Wii and Control4

Hi All-

I'm looking to the experts on this forum to provide the pros and cons, tips / lessons learned on how to best do a WII installation to my Control4 system. I was told by my installer that what makes the most sense for me to setup the WII (that I'm thinking of getting for the wife and kids for Xmas) locally. This would be setup right at the TV and hooked up directly because of the motion bar that hooks up directly to it. From there, they went on to say that there is no real way to tie it into the C4 and have it work properly. I'm very skeptical of this as I seem to have read stuff on this forum that sort of addressed it.

I currently have an audio and video matrix in my rack which is downstairs and would love to be able to have the option to play the WII on the first floor of my home as well as in my theater in the basement.

Can anyone debunk this myth or offer up suggestions and what kind of equipment I require to do this? Thanks in advance to all that respond and view.

You can hook it to the matrix switch, you just need to stay within about a 50' range. The Wii sensor bar is just two LED's that allow the remote to sence their movement and triangulate on..

Check out this video:

You can install battery operated bars at the TV's in range.

http://www.amazon.com/Official-Nintendo-Wii-Wireless-Sensor-Extended/dp/B002E1MLR8/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1291439243&sr=8-5

I have mine on my main floor and ran wires down to my a/v switch in the basement. I bought 4 wireless sensor bars, that plug into an outlet behind each TV. Now I can play the wii on any of my 4 tv's, and I don't notice any lag at all. Also this gives me distributed netflix through the wii. Only negative is getting out the wii remote to watch netflix.

Wouldnt it be kind of a pain to have to walk to the rack to change the disc in the wii everytime though?

^That's why I put the wii on the main floor in the living room then wired it down to my rack.

Alot of people put them in a pantry and wire them back to the rack using baluns.

^ That would be a lot better than in the rack. I might still be to lazy to walk that far though

You could perform the softmod like I did, and load all of your games from a hard drive like I did. Mine is downstairs in the rack, and I never see it anymore...

I put a Niles brand component input jack in my home theater where I connect the Wii. If you have a couple spare Cat5 runs this should be no problem. I like having the Wii right there to swap games, turn on/off. However if you like to play the Wii in multiple locations and your rack is close enough to use the wireless sensor bars, that would be your way to go.

You could perform the softmod like I did, and load all of your games from a hard drive like I did. Mine is downstairs in the rack, and I never see it anymore...

Yeah, this is definitely the way to go.

I keep my Wii in the closet down the hall, and have no problems with the controllers. And I just turn it on and off via the controller. I just picked up a wireless sensor bar on eBay for about $5: http://shop.ebay.com/?_nkw=wii+wireless+sensor+bar

I have about 40 games that load off a hard drive, and it has a very nice cover art interface.

Mine is currently hot glued to the back of my TV since I don't have a Video matrix switch as of yet. But when I do I'll do the mod and put mine down in the basement and load all my disks from the HD. I've already tested the remotes and they all work from every bedroom TV location and the main living room.

I did find one flaw that I am in the process of fixing. With a remotely located Wii you will need to have a local USB connection for peripherals like rockband, etc. This is an easy fix, but something to consider.

I did find one flaw that I am in the process of fixing. With a remotely located Wii you will need to have a local USB connection for peripherals like rockband, etc. This is an easy fix, but something to consider.

There should wireless options for many of these. I know the drum kit for Guitar Hero World Tour actually uses the Wii controller for communication and it was compatible with Rock Band, though very awkward with it's 3 drum 2 symbol setup, but I am sure there are other wireless controllers out there. And any USB mic typically works, so you could probably get a wireless USB mic.

Also, a couple of people have asked(in email) how to do the mod to support games loading from hard drive... I learned from an earlier article from LifeHacker, but this one brings together previous articles and is even more up to date:

http://lifehacker.com/#!5518518/how-to-back-up-and-play-your-wii-games-from-an-external-hard-drive

Get the Wii wireless sensor bar (It was on Amazon deal of the day for $5 or usually like $8) the range is great in my house. I have all my equipment in the basement and the Wii up one floor and it does not miss a beat.

As for switching the games, you could hack your Wii so that you can backup your games to a portable hard drive and just run the games off that. I did this because it made it so I didn't have to go down and swap out the games.

The only downside of the wireless sensor bar is you have to turn it on yourself. (I know it sucks). But you are wanting to play around you can open the device and probably get it to always stay on and just hard wire it for power.

Another route is to buy a Wii sensor bar extension cable (they are about $10 I think for 50 ft. or so on Amazon/eBay).

Also, forgot to add Monoprice sells a 32ft. USB 2.0 extension cable (you can run two together to get 64 ft.) and run that to your TV and just use a USB keystone adapater (Monoprice again).

I ran a USB to my TV because I like to be able to play movies, songs, photos off my USB by just plugging it into the wall. (Plus friends think its cool)

You could perform the softmod like I did, and load all of your games from a hard drive like I did. Mine is downstairs in the rack, and I never see it anymore...

Well I think you guys have talked me into this weeks tinkering at home. Quick question. I assume this setup still allows games memory (like levels beaten) to be saved?

I assume this setup still allows games memory (like levels beaten) to be saved?

Yes. That's all stored in the Wii system memory. No difference then running off of discs.

BAM!! I just finished everything except for downloading all my games. That's for the morning. I downloaded 5 of them and messed with them. This is a must for any techo nuts like us that have a wii. I no longer have to worry about my 3 kids breaking or scratching the discs. I can pack my wii and harddrive and no discs on trips. It took me a little longer to complete today due to my software version of 4.3u. I had to hunt down one of a few games to exploit the hack. Thankfully I found Lego Indiana Jones for 12 bucks at a local Play & Trade store. Plus the kids might actually play this game ;-)

BAM!! I just finished everything except for downloading all my games. That's for the morning. I downloaded 5 of them and messed with them. This is a must for any techo nuts like us that have a wii. I no longer have to worry about my 3 kids breaking or scratching the discs. I can pack my wii and harddrive and no discs on trips. It took me a little longer to complete today due to my software version of 4.3u. I had to hunt down one of a few games to exploit the hack. Thankfully I found Lego Indiana Jones for 12 bucks at a local Play & Trade store. Plus the kids might actually play this game ;-)

Congrats!!

If you ever find one of your discs is really scratched and you have problems saving it to the hard drive, you could download an image of the game instead at http://www.wiiso.com/.

I'm stuck on trying to do this, I for some reason can't load the loader software onto the SD.

I've tried several times, and the only apps I see in the homebrew channel are Hackmii and clos updater.

Goofy. I'll have to give it a try later.

RyanE

^I'm doing a write-up on it, I should have it up by the end of tomorrow if not sooner.

Nice. I'll have to get a Wii now. Isn't there something simular to this for the PS3 now? I read It's possible to run un-signed code now.

Does anyone know if that can be done on a hard modded wii? I installed DriveKey so I could play backup discs, but I really like the ability to keep all on a HD.

Wait a minute. You guys are actually talking about hacking into a closed system to do something with it the manufacturer did not intend? Seriously?

Does that mean you would approve if I do that with some system I own?

touche

For those that are interested here is a write-up I did.

http://c4central.com/2011/02/17/how-do-i-play-my-wii-games-from-a-harddrive/