew Channel on your Wii

1. Insert the SD card into the slot of the reader and copy the "private"  directory of the Twilight Hack on your card. Here you also need to copy the Homebrew Channel "boot.dol" file.
2. Next, insert the SD card in the Wii and then delete the saved Zelda file on Wii File Manager. Start a new one if you don’t have the game already.
3. There comes 2 versions of the Zelda- RVL-RZDE-0A-0" or "RVL-RZDE-0A-2. Though both these versions work, you need to check and apply the correct hack. For example, RVL-RZDE-0A-0 works with TwilightHack0 while RVL-RZDE-0A-2 is compatible with TwilightHack2, both are available in the package.
4. Next, move to the file manager and then switch the SD view. Now copy the correct version of the hack.
5. Finally, insert the game disk of Zelda, start the game, and then save it. After the Homebrew Channel installer starts,  you can access the Homebrew channel like any other Wii program and enjoy playing DVDs.

Step 2: Install MPlayer for playing DVDs on Wii/Wii U

1. Save the 3rd-party DVD player app onto your SD card in a safe folder.
2. Insert the SD card in your console and start HBC. You will have access to the 2 programs which are present on your SD card. Next, run the DVDX installer app. Select the “Normal installation” as it ensures smooth running of the program without any issues.

Step 3: Play DVD on Wii/Wii U

1. Go to HBC and select MPlayer.
2. Select DVD-Video and then choose the Title to playback.
3. Finally, play your desired DVD on Wii/Wii U that has Homebrew Channel installed.

By following the above steps, you could finally play DVD discs on Wii/Wii U. Actually, you will find that you have to install so many apps to achieve this. This method is somewhat a little bit complicated. Is there an easier way to play DVDs on Wii/Wii U? The answer is positive. Just check the below steps.

Part 3: How to Play DVDs on Wii/Wii U with Leawo DVD Ripper?

Though Wii/Wii U doesn’t enable us to directly playback videos, the Photo Channel feature could playback videos, audios and display images in the formats mentioned above. So, there must be a solution to convert DVD movies to Photo Channel compatible videos (MOV or AVI) for playing DVDs on Wii/Wii U. What you need is actually a DVD converter that could complete DVD to MOV/AVI conversion for Wii/Wii U. Then, things become simple.

Leawo DVD Ripper  is one of the best DVD ripping software tools that could help you rip and convert DVD movies to Wii/Wii U compatible MOV or AVI video files for successful playback. As a professional DVD ripping software, it could rip and convert DVD movies from DVD disc, folder and ISO image file to videos and audios in 200+ formats like DVD to MP4, DVD to AAC, DVD to MOV, DVD to MP3, etc. To make output video files meet Wii/Wii U better, Leawo DVD Ripper not only provides output profiles for Wii/Wii U exclusively, but also enables you to adjust the video and audio parameters of output profile like video codec, bit rate, aspect ratio, audio codec, channel, sample rate, etc. What’s more, it enables you to select subtitles and audio tracks from source DVD movies before quality lossless DVD to video conversion begins. You could choose to convert the main movie from source DVD file or preferred DVD titles according to your personal needs.

Download and install Leawo DVD Ripper (it’s a module of Leawo Prof. Media) and then follow the below steps to learn how to rip and convert DVD to MOV/AVI files for Wii/Wii U.

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• Leawo DVD Ripper

  ☉ Convert DVD to video/audio files like MKV, MP4, AVI, FLV, RMVB, etc

  ☉ Convert DVD to iPad, iPhone, Android devices

  ☉ Edit DVD video files with built-in video editor

  ☉ Add 3D effect with built-in 3D movie creator

  ☉ Selectable subtitles and audio tracks from source DVD movies for output videos

  DownloadDownload

Step 1: Start Leawo Prof. Media and open the “Convert” module on the menu bar.

Step 2: On the “Convert” module, click the “Add Blu-ray/DVD” button to add source DVD movies from disc drive or computer folder. You could even add ISO image file here. 

Step 3: Click the box right next to the “Add Photo” button and then on the drop-down panel choose “Change” option to enter the Profile panel, where you could freely choose MOV or AVI video from “Format” group, or directly choose Wii AVI Video or Wii MOV Video as output format from “Device > Others” group.

As mentioned above, Leawo DVD Ripper enables you to adjust video and audio parameters of selected output format. You need to do this on the Profile Settings interface, which is accessible by clicking the “Edit” option on the drop-down panel next to the “Add Photo” button.

Step 4: After setting output format, you could now click the big green “Convert” button. Then, on the popup sidebar on the right, set output directory to save output Wii AVI/MOV videos.

Finally, click the grey “Convert” button to start to convert DVD movies for Wii/Wii U. The conversion will complete quickly.

After conversion, you need to stream the converted DVD movies to Wii/Wii U for playback. Follow these steps to complete the streaming:

If you are going to play DVD movies via Wii U over TV, follow the below steps to complete the streaming:

To sum up, it’s quite obvious that using Leawo DVD Ripper is quite simpler to playback DVD movies over Wii/Wii U than using Homebrew Channel.