Showing posts with label hack. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hack. Show all posts

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Streaming Videos to the Wii




After having successfully hacked a Wii a couple weeks ago, I managed to get wireless video streaming working as well last night. I was able to stream just about every movie file format (with the exception of a DVD .iso file) from a Vista PC to the Wii over wifi. The app I used was MPlayer CE, available via the Homebrew Channel. Not too shabby. Mplayer supports Windows shares, which makes life easy. Video quality was adequate. It would be improved significantly if we were using the Wii component cables. For those looking for a way to view downloaded movies and TV on your Wii from a PC, this is currently the best way that I've seen. There are other media streamers that work with the Wii, like Orb, but they require transcoding to Flash, which degrades video quality significantly and takes extra CPU cycles.

Friday, May 22, 2009

I Hacked a Wii



Last night, I managed to successfully hack a Nintendo Wii for the first time. By that, I mean I installed the Homebrew Channel via the Bannerbomb (google it) exploit. I really underestimated the maturity and sophistication of this hack. Simply loading a few files on an SD card unlocked the full potential of the Wii. The Homebrew Channel has downloadable utilities, homebrew games, emulators, media players, and every other doodad that you wished the Wii legitimately had. It couldn't be easier to use. If you have a Wii, I highly suggest you consider modding it like this. I was so impressed that I might actually have to buy a Wii myself.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

XBMC Part 2: Setup and Installation




The best and easiest way to get XBMC running in your living room is to start by obtaining the following:

- An original Xbox (optional: Xbox Remote)
- An Action Replay for Xbox
- A copy of the game MechAssault (original version, not Platinum Hits edition) for Xbox
- XBMC software for Xbox (obtain the latest T3CH release from torrent sites)
- Softmod Installer Deluxe (w/ MechAssault game save, obtain from torrent sites)
- A PC or Mac w/ a router to transfer files to over FTP

Rather than list all of the steps myself, I'll link to 2 excellent tutorials at Xbox-hq.com and LifeHacker.

I've also added a 250GB hard drive to my Xbox and a Xir remote module so that I can use the Xbox remote to power on/off the unit, which is not possible without. Here's all of the things I do with my modded Xbox:

(Via XBMC)

- Stream my entire music collection w/ artwork from my PC to my living room, then to my receiver. All music file types supported.
- Stream my movies/tv shows to my living room, similarly
- Show picture slide shows from my PC
- Watch internet television shows such as those from G4TV and Revision3
- Get weather forecasts from The Weather Channel
- Watch current movie trailers from Apple
- 720p HD resolution and digital Dolby/DTS supported (via adapter)

(Independent of XBMC)

- Store and play full Xbox games directly from the hard drive
- Store and play any/every game via emulators for the following systems: Atari 2600, Colecovision, Intellivision, NES, Gamboy, Gameboy Color, Gameboy Advance, Super NES, Genesis, Sega Master, Game Gear, TurboGrafix-16, Arcade coin-ops, Playstation, Neo-Geo.
- Copy DVD movies to the hard drive for playback without the disc

Next up: Adding a bigger hard drive to the Xbox