Could the Wii use HD-VMD?

[DarkNight_DS]

shams said:

jlauro said:

shams said:
Guys, the Wii *can't* output at 720p/1080i - it would *never* be a HD (VMD) video player, because the video output circuitry (RAMDAC, frame buffer, etc...) are not designed for it.

http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200611/N06.1120.1725.47900.htm

 

We contacted a Nintendo rep to clarify, and while they said that Nintendo is absolutely not currently announcing any plans to upgrade the maximum resolution from 480p, it shouldn't be impossible in theory.

The rep noted that Microsoft was able to patch the Xbox 360 to support 1080p.

 

Based on everything I have seen, wii should be able to handle 720p. The problem is... it would have to trade off something, such as amount of detail it can have and still be at a decent frame rate. Something like a web browser where there isn't a lot of animation should be very possible at 720p with the wii.

Well, I'm not 100% privy to the technical/hardware specs - so they would definitely know more than me.

But from my knowledge it would need two things:

i) Enough VRAM to produce a minimum of 2 frame buffers at full 720p resolution. The Wii has a 3MB(?) texture/frame buffer cache. 1280x720 pixels = 920k (at 8bits). Even at 16bit colour (1.8MB / frame), with no z-buffer - the Wii doesn't have enough VRAM for two full frames. Can you do it with a single surface? Maybe - but things could get real ugly. Not sure if its possible. I doubt its possible to use main memory for the off-screen buffer, or the current frame buffer.

(by comparison, 480p --> 720x480 pixels --> 337k at 8bits. Plenty of space on the Wii for full 24bit colour + 8bit zbuffer, for front/backbuffers).

ii) A fast enough RAMDAC to scan the frame buffer, and turn that into a 720p compatible video signal. This may be possible - no idea really. But if Ninty never wanted to support 720p on the console, I'm not sure if they would bother to up the clock rate or use a more expensive component (potentially more manufacturing cost?) for something that wouldn't be used.

...

The 360 issue is a different one. It has heaps of VRAM - easily enough for 1080p - and a RAMDAC that is fast enough to handle the conversion.

 

 The PS2 had 4MB of Vram (devs have commented that it's more like 1/8th that size due to the fact that you can't use compression on the PS2's Vram for textures compared to the Cube and Wii's Vram which allows compression).  The original Xbox had no Vram, it used main memory to supply all video data.  

Both the PS2 and Xbox had 720p and 1080i games.  So why can't the Wii do it?  Technically if the PS2 or Xbox could do it... the Wii can easily do it.  The Wii also has a much larger pipe to main memory then the Xbox had.  Which should allow for some pretty fast streams, fast enough to playback video in HD.  The biggest limitation I see is the 6x DVD reader,  I don't know if 6x is fast enough....