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Wii & LCD

Aperture

Aperture

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Mar 19, 2006
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As I continue my decision into whether to get a Wii or not, I had one more question that I feel deserves it's own thread.

I am looking at this monitor to use the Wii & my MBP with.

That monitor has composite/component input so I think it would be easy to connect the Wii to. The problem is the audio. I'm not sure how you would go about getting sound from the Wii considering that is a monitor, not a TV.

Any ideas?

Thanks!
 
Simple :)


Using Component. Do not use composite. I know the cable is an extra $20, but the difference 480progressive via component is more than worth it believe me.

Simply attach the component to the monitor and you will be left with a RED & WHITE audio phonos. Connect these to a pair of desktop computer speakers or a hifi system with AUX input.

If you need a longer cable or a minijack cable for computer speakers. You can buy female phono's which extend the cable and a the other cables from any decent hardware store these days.
 
MacRumorUser said:
Simple :)


Using Component. Do not use composite. I know the cable is an extra $20, but the difference 480progressive via component is more than worth it believe me.

Simply attach the component to the monitor and you will be left with a RED & WHITE audio phonos. Connect these to a pair of desktop computer speakers or a hifi system with AUX input.

If you need a longer cable or a minijack cable for computer speakers. You can buy female phono's which extend the cable and a the other cables from any decent hardware store these days.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply! One question, though. Most desktop speakers I've seen are a 2.1 set. The only jack on them is to connect the left speaker to the right. Then, there is a cable (that can't be removed) coming from the right speaker to your PC. I take it this isn't all speakers, though. Is there something to look for when buying them to ensure it has the two audio inputs you need for the Wii?
 
You can get adapters for most connections.

Most desktop speakers 2:1 sets have a 3mm Jack input which usually goes from your computers 3mm green audio jack to them.

What you need to do is get a

Stereo Phono to 3mm Jack cable. These come with a lot of devices (personal CD players etc..) to allow you to connect your device to a hifi.

They can be picked up cheaply.

Preferably you will get one with female stereo phono's.
g_46000527.jpg


or like this
rca.jpg



If not and its like this
rcin_psc_gross_th.jpg


Then what you need because the end of the component cable and audio cable are phono plugs is a FEMALE PHONO INTERCONNECT ( basically a dual sided female phono plug) which will allow you to join your phono plugs together.







Should in the event you end up with a 2:1 system with no 'input' and just a cable to connect it to your computer, you will need a stereo phono to female 3mm jack connector.

thKAB-3p6.3mmhun-2xph.jpg
 
Heh, my sound system just a maze of them adapters - iPod, Mac, Minidisc et al. MRU seems to have answered everything though! The swift smart one.
 
Alright, so this is how it should work so far.. Right?

wiisetup.png


Do you know where one might buy a female phono interconnect? I did a Google search and couldn't find much.

Thanks!!
 
JackAxe said:
Guitar Center sales an audio cable that goes from female to female, so no need for a male to female audio adapter, which they also sell.

<]=)
Click to expand...

You don't have a link off hand, do you ? :)
 
To go along with this thread :)

I am looking to buy this monitor. I understand the sound thing and everything BUT this monitor is a very high resolution. I will use component cables but that is still 480P, will the games look all stretched? Will it be pixelated?
 
twistedlegato said:
To go along with this thread :)

I am looking to buy this monitor. I understand the sound thing and everything BUT this monitor is a very high resolution. I will use component cables but that is still 480P, will the games look all stretched? Will it be pixelated?
Click to expand...


The thing is if the monitor doesnt have a decent tuner, which it probably doesn't because it's not a TV, then it lack's very important things like COMB Filters and such.

I have the 2407 and even at 720p or 1080i via component the image is no way near as good as an LCD TV because of it's lack of enhanced image processing.

The Wii does look simply like a 640x480 picture stretched on it, and it's not great.


A fantastic monitor as far as DVI/HDMI is concerned. Component is a big meh! So much so I gave up using it.
 
MacRumorUser said:
The thing is if the monitor doesnt have a decent tuner, which it probably doesn't because it's not a TV, then it lack's very important things like COMB Filters and such.

I have the 2407 and even at 720p or 1080i via component the image is no way near as good as an LCD TV because of it's lack of enhanced image processing.

The Wii does look simply like a 640x480 picture stretched on it, and it's not great.


A fantastic monitor as far as DVI/HDMI is concerned. Component is a big meh! So much so I gave up using it.
Click to expand...

I take it this goes for the Gateway, too? Is it even worth it to play a Wii on it if it will look that bad?
 
Aperture said:
You don't have a link off hand, do you ? :)
Click to expand...

Nope. I just go to Guitar Center quite a bit and have been recently buying cable adapters to get my extra speakers hooked up to the monitor out on my headphone amp. They have EVERYTHING! :)

----

My friend has that Dell. If you're standing back about 4 feet it looks fine with the Wii, the colors are pretty good for a LCD, but unless a computer monitor is a higher priority, I second MRU and you should look into some of the newer LCD TVs.

<]=)
 
Aperture said:
I take it this goes for the Gateway, too? Is it even worth it to play a Wii on it if it will look that bad?
Click to expand...

Possibly, I haven't had first hand experience with that paticular monitor, whereas the Dell is connected to my mac pro as I type :eek::)

There are some 20" / 22" Monitors with similar resolution and spec's but with TV Tuners built in.

Not sure about the USA, but Dell used to sell LCD-TV's here for a short while, and they were fantastic and great value. But stopped selling them a while back here.
 
I have a Gateway FHD2400 24-inch monitor. I didn't know what to expect, but I've been very pleased using it with my Wii. I'm using it with the component cables, and I have some audio adapters so I get the sound to my 2.1 speaker system. I have played a bunch of games with it and have noticed any lag. I've also tried 480p and 480i games. 480i games do show some slight flickering but are still definitely playable. 480p games look really good. I do have it set to widescreen mode, but even the Virtual Console games don't seem to be too stretched out.
 
Wii on LCD v2

Hey Guys,

I'm still on the hunt for a Wii and in the mean time have been looking at a monitor to buy to play it on. I don't watch much TV (and don't have one) so I'd like to get a computer monitor (around a 22'') to play the Wii on. That way, it could double as a monitor for my MBP.

I have been looking at this Gateway. I'll be getting the Wii component cables to use to get the best quality and just want to make sure I will run into no problems using an LCD and not a TV.

Also, I can get just a VGA/DVI monitor (as opposed to the Gateway's many inputs) for cheaper (or even Dell has a new 24'' for $399) and try to convert the component > DVI.

Is it worth it to try and get a converter? Is the quality even going to be decent enough to make it worthwhile?

I'd just get a TV but I don't want to spend too much and it looks like an LCD TV would be a bunch more than just a regular monitor.

Any help is much appreciated!

Edit: I did find this - I don't know how reputable the site is, etc.
 
JackAxe said:
Just by the dam screen and get it over with! :)
Click to expand...

Haha, thanks for the advice. I'm just worried because the 360 actually had a VGA cable that output amazing quality. Since the Wii doesn't have such functionality I just want to make sure it will work right.
 
Don't you know, VGA is 640x480 16 colors. The Wii's firmware locked rez is 852x480. so it's better than "Super" VGA. :p

The Wii does a fine job when coupled to the right screen and cables. If your screen can upscale DVDs beutifully, it will do so for the Wii -- well at least on these newer games that aren't just another WiiS2 port. I have mine plugged into my 19" Samsung (1440x900), which is a spare monitor for my other Mac and PC. Once I finally figured out that tilting the screen forward and sitting above it improved its color gamut and contrast quite a bit -- silly me for not knowing this -- I've been pretty happy with it. The EB(I think, it was one of the main chains.) down in Huntington Beach is using it for their 360s and 720p really didn't make that much of a difference. The screen still had to interpolate the resolution, so things only looked marginally better.

Before I bought that screen, I was trying to figure out a way to use my HD 30", but in the end the price of convertors and the need for a new screen for my other comps pushed me towards the Samsung. It was blowout for $349 at the time.

Anyway, Just be weary of screen size to pixel size. If the resolution is too low for the LCD's dimension, the pixels will be large and exaggerate anything that needs to be interpolated. Most LCD TVs suffer from King-Kong pixel syndrome and only look decent from many many many feet back.

<]=)
 
One last question, I promise! I ended up getting a 24'' Gateway (Wasn't much more than the 22) with a free speaker bar.

The Gateway has a component/composite input and I tested the composite with a DVD player - the quality was quite good.

The speaker bar has a cable to connect to your computer and an aux input.

I was looking for an adapter to convert the two Wii audio cables into an "aux" input. I'm not quite sure what an aux input is, so I just want to make sure the adapter I found will work.

Thank You!
 
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