Wii HD
Nintendo is showing off a bit more of the Wii on their new wii.com site. And they’re showing some interesting stuff.
The Wii is not being touted as a high-definition gaming box, but 
take a look at all of the screenshots and video clips they’re showing. They’re in a 16:9 aspect ratio.
And look at the specs for video connections:
Output: an AV Multi-output port for component, composite or S-video
So the Wii is capable of component video output. With S-video, for a non-HD picture, there is no reason to add component video: An NTSC signal isn’t going to look any better over component than S-video.
And there wouldn’t be any reason to use a 16:9 aspect if you’re not outputting an HD mode – otherwise you’re just throwing away pixels.
The ATI chipset the Wii is using for video is most likely capable of generating an 1080i or 720p signal. Most chipsets are – 720p is close to the number of pixels you get from 1280×1024, a resolution supported by every chipset made in the last 5 years.
I’m speculating that while the Wii may not use HD for gaming (due to bandwidth and memory requirements), it will use HD for menus, and web browsing.
That’s a tradeoff I’d be perfectly happy with.
September 14th, 2006 at 7:31 pm
The component is required for the 16:9 480P signal.
All first-party Nintendo games will support Widescreen, and a lot of third part games will.
September 21st, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Just a slight nitpick. S-Video can can handle up to a 480i signal, so you actually will see a bump in quality(albeit a small one) when using component cables on the Wii. The 1st gen gamecubes had 480p, and they looked slightly better progressive scan mode on my HDTV.
In fact, I’d bet that the Wii will use the same video cables as the ‘cube.
December 10th, 2006 at 7:51 pm
I agree the wii game play is excellent but however nintendo chat rubbish simply because they could have made the wii compatible with hd tv’s and crt’s like the 360 but they decided not to, which is a let down. zelda looks so crap on my 40″hd lcd , i cant even make anything out. it can not be compared to xbox 360 at all. i waited all that long for that???? i have a 360 and wanted a wii, dont get me wrong, game play is excellent, but whats point if its not compatible with the future , soon hd tv’s will drop dramatically in price and we’ll all have one… then what ?????for that am ebaying this flipping, childish ,very very poor graphics piece of junk.
February 20th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Jaia,
The Wii is not a piece of junk you foolish person. Graphics aren’t everything. I own a 360 and Wii… I like them both equally but each for different reason.
February 28th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Me, if you spent $2,000 on a tv then graphics are important. Something tells me that you have a non-hd crt tv. I will tell you this, 9 times out of 10 an SD output looks better on a non-hd tv then an hd tv. So while you may think the graphics are good, it may look like total crap on an HDTV.
Rember, if you are wathcing on a 1080i tv, which it’s native resolution is actually 720p, you are effectively enlarging the picture by 2 to fit your screen. Blow up a digital picture by 200% and see what it looks like!
July 10th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I agree with me. The 360 and the Wii are great for their own reasons. I like the 360 for the intense graphics but the Wii is great for being interactive. Show me a 360 game that makes you sweat and I’ll change my opinion.
July 12th, 2007 at 5:43 am
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/ddrevolutionuniverse/index.html
October 1st, 2007 at 4:10 pm
A wii HDMI cable rigged up to a Samsung plasma works a treat,
November 22nd, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Yeah, you make a point. I really hope they release an HDMI cable for the Wii that plugs into the same port as the regular cables do and that they update it. That would really make Nintendo a little more popular.
March 29th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
The reason the graphics stink so much is also the fps problem, but the fact that without the component cable the wii uses the exact same output cable as the N64. Sad. If you have an N64 like me, check it out.
June 29th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I think Me Says is missing the point with the others. Yes, the gameplay is the strongpoint of the Wii we all agree, yet personally i find it downright difficult to even SEE things on our 50″ HDTV with the Wii. For example, I have Lego Star Wars for my PC (24″ monitor) and Lego Star Wars on Wii, and I actually prefer playing it on the PC with a basic gamepad over the Wii where I can slash my lightsaber, since I can see it so much better on the little PC. It is way to blurry on the wii, which makes gameplay distracting and even difficult.