Turn Your Wii System Into The Ultimate Entertainment Experience

ext">The Wii console is a great video games system,3. Home Theatre Surround Sound
but adding a few extra pieces of kit will turn your WiiHome theatre and surround sound systems have
system into the ultimate entertainment experience.become really popular over the last few years. Most
Here are 4 key items that will take your Wii console tohome theatre systems come with 5 speakers placed
the next level...around the room, and a sub-woofer speaker on the
High Definition (HD) TVfloor for pumping out the bass. These home theatre
Wii Component Cablesurround sound systems are commonly known as 5.1
Home Theatre Surround Soundsurround sound.
Wii Internet ChannelMost CDs and DVDs are created with 5.1 surround
1. High Definition (HD) TVsound programmed into them. So when you play a CD
Although the Wii doesn't have High Definition (HD)or DVD on a 5.1 home theatre system, the sound is
capability, its graphics are still great to look at. Evenprogrammed to come out of all 6 speakers to create
though there's no HD, you can dial up the quality of thethe perfect cinema experience.
Wii's graphics a few notches by connecting yourThe Wii system doesn't have 5.1 surround sound
console to a High Def television.programmed directly into it. Instead, the Wii has a
When looking for a HD TV, the ones to look at are thetechnology called Dolby Pro Logic II. Dolby Pro Logic II
newer 1080 pixel High Definition TVs. These 1080 TVsdirects the Wii's sound to all the speakers around the
are marketed as "true HD", and offer the best pictureroom, as if 5.1 surround sound was actually
quality for watching TV shows, DVDs and playingprogrammed into the Wii's games.
video games.To use the Wii's surround sound features, you'll need a
Although the original HD TVs in the US only offered ahome theatre/surround sound system with a Dolby
resolution of 720 pixels, 1080 pixel HD has been aroundPro Logic II setting. Most modern home theatre
Europe for a few years already. If these numberssystems have Dolby Pro Logic II as standard, and this
sound confusing, the most important thing to note isshouldn't be too hard to find.
that the higher the number, the better the pictureHooking up your Wii to a surround sound system
quality.creates a cinema-like experience. The sound from the
Another important part of buying a HD TV is choosingWii's games immerses you as it plays around the
the right size TV set. HD TVs come in different sizes,room, giving you an even greater feeling of being “in
from 19 inches to 112 inches. The size of the TV youthe game”.
buy is determined by the size of the room you're4. Wii Internet Channel
putting it in. Talk to an expert at your local electronicsThe Wii Internet Channel is a web browser designed
store. They'll be able to recommend the right TV sizespecifically for the Wii console. With the Wii Internet
for you.Channel you can surf all of your favourite websites
No matter what size TV you buy though, hooking updirectly on your Wii.
your Wii to a 1080 High Def TV will absolutely takeUnfortunately, the Wii Internet Channel doesn't come
your Wii's graphics to the next level.loaded onto the console, and you'll need to download it
2. Wii Component Cablefrom the Wii Shop. It costs 500 points to download but
You'll notice a dramatic difference in the Wii's graphicsused smartly the Wii Internet Channel will boost your
when you plug it into a High Definition TV, but you canWii's functionality!
still squeeze a little bit more out of the graphics byThe Wii can't play music CDs, and putting MP3s onto a
using a Wii Component Cable.SD card can be a bit of a mission. With the Wii Internet
The Wii system comes with a standard audio visualChannel you can stream your favourite internet radio
(AV) cable packaged in the box. This standard AVstations like Last.fm and Pandora. Type in your
cable has a single video cable to carry the Wii's picturefavourite artists and listen to the music you want to
signal to your TV.listen to.
A picture signal is made up of 3 different coloursYou can even watch YouTube videos on the Wii
— red, green and blue. These colour signalsInternet Channel. Nintendo and YouTube have a
travel to your TV and combine to make up a fullcreated a website especially for the Wii. It's free and
colour picture.fun to use on the Wii Internet Channel.
With the standard Wii AV cable, all 3 colour signalsDownload the Wii Internet Channel and get even more
have to fight to travel through the single video cable.from your Wii!
This causes a loss of picture quality as the coloursThe Wrap Up
battle their way through to the other end.The Wii console is a great games system, but a few
The Wii Component Cable, though, has 3 separateextra pieces of gear will help create the ultimate
video cables. Each cable carries only one of the colourentertainment experience.
signals from the Wii console to your TV. This meansYou don't need to break the bank to get this
that the signals don't have to fight to get to the otherexperience either. The prices of HD TVs and home
end of the cable, and results in a higher quality picturetheatre systems are coming down all the time, and
on your TV compared to the standard AV cable.you can get a good system at an affordable price.
The Wii Component Cable is relatively cheap. You canShop around for prices and ask the experts in your
buy either the original Nintendo Wii Component Cablelocal electronics store for advice on the best
or one of the good quality 3rd party cables, which aretelevisions and sound systems in your price range.
usually a little cheaper than Nintendo's version.