README-Wii.md

GCVideo DVI for Wii

Warnings

It is not recommended to make this modification.

The Gamecube and Wii versions of GCVideo require different FPGA contents. Although at first glance it may appear that using one version on the other console works, there will be reliability problems and you will likely have distorted audio. The correct files for the Wii version are named gcvideo-dvi-p2xh-wii-...

Unlike the Gamecube, the digital video signals were never meant to drive an external circuit. They are even more sensitive to noise and other issues by long wires or interference between wires.

Beware of difference in Wii board revisions! The provided images are from an RVL-CPU-60 board, I have not checked if they can be used as-is for other Wii revisions.

Connections

The connection information in this document uses the pin numbers printed on the Pluto IIx HDMI board (which are the FPGA's pin numbers in case you want to design your own PCB). You can use this picture of the Pluto IIx board as a guide:

All Wii board pictures used in this document show places on the bottom of the Wii's board.

DDC resistor

The Pluto IIx HDMI board also has a design flaw that reduces its compatibility with various displays significantly. To rectify this problem, you need to connect a 100 ohm resistor from the solder pad behind the HDMI connector (labelled DDC +5V on the bottom) to the VUNREG pin at the side of the board. Please make absolutely sure that you do not create a short between VUNREG and VCC when you do this as this will likely destroy both the FPGA board and the Gamecube it is attached to.

Without this resistor, most of my monitors and other devices with an HDMI input claimed that they were receiving no signal from the Pluto board, even though it was actually generating a valid video signal.

Some people have reported that most of their TVs did not recognize the signal from the Pluto board with the 100 ohm resistor installed. If you also suffer from this problem, first check that the resistor you installed is really a 100 ohm resistor and not a 100 kiloohm resistor. You can also try to use a direct wire connection from VUNREG to DDC +5V instead of a resistor, but this is not recommended.

Power

The Pluto IIx HDMI should be powered from a 5V source in the Wii. There are some convenient, labelled test points on the Wii which need to be connected to the UNREG (5V) and GND (GND) pins on the Pluto board as shown in the picture above. The picture below shows the test points on the bottom side of the Wii's circuit board:

Using slightly thicker wires for 5V and GND or connecting multiple wires in parallel as seen for GND on the picture may improve reliability.

You can use 5V and GND from the USB connectors of the Wii as alternates to these points, but unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them.

Digital audio and video

The Wii does not feature an easily-accessible connector for its digital A/V bus, so connections must be made directly to the pins of the AVE-RVL chip or vias that the signals are connected to. The following diagram shows both alternatives:

On the Pluto side, the signals connect to the following pins:

Signal name	Pluto	AVE-RVL	Via letter	Note
VData 0	16	64	0
VData 1	15	1	1
VData 2	13	2	2
VData 3	12	3	3
VData 4	10	6	4
VData 5	9	7	5
VData 6	6	13	6
VData 7	5	14	7
CSel	19	11	C
54 MHz	89	8	M	or TP232
AData	3	29	A
BCLK	4	31	B
LRCK	98	27	L

Cable detect

Similar to the Gamecube, the Wii checks a pin on its video port to determine if a cable suitable for 480p output is currently connected. You have three options for this:

• plug in a component cable into the Wii's AV port: Simple and effective, but leaves an unused cable behind your Wii
• hard-wire it with a solder bridge: Still simple and it should not cause any issues because you can still disable 480p using the Wii's setting menu. To do this, you need to bridge pin 8 and 10 of the AV connector on the wii, as shown by a small green bar in the image below.
• let GCVideo control the signal: If you connect the cable detect pin shown in the image below to pin 20 of the Pluto board, you can use the OSD to choose if the Wii should see a 480p-capable cable or not. This method is not recommended because there is a risk of damaging the chip on the Pluto board if a cable is connected to the Wii's AV port.

Controller

If you want to use a Gamecube controller for navigating the GCVideo OSD, you need to make a connection between TP27 of the Wii board and pin 94 of the Pluto board:

Alternatively, you can use TP28/29/30 on the Wii board to read the controller in port 2/3/4 instead.

If you do not want to use a Gamecube controller to navigate the GCVideo OSD, pin 94 of the Pluto board must be connected to GND.

SPDIF, IR remote

The SPDIF output and IR receiver are the same for both Wii and Gamecube, so please check the main README for details on connecting them.