How to setup a Wii media server

There are lots of videos, pictures, and music online, but sometimes I just want to use the collection I have spent years putting together and I am sure you are the same. So whether you want to view your holiday pics or stream a film from your PC you will need to set up a media server that your Wii can access.

Many people run screaming from the room at this point because they imagine having to mess with the network and change complicated settings on the computer, but it actually turns out to be an easy task to set up a media server for the Wii. The Nintendo Wii is not equipped to access the devices on your network directly but you can get around this slight problem by using web based solutions. Basically this means you will be accessing your media through the Opera browser on the Wii. The good news is by going through a browser, some of the issues are simplified because there is no need for your Wii to navigate your network and try and communicate with your computer, all the Wii has to do is go to a web page, which it already knows how to do.

There are lots of applications out there that will enable you to access your content through a browser and the amount of information available can be overwhelming so we have put together a list of our favourites to help you get to grips with media servers and how to use them with the Wii.

Orb

Orb is a good media server to start with because it is very easy to setup, provides many cool features, and best of all, it is free! Orb enables you to stream content from your PC to your Wii, through the use of Wii’s browser. But it doesn’t just stop there because Orb acts as a location free player. When you install the software and create your account, your content is indexed on your personal Orb web page. Because it is just a standard web page you can access it anywhere that has an Internet connection; you simply log in and access your files. It really is as simple as that! So not only can you access your media using your Wii in your home, you could go round a friend’s and use their Wii to access your media, or you could go to the library and use their PC to access your media… I think you get the idea, the versatility the Orb software provides is fantastic!

1. Download Orb from http://www.orb.com/en/download_orb

2. Run the install which is a standard installer. Once done it will take you through a few steps to setup the system:

• Take you through creating an account
• It will scan your system for media, this can take a little while but you can go away and make a cup of coffee while it searches
• You can then select which media types you would like to access
• Finally you can setup TV access - if you don’t have a TV card attached to your computer, Orb gives you a selection of internet TV channels

Once you have gone through the install you can access it all by going to http://mycast.orb.com/. You can go to this site on your Wii or on any other device that can access the internet. Once you log in to the site you can access all your media.

The streaming can be a little slow but overall this is the media server of choice as you can access it where ever you like and it plays most kinds of media. On top of that it is free, so try it and if you don’t like it no harm is done.

Wii Media Center X

Wii Media Center X, a Java-based web media server that enables pictures, music and movies to be streamed from a PC or Mac to your Wii. The install is not as easy as you may be use, to but it should not provide much of a challenge.

1. Download the software from http://www.redkawa.com/mediacenters/wiimediacenterx/, and then unzip the application.

2. Just run the following command (from the mediacenter folder) to start it up:
java -jar MediaCenter.jar
Although you need to currently install it using the command line as shown above, an early alpha has been released that has an installer which just requires a double click.

3. The installer will take your through the rest. Red Kawa also have some tutorials to help you get up and running.

Now that you have Wii Media Center X running on a machine you will just need to take note of the computer’s IP. To find out the IP of your media center you can run the command window and type “ipconfig”, the IP is likely to be 192.168.x.x where “x.x” are two other numbers, but the first two numbers may be different.

Armed with the IP for the computer with the Wii Media Center X installed go and turn your Wii on and open up the Opera browser. Once it is all started you can access your media center at http://x.x.x.x:8192/, where “x.x.x.x” stands for the IP.

Overall this is a snappy little media server, it has a few downsides such as only working with Flash videos and requiring the mp3 to be in a separate folder, but it is free and still in the early stages so definitely something to keep an eye on.

Wii Transfer

Wii Transfer again enables you to stream music and pictures via the Nintendo Wii’s browser but it does not work on a Windows PC, you will require a Mac. On top of that it is the only one in this list to cost money, it will set you back $19.

After installing Wii Transfer your Mac turns into a mini server so that you can call up a special local web page on your Wii. From the web page you can then browse iTunes playlists, iPhoto albums, and movies on your television. You can also browse Safari and Firefox bookmarks on your Wii.

One of the neat features of Wii Transfer is its ability to convert movies for playback in the Wii’s Photo Channel via SD card. By playing the movies from the SD card you will find the quality slightly better than the other two solutions. I also like the ability to copy saved games from the Wii and back them up on my Mac, so if anything did go wrong or become corrupt I can always restore them from the backups.

Well that’s a roundup of the media servers which are compatible with your Nintendo Wii, we recommend trying Orb out first with its sleek design and roaming capability.

In the world of accessing media on your Wii, it doesn’t stop there. Go on the internet and you will find thousands of movies, pictures and songs but not all are compatible with Nintendo Wii so check out Streaming Web Media for the best free resources out there.

1) Wii Media Server

2) Streaming Web Media