"Accomplishes it's purpose and works exactly how it sounds."

Although this review is about the Wii2HDMI adapter, I’ve also been using the VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor quite heavily the past few weeks. In this review I will be comparing the two devices.

Size

When I received the Wii2HDMI adapter, I was very surprised how compact it is compared to the VD-W3. After doing a bit of research, I quickly realized the Wii2HDMI is able to afford its compact size by omitting an upscaler.

Measurements:

• 1.3″ x 2.8″ x 0.5″
• 33 x 72 x 13 mm

"Wii2HDMI (left) vs VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor (right)"

Function

The primary purpose of this device is to convert from analog to digital so that you can use HDMI or DVI. Because there is no upscaler, there’s no real improvement or difference in image quality over the use of component cables. If you have been using composite cables, which max out at 480i, you will see a huge difference in image quality.

For me, the biggest advantage is the ability to connect to a computer monitor. The monitor I’m using doesn’t have an HDMI input, but does have DVI. I was able to use a $5 HDMI-to-DVI adapter from monoprice for this. Thankfully, there is a mini-audio 3.5mm jack on the Wii2HDMI as well for outputting audio, since DVI doesn’t transmit audio.

Since there’s no upscaling, you’re monitor needs to support 480p (and 480i for some older games) video mode. All TV’s equipped with HDMI inputs are required to support 480p video mode, so that shouldn’t be an issue.

Looking through posts on various forums before ordering, some users were worried this device might cause some lag in video display resulting from the conversion from analog to digital. From experience, I have not noticed any lag whatsoever.

Head to head comparison

Pros:

• Much smaller than VD-W3
• Doesn’t take up a USB port like the VD-W3
• $20 cheaper than the VD-W3

Cons:

• No upscaler
• No color enhancement settings or function
• Image quality no better than Component Cables

Conclusion

All things considered, both products are really great. I’m very happy with both.

If you are looking for a solution to hook up your Wii to a computer monitor, or have a spare HDMI port, and you are happy with the way the colors look without any enhancement, this is a great solution.

If you’re TV or Monitor has a terrible upscaler, or feel the colors are muted, and have no adjustment settings, you may want to consider the VD-W3. In which case, you’ll want to read Jesse’s review of the VD-W3. Your decision will most likely be based on your budget and the model of TV or Monitor you are using.

This review is based on the adapter provided to us by Neoya. The Wii2HDMI can be purchased at Neoya for $39.95.

"Is this our Wii HD holy grail solution?"

With the increasing number of HDTVs in homes, many Wii owners have cried out for a “Wii HD”; something that could make their games shine with all the P’s the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 have been enjoying. In all honesty, I don’t think the Wii HD will ever happen. I feel brave (or stupid) enough to say that right before E3.

Our only non-emulator based HD solution for Wii seems to lie in the VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor.  But does it actually work?

First off, let’s get some details out of the way. The device itself costs $59 and can output 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p for TVs and 1280×1024, 1440×900, and 1680×1050 for monitors. The adapter will take up the Wii’s normal AV slot as well as one of the USB slots. From there, the HDMI cable (sold separately) plugs from the upscaler right to the TV. Or if you’re using a monitor, you may need to order their DVI/HDMI converter. If you want to use audio other than HDMI, there is a 3.5mm audio jack on the adapter.

All my testing was done using a Vizio VX32L HDTV10A model TV. Using the dip switches on the bottom of the adapter, I tested every combination of TV resolution (I did not test monitor settings), display mode, and color mode. I tested several games, focusing mainly on Monster Hunter Tri, Super Mario Galaxy 2, and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.

My first concern was checking to see if the jagged edges I’ve come to expect from Wii games would be lessened. I tested a variety of situations, switching back and forth between component cables and the HDMI adapter.

Unfortunately, under no circumstance did I ever feel the jagged edges looked better. The best I could do was make the edges look “different”, but not better. In fact, certain settings arguably made edges appear worse than with the component cables.

But the biggest improvement I had heard about in the legendary tales of the device was its color enhancing properties. This is where needing to test different games became especially important. The first thing I noticed was that, while there is a dip switch to toggle whether or not color enhancing is enabled, the colors were always more saturated using the adapter.

The Color Mode switch has two settings, “Normal” and “Enhance”. However, a more accurate label would read “Saturated” and “Even More Saturated”. Games such as Super Mario Galaxy 2 are already full of vibrant colors. Using the adapter on either setting looks poor. Colors begin to bleed and detail is lost. It was time to boot up some games with muted tones.

Monster Hunter Tri was the title I had heard it worked especially well with. This is where most of my testing was done. I found that, while the device managed to give the colors more life, things also became much darker. I had to adjust my tv’s brightness a bit to compensate. The problem was most noticeable in dark areas such as caves.

There was a brief period of time where I was convinced the device would be useful for enhancing Monster Hunter Tri‘s colors if nothing else, but while playing No More Heroes 2, I discovered something. My TV’s color saturation settings could produce the same result that the upscaler could.

Immediately, I started testing the idea on Monster Hunter and, sure enough, I was not only able to replicate the vibrant colors without the aid of the adapter, I was actually able to do it with LESS loss in detail and bleeding with my TV’s saturation settings than with the upscaler.

After several hours of testing with numerous adapter and TV settings, I’ve come to the conclusion that the VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor does nothing that my HDTV can’t do better natively. It could still potentially be a good solution for those needing to hook a Wii up to a monitor with HDMI or DVI, but a Wii HD this is not. Perhaps the most valuable lesson I’ve learned from all this is that Monster Hunter Tri looks a lot cooler when I turn up my TV’s color saturation settings.

The VD-W3 Wii HDMI Upscaler Processor can be purchased at VDIGI Electronics for $59.

With the massive success of the movie Avatar, television manufacturers are convinced the world is ready for some sweet 3D action in your living room. LG, Sony, Toshiba, Panasonic, and Samsung are all gearing up some form of 3D displays. ESPN is going to broadcast the first 3D sports network. Forget HD. The world seems on the verge of a 3D TV revolution.

What does this mean for gaming?

Remember the excitement when you first played Rad Racer on the NES and you put on the 3D glasses. Even though it didn’t really work all that well, you were still awestruck at the possibilities. The idea of 3D gaming has long seemed like the promised land for gamers; that one step closer to the dream of the holodeck.

At first glance, the possibilities seem very intriguing. Imagine playing an FPS where bullets and shrapnel are literally flying at your face or imagine walking through a forest in an RPG and seeing leaves and bugs flying around your head. How much cooler will the wrecks in Burnout look when the debris and sparks are flying at your face? These minor things can go a long way when it comes to immersing you in the game.

My fear is that developers will use this technology like an early 80′s horror movie. “Look! The rake is coming right at my face! Oh no!” Tricks like this get very old, very fast (that is unless you want to play Rake Dodging Simulator 2011). If you have ever watched a bad 3D movie, you know the kind of moments I am talking about; the moments in the movie where the director force feeds the audience 3D  instead of letting the story just flow. However, if game developers can get over the desire to create artificial moments and utilize the effects properly, 3D will push gaming to a new level.

How practical is the technology?

At this point, no one has quite figured out how to make 3D work for more than one person without everyone having to wear the dorky 3D glasses. No one looks cool in the 3D glasses. Arthur Fonzarelli could wear a pair of 3D glasses while riding his motorcycle over a pit filled with lava sharks and he wouldn’t look cool. There are prototype sets that work for one person if he/she is sitting in the exact right spot in front of the television. Neither of these feel like the best solution, both feel like serious compromises for the viewing experience. The glasses can cause headaches and migraines. And sitting by yourself in one particular spot doesn’t seem like the future, it seems like time out.

The sets themselves are still very expensive. At the moment, the cheapest 3D television I could find would set you back about $9,000. In scientific terms, that’s a lot of scratch. Technophiles will jump on board quickly, but I can’t imagine mainstream America shelling out big bucks for the units. And without a large enough audience, content producers will be hesitant to create exciting content. Without any content for it, your huge expensive 3D TV becomes a gigantic paperweight.

Gaming companies will most likely hold off on creating 3D content until there are more households with 3D sets. Making games is already expensive and risky. A couple of companies will probably produce content and make a killing, but for the vast majority of companies there won’t be a large enough market for some time. The future looks to be in three dimensions, but for now we just have to wait.

After the rough year electronics manufacturers have had, it is easy to understand why they are pushing the next big thing. Unfortunately, at this point the technology simply isn’t there.

Working in a video game store I often encounter the HDTV guy. He has some new 65″ liquid plasma television that he wants to brag about. His sound system was flown in from Germany and sounds like a Who concert. He has a million questions about refresh rates and hertz and all kinds of other words he makes up on the spot. He is so concerned with 1080p versus 1080i that he doesn’t even really care about the quality of the game he is buying. As long as it looks good on his mammoth television, gameplay doesn’t really matter.

The HDTV Guy is a new kind of Graphics Snob. Where the old graphics Snob wanted high polygon counts. The new HDTV Guy wants a blazing fast response time and great pixel resolution. He scoffs at your standard definition. If you are not playing in high definition then you might as well throw your television down a well, because it is worthless. If you are not close to a well, you should dig a well, so you have a well where you can then throw your t.v.

You see him in the wild, often in the Blu-Ray movies section checking out aspect ratios and what kind of Dolby Digital is supported. He can explain the difference between uncompressed and lossless audio formats. He will often ask if you have seen “this _____ movie on Blu-Ray?” Even when you tell him you didn’t care for it, he will respond with “but you have to see it in HD.” As if increased resolution can  make a terrible movie better. For all of his bluster he has yet to convince me that HD is all its cracked up to be.

I refuse to believe that clarity makes a movie or a game all that much better. For me the HD is like the Cherry on top of a sundae. Sure it is nice and delicious but I don’t hate the sundae without it. For the HDTV Guy the Cherry is all that’s important. For him all that matters is the pixel resolution.

Before HD, I don’t remember a single person that watched a movie and said “Wow that movie was cool, too bad we couldn’t see every blemish on the actors’ faces.” No one cared. Maybe we didn’t know what we were missing.

A wire has been crossed in the brains of a lot of people, and clarity has taken the place of beauty. Increased clarity does not make things appear more beautiful. If something is ugly, no amount of resolution is going to make it look good. In fact, increasing the resolution can often make things look worse. Some of the best looking games understand that the art direction is far more important. Would you rather look at a crystal clear dirty wall or a slightly less sharp sunset? I don’ t think many people drive to the beach to go stare at a wall for a half hour. Games have started to move away from the brown and gray color palette because a dirty wall is still just a wall, even in HD.

Anyone who thinks HD always looks better should try watching the evening news in HD. It is disturbing. You can see all the little stubble marks and pancake makeup. High definition make the news anchors look like early generation Terminators. There is no way you can honestly say that those extra pixels bring anything to the table other than terror, unless you like the idea of getting your news from Terminators. The HDTV Guy doesn’t care if the extra resolution makes once beautiful women appear old and crinkly. The HDTV Guy wants his news delivered at the maximum possible resolution.

The HDTV Guy doesn’t care if he is playing Summer Athletics THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE or Bioshock. HDTV Guy knows that the gameplay doesn’t matter. For the HDTV Guy everything is ‘ahhh-some’ in HD.

In the end, do not pity the HDTV Guy, unless you do it in full 1080p with Dolby Digital 7.1 Surround Sound.