Topic: Streaming Music/Video?

I've been looking at this site on and off for at least 6 months but finally registered. I cannot find any information anywhere, maybe they just didn't mention it.

Will the wii u support streaming of music or video files from a pc? Much like ps3 and xbox do? This is the only thing stopping me from preordering right now. I will probably get it later in the year if I can't get a straight answer from anyone. And as a matter of fact I will contact nintendo on this directly.

Thanks for reading.

Welcome to Nintendo Life! CEOJumpMad/LordJumpMad/WhateverJumpMad runs the place! I'm kidding. But honestly, I don't know. The 3DS had a music app though.

@SuperSonic95 @JumpMad Doesn't run the place, Emmy does!

As far as I'm aware it does not support streaming video and music from a PC, Laptop or Mac.
It does however support netflix, huluplus and tivo. (you must already be a customer of each service before you can use them).

I've been wondering if TVii supports DirecTV in any way.

As far as I know the Wii U pad has a IR transceiver.

I am not familiar with DirecTV because I don't live in NA but I think the way it works is like this. You can go to the TV guide that is relevant to DirecTV on the WiiU pad, select a show you want to watch then the WiiU pad will change the channel on your TV and then change the channel on your DirecTV cable box.

As for the orignal question. I think the Xbox 360 and PS3 has somewhat limited streaming capability. I remember trying this on the Xbox and most of my video file formats were not compatible. Generally I doubt it because, and even if it could it would be limited like the 360. This is because some video decoders need to be licensed in order to legally use them and I don't think Nintendo are going to spend extra money on a function that only a small portion of its users will need.

Nobody knows yet however at a minimum you'd expect it to have the same functionality as the Wii. So at a minimum it should be able to open MP3s, JPEGs and a limited amount of video from the SD card slot. The fact that the Wii U supports external storage should mean that you should be able to do the same from an external HDD or thumbdrive also. As a modern device with HDMI, a network connection and a massive GPU/CPU I'd be surprised if it didn't support DLNA and the playback of 1080p Apple Trailers. So that's what sort of format support I'd expect to see, something along the lines of the Apple TV.

Now because I haven't brought a device with HDMI and LAN that didn't have DLNA and the ability to playback a narrow selection of common formats I couldn't care less if it does this or not. Sitting infront of my TV I already have four ways to stream a 1080p Apple Trailer from my NAS.

I suppose I could just move whatever I want to the external I would have hooked up but that is an extra step I don't have to do with my ps3. I run pms on my comp and all videos are streamed easily and flawlessly. I actually took a bunch of time to hardwired cat 5s in the apartment for this reason, to stream great quality because of the high speeds allowed by gigabit LAN.

Now I realize I am relying on a piece of 3rd party software to do the encoding that allows the ps3 to play whatever format the file might be in. So I don't expect Nintendo to do that part of it, just the part that allows me to access my stuff.

Honestly I'm pretty much a minimalist when it comes to lots of things. And I would probably get rid of my ps3 and just use the Nintendo. That is why I'm so interested. I have a fast comp that I built up that will play games maxed and I'm not hardly into exclusives for ps3, but I am all about Nintendo IP's!

I guess if it isn't there in launch it would be a software patch to allow it. Although ninty would have to push out that patch which might never happen. We'll see I suppose. I sent an email to Nintendo and am awaiting response.

Probably best to keep your PS3 connected anyways. I mean minimalism is nice but you still want to be able to playback Blu-Rays and DVDs which the Wii U won't be able to do. Ontop of that the Wii U doesn't have a LAN port on the back it's WiFi only unless you buy an accessory. Your PS3 will still serve a purpose so if I was you I'd keep it.

Unless of course you decide to sell the PS3 and simply get a Blu-Ray player that does DLNA, Blu-Ray and everything. So that's another option.

Thanks I didn't know there was no LAN port. As for bluray, I've watched one, haha. I guess my choice is a little easier with that info skywake, thanks again.

Update: I got a response from Nintendo which basically said that based on the information given at this time it doesn't seem that streaming of content from your computer is possible, but I should keep checking the Nintendo site for updates on the features of the console.

Lame but I'm anxious to see what happens when it comes out. I'll be in Asia an hopefully able to check one out in Taiwan or Tokyo after the release there.