I’m usually not a video fond of gaming, but a few years ago a friend showed me how to “bowl” on his Nintendo Wii and I thought it was fun, so I decided to buy myself a used Wii off Craigslist (got a great deal too!). I only had one TV at the time, which was in my living room, and I decided I didn’t really want to put the system up there.
Note: I mean the original Wii , not the Wii U.
I remembered I had an old flat screen computer monitor that I used to use when working on a desktop computer, and thought I’d just plug the Wii into that in my basement. Ha!
It didn’t take me long to realize that this was going to be easier said than done. For one, Nintendo makes it clear that they don’t think you should connect the Wii to a computer monitor, so their “Help” page on that isn’t very, um, helpful.
Sorry , Nintendo… I didn’t flinch! However, I had problems with video and audio before I finally came up with a solution that worked for me. Look…isn’t that pretty?
Okay, let’s backtrack on this a bit, shall we…?
Okay, it’s a bit complicated. But I imagine if I struggled to do this, there might be other people who do too. And I’ve actually been meaning to write this post for a long time but, you know…
Anyway, that’s how I put the system together. It depends a lot on the various equipment I have, so if you’re trying to use a Wii with your own computer monitor, it may not work for you, or you may be able to use only parts of the solution.
The Video
The Wii I bought came with a cable that has the standard composite output (yellow, red, white) plugs, although you can buy component (red, green, blue) and S-output cables. video (round with pins) too. Unfortunately, my monitor, a Samsung Syncmaster 173P, only has one VGA and one DVI input.
I couldn’t find any kind of adapter that would allow me to use the DVI input, but I was able to get a variation of it to work. this RCA to VGA adapter (I can’t find the exact one online anymore). Connect the yellow plug on the Wii cable to the yellow connector on the adapter and use a VGA cable to connect the output port on the side of the adapter to the VGA input on the monitor.
Notes:
- The adapter also has an S-video input, so if you have that cable for your Wii, you can use that as well. It also has a VGA input so you can connect a computer to the monitor without having to unplug the Wii. Just like a TV, the adapter has an input button that makes it easy to switch between inputs.
- The adapter has more buttons, including ones that let you change resolution and color/contrast etc. to make the image look as good as possible.
- When I started writing the post, I looked again to see if there were newer and easier options than this. I found a new cable that is marketed specifically for connecting a Wii (or Playstation) to a computer monitor.
I got one, but at 480i resolution the picture was extremely blurry and at 480p (the recommended resolution) my monitor it said it was formatted incorrectly, so be aware of that possibility depending on your monitor. If you decide to try using it, note that the picture and description say it comes with a male to male VGA adapter, but mine doesn’t. However, you can buy one of these adapters quite cheaply.
This is how I understand the image. Now about…
Audio
My monitor doesn’t have built-in speakers, which is not uncommon. But I already had a separate set of Creative speakers that I’d used with my desktop computer, which isn’t uncommon either. What is unusual about them is that the speakers do not have a port for connecting an audio cable. Instead, they have their own fixed cable with a 3.5mm plug to connect to the computer’s speaker jack.
Of course, in this case the audio is coming from the Wii and it’s not. . have an audio output port. Its audio connectors are the other two plugs (red, white) on the Wii cable. Luckily I found this audio adapter to connect the two and voila… Sound!!!
NOTE: In total, this solution includes 5 power cables: Wii, monitor, adapter and speakers . So I definitely recommend a good surge protector if you decide to do something similar yourself.
And once I finally got it all set up, how did I do it? Well, as usual, a picture is worth a thousand words, unless the words are “Woo-hoo!” 🙂
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Filed Under: Computer, How To, Video Games Tagged With: wii
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