Wii U WiiMC

[Professor E. Gadd]

I was a heavy user of WiiMC on the original Wii (as well as XBMC on the original Xbox), and I have a feeling that I'm going to retire my Wii soon and replace it with a Wii U. Have people been able to get WiiMC to work on the Wii U? Have people been able to get any homebrew to work on the Wii U for that matter?

For those who aren't familiar with this app, WiiMC is a homebrew media player for the Wii based on an open-source media player called mplayer, which was also originally used as the core player behind XBMC. WiiMC allows you to watch any movie file you want through your Wii and control playback with the Wii Remote. I have countless TV episodes saved on a hard drive which is connected to my Wii, and that's how I watch all my TV shows, as well as movies.

One reason I want to switch to Wii U is to watch all my video content in HD at 1080p, since Wii maxed out at 480p. Yeah, pretty sad state of affairs when you're still stuck watching your movies in standard definition.

 

[Donkey Punch]

I'm sorry, but WiiMC sucks. Its saving grace is that it's the only more or less working media player for the Wii, but it's nowhere near XBMC in terms of functionality or overall polish. Streaming from your PC almost never works so you always end up copying back and forth between hard drives, which is a big pain.

But my biggest gripe is that WiiMC makes the wiimote batteries die very quickly. Compared to the Xbox remote which can last several months to almost a year with constant use, the Wii remote batteries die after a week if you watch WiiMC every day.

 

[LALucien]

I've never used this app and quickly reverted my wii back to stock the day I modded it ( I just felt so wrong). But I'm curious to know how running the app uses up the remotes battery life?

Does the remote need to be on for the app to run? Can you not take the batteries out while you watch a film or will that stop playback?

 

[Donkey Punch]

The remote stays on if you keep it in your hand and move your hand before the light turns off, thus continuing to drain the battery.

Of course you can take the batteries out, but what if you need to rewind something or turn the subtitles on/off? Besides, what kind of an amateur app requires the user to take batteries out to save battery life?

 

[Esperahol]

... So you just hold it in your hand the entire time and you aren't able to control your hand? I mean I typically turn on the subtitles and then set the remote down. Occasionally I'll need to rewind, but generally the remote sits quietly on the table while I watch the movie or television show. I haven't seen any loss of battery function from doing so.

 

[Donkey Punch]

You can't compare your regular TV remote (or an Xbox remote) which use infrared signal to a Wii remote which is a motion-sensitive bluetooth device. A TV remote does not send or receive signal unless you are pushing buttons, while the Wiimote continuously drains battery power as long as the light on it is turned on. And unless you can completely suspend your hand from any micro-movements, which is impossible unless you're asleep or in a coma, MotionPlus will pick up those movements and keep the remote on.