User guide

Chapter 6: Media Manager Working with Video

Introduction and Overview

The Nintendo Wii will only allow playback of video files correctly named, filed and encoded to the Wii specification. The Media Manager

takes care of this process for you.

The Media Manager has two ways for you to create perfect Wii-ready video, either from a file already on your system (use the VIDEO tab)

or directly from an unprotected DVD (use the RIP VIDEO tab).

Since the video-encoding options for creating a Wii video from a file or DVD are the same, we will use the VIDEO tab as an example in this

section. To create a video from a DVD, use the information in the section along with the additional information specific to DVD ripping

discussed on page ‘16’.

Add Media to Library: Click to browse for video content to prepare for playback on your Wii, or simply drag and drop it into the window.

(Note: if you wish to use a DVD disc as the source for your video conversion, use the RIP VIDEO tab).

PC Media View: Adding a file or files to your PC MEDIA LIBRARY does not move or duplicate the original file(s), the PC Media Library simply

lists links to files you add so that you can easily encode and copy them to your Wii.

PC Media Controls: These controls affect the media items that have been added to your ‘Media Library’ list. Deleting an item removes it

from your list only. The file you added to the list remains in its original location.

Wii Media Controls: These controls affect the video files on your Wii Memory Card. Choosing to delete a file permanently deletes it from

your Wii’s memory card. When on the Batch List tab, use the EXCECUTE button to encode all jobs in the batch queue.

Encoding Options: Changing the quality setting of the video encoder affects the size and look of your videos when played back on the Wii.

Lower quality settings result in smaller file sizes (allowing you to fit more video on your memory cards) but lower visual / audio clarity.

Experiment with different settings to see which suit your needs best.

Convert & Copy: Press this button after selecting a source video file and choosing your encoding settings using either the Expert Mode or

Simple Mode options. The file is encoded, and transferred to your Wii Memory Card.

NOTE: Before you use the CONVERT & Copy function, make sure the right-hand window is showing the contents of your Memory Card.

Check the coloured bar directly under the window. If this does not reference your Memory Card, click the Options button and under

‘General’, you can indicate which drive letter your Memory Card is located at, or unclick the ‘Do not search’ box to get the app to find it for

you.

Convert Only: The video is encoded, as above, but instead of being copied to your Memory Card, it’s saved on your hard drive. This option

is available regardless of whether there’s a Memory Card connected to your PC. The file is saved in the same folder as the source video.

Copy Only: This button only appears if you have selected a video file that’s already playable on the Wii. Press it to copy the video to your

Memory Card without converting or altering it in any way.

Mode Button: Press the MODE button to switch between Simple Mode and Expert Mode encoding options. In Simple Mode you see a

reduced set of encoding options, in expert mode you will have access to the Media Managers full set of encoding options. When in ‘Expert

Mode’ (click the MODE button to toggle between modes) use these tabs to control different aspects of your video encoding such as file

size, resolution, frame rate and sound. Experiment with these settings, and find which suits you best.

Encoding Progress (not shown): Encoding progress is displayed along the bottom of the screen after you have selected a source file and

clicked the CONVERT or COPY buttons. Video encoding could take several minutes on large video files. If a converted file is too large to be

played back on the Wii, it is automatically split into several sections.