MFE-Wii port using wii-linux

[nuvalo]

Hi
New application for wii, this time is a direct port from the gamecube project. I will post the sources in a few days, with more updates (opentyriam, MAME...) Here is the readme:




MFE-Wii for Wii, using wii-linux 8/4/2008

Introduction:
--------------

This project is based on the MFE opensource media player for gc-linux. You can find the original sources on its sourceforge page:

http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...kage_id=156977

This version uses the same sources than the original, there are only some changes on the kernel and the filesystem
to adapt it to wii. It uses wii-linux to run on a wii, and the SDL libraries for this system. It will boot using
the ARAM filesystem method.

What you need:
--------------

- A console ready to run homebrew (Twilight hack + SDElfLoader 3.0)
- SDCard
- Gamecube Pad


Installation:
--------------

- Copy the files mfe-wii.elf and the directory "mfe" to the root of yout SDCard.

- Copy the ".avi" files that you want to play on your sdcard

- Put the SDCard on the wii front sdcard reader

- Connect the gamecube pad

- Launch the file "mfe-wii.elf", using your favourite method of loading homebrew.

Instructions:
-------------

Here is the button relation between the gc-pad and the keyboard:

[digital pad]: Navigate through your filesystem, forward and backward
[A]: Launch a file (play)
[b]: Stop

Missing
-------

- DVD
- Wiimote


Thanks to
----------

- The gc-linux team for their effort in porting linux to the wii
- Isobel, for his great MFE player minidistro.


Download and Give Feedback Via Comments

[Mr.Guy]

Does this work with the front loader?

[nuvalo]

Yes, it launches from the frontal SDreader, and loads videos, mp3 etc... from there

[Mr.Guy]

F'ing, sweet gonna try it right now!

[Mr.Guy]

2 questions. Do I put the .elf and the MFE directory in the root or does the elf go in the elf folder and just the mfe directory goes on to the root. And Where does the avi/mp3 files go?

[Mr.Guy]

Ok theres a problem with the installation guide you gave us. You need to put the .elf in the elf folder not the root. Is there a limit on mb for avi videos? I'm trying to play a 500 mb video and nothings coming up just a blank screen with little sound hiccups here and there.

[nYxxx]

@Mr.Guy: I had the same Problem, but after i restarted the video it play´s normal

[wraggster]

thanks for another great release for the Wii scene :)

[linkinworm]

NOOO im running out of space on my 64mb card, i should have kept my 2 1gb cards, dam

and the wii reset button works, wicked, i was sick of haveing to hold the wii button down, i hope they get the wiimote working soon, if only to turn the wii off

[Starscream]

Gonna be very interesting to see how the performance of MAME will be on the Wii.

[guyhebert]

Thanks for this release. I've been dying for a way to reliably play video on the Wii.

I can't seem to get any avi video working. I've tried videos of 11mb, 50mb, and 700mb, and each video plays the first few frames, then dumps me back to the main menu.

Also, the menu controls are reversed (up on the d-pad moves down, and down on the d-pad moves up).

Anyone else having these issues, or is it just me? (NTSC Wii, btw)

[TheFoil]

Also, the menu controls are reversed (up on the d-pad moves down, and down on the d-pad moves up).

Anyone else having these issues, or is it just me? (NTSC Wii, btw)

Yep I get the same reversed-up-down controls bug as well.

Also the old bug (although I guess I wouldn't really call it a bug, more of a missing feature) of stopping after after a song has played rather than moving on to the next track. Makes it hard to listen to albums.

AVI's work fine for me however. One file which didn't work for me also didn't work on the PS2 SMS media player, so I figure its something wrong with that particular AVI file.

[TheFoil]

Oh I should also add that, similar to the original MFE, it also doesn't work using a component cable on my PAL Wii.

An updated MFE version (for gamecube mode) fixed this problem a while back though, so I'm guessing this wouldn't be too hard to fix? :)

[misticknight]

what exactly is this?

[Gliz9]

This is basically a media player, although not a very good one from my experience.

[Mr.Guy]

Yep no avi works even after restarting the wii. I get the same problem except there is no image. I put like 40 mp3s on it and only 1 doesn't work. So is there something wrong with the program?

[DimensionT]

The AVI issues are most likely due to slow SD reading speeds. If it can't read from the card fast enough, it's not gonna be able to play the video.

[Gliz9]

The AVI issues are most likely due to slow SD reading speeds. If it can't read from the card fast enough, it's not gonna be able to play the video.

yep, thats whats happening to me. I can play mpg4 but its slow and the audio is horrible.

[DimensionT]

Try re-encoding a few videos with lower settings (lower bitrate, smaller resolution, mono sound). If these run better, then it's your card... As other people are saying they have no problems.

[idapimp]

mine doesnt play any video. it loads some colors and instantly freezes. hope it isnt the component video bug mentioned earlier.

[hoshinokirby]

when i first start it up the video plays fine, but after a minute or so it freezes. I can still go back to the menu but everything gets really slow and it will not play any more videos or mp3s.
edit: last time I started it up it played a little over 10 minutes before freezing

[DimensionT]

Here are my results so far:

------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO-
File size : 59.5 MiB
PlayTime : 6mn 17s
Bit rate : 1323 Kbps
StreamSize : 24.0 MiB
Codec : XviD
Codec/Family : MPEG-4V
Codec profile : Simple Profile/Level 3
Bit rate : 599 Kbps
Width : 352 pixels
Height : 288 pixels
Frame rate : 30.000 fps

AUDIO-
Codec : MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
Codec profile : Joint stereo
PlayTime : 6mn 17s
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
StreamSize : 8.63 MiB
Writing library : LAME3.97 (beta)

RESULTS-
Played perfectly, though I didn't watch the whole thing.

------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO-
File size : 6.87 MiB
PlayTime : 25s 600ms
Bit rate : 2251 Kbps
Codec : XviD
Codec/Family : MPEG-4V
Codec profile : Streaming Video Profile/Level 1
Width : 320 pixels
Height : 240 pixels
Frame rate : 30.000 fps

AUDIO-
Codec : MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
Codec profile : Joint stereo
PlayTime : 25s 545ms
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 112 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
StreamSize : 349 KiB

RESULTS-
Didn't play. It would attempt to load for a split second before returning to the menu.

------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO-
File size : 800 KiB
PlayTime : 23s 868ms
Bit rate : 275 Kbps
Codec : XviD
Codec/Family : MPEG-4V
Codec profile : Streaming Video Profile/Level 1
Width : 320 pixels
Height : 240 pixels
Frame rate : 30.000 fps

AUDIO-
Codec : MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
PlayTime : 23s 868ms
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
StreamSize : 280 KiB

RESULTS-
Played 100% prefect the whole way through

------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO-
File size : 104 MiB
PlayTime : 3mn 30s
Bit rate : 4151 Kbps
Codec : DivX 5 HD 1080i
Codec/Family : MPEG-4V
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Frame rate : 30.000 fps

AUDIO-
Codec : MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
PlayTime : 3mn 30s
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
StreamSize : 3.22 MiB
Writing library : LAMELAME_MAJOR_VERSI

RESULTS-
Played pretty choppy. Usually only on the parts with alot of stuff going on.

------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEO-
File size : 22.3 MiB
PlayTime : 1mn 12s
Bit rate : 2574 Kbps
Codec : DivX 5 HD 1080i
Codec/Family : MPEG-4V
Width : 640 pixels
Height : 480 pixels
Frame rate : 30.000 fps

AUDIO-
Codec : MPEG-1 Audio layer 3
PlayTime : 1mn 12s
Bit rate mode : CBR
Bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 1 channel
Sampling rate : 32.0 KHz
Resolution : 16 bits
StreamSize : 854 KiB

RESULTS-
Played pretty well considering I encoded it with the Divx HD 1080i profile.

------------------------------------------------------------------

CONCLUSION-
My SD card is on the low end of the spectrum, as it was pretty cheap... But it's still a great deal better then the media player that comes in the Wii. If you're having issues playing full length movies, then re-encode it at a lower resolution/bitrate using Xvid. Chopping the video into 100MB or so chunks would be a good idea as well. If you don't care about stereo, encode the audio to mono at around 96Kb/s (this is the lowest setting without being too noticable).

Also, I think it has issues playing videos with 48.000HZ audio. This is the only reason I can think of for video two not playing.

[watupgroupie]

This is a pretty cool release. We could have some interesting designs for a media player for wii. If you really want to play videos on your wii right now though just use pimpstreamer and use the internet browser and open up the webpage version of pimpstreamer. Works fine for me.

[Athrador]

As always (with homebrew) there're some problem with PAL Wii:

on 50hz works fine but the image is not in the original size, and on 60hz there's the red and black problem :(

Help?

[makyura]

This is really good. i've tried a lot of different media and it works great: full speed and good audio for flv, mov, mp4, mp3 and avi. i've got a PAL Wii.

just a few thing: with old wmv file no problem, for the wmv encoded with the actual codec there's only audio; big .mkv files(or the h264) crashes and return to the menu after some time.
realmedia cannot be played (why there's no one that make a realmedia player)

[kurtless]

So just use the Twilight hack then with all the instructions? Sounds simple enough. I got the snes emulator running, hope this will work.

[skedone]

realmedia problem is due to license needed all i want to know has this project died it seems to have gone quite

[kwijiboWII]

This works great for me on two PAL wii's. Been watching different vids for a week. Never crashes except when the video finishes it will sometimes hang and the wii will need a restart.

I have a widescreen TV, is there anyway to set the aspect ratio as it seems to be in non-widescreen format by default?

Is there still any work being done on this? It is a great project and it is all we have until Wii Miidia comes out? Would love to see Wiimote support for this also ;)

Great work, Thanks a lot!!

[KristenBaldousor]

Sweet, finally, i won't have to hook up my laptop to my tv to see my hent..... errr, I mean, adult videos and movies, just place it on the sd card and play it on Wii

many thanks!!!!!