How can I get my Wii to play DVDs?

First up, I have to give you three warnings here before I proceed... 1) Modding your Wii will VOID YOUR WARRANTY & gives Nintendo the right to refuse any repair services on your Wii... Just be aware that if you brick your Wii, you'll likely have to buy a new one. 2) You will need a Pre-LU64 Wii to properly utilize the Wii's DVD-ROM drive. Check your Wii's serial number here. If the first 4 characters are "LU63" or lower (like "LU57", "LU34", ect.), you're OK here. Wii made after June, 2008 are consider "LU64+" systems that have a slightly different DVD-ROM drive that's more restrictive with what you can do with it. Homebrew media apps can typically detect this & will disable DVD-ROM drive options as needed. 3) Using your Wii as a DVD player typically yields "less than desirable" results because the Wii isn't geared to play DVD-Video discs. The Homebrew media player has to pick up the slack as a result. Typical issues you'll run into are... * Choppy Video (Dropped Frames) * Audio & Video getting out of sync * Sluggish controls If I haven't scared you away here... Grab an SD card (& a SD card reader, if your computer doesn't have one) & let's get started! 1) Installing the Homebrew Channel -- This isn't too hard as all the possible installation options are listed at http://wiibrew.org/wiki/Homebrew_setup In short... * Wii Menu 4.3 needs to use the Letterbomb Exploit -- Visit http://please.hackmii.com to pick it up (have your Wii's MAC address ready). * Wii Menu 4.2 needs to use Bannerbomb ver. 2 Exploit * Wii Menu 4.1 or lower needs to use Bannerbomb ver. 1 Exploit All the noted exploits are system-based stuff, so you don't need a game. Once you have the Homebrew Channel installed, it's time to pick up a media player. 2) Installing WiiMC While there are a couple of homebrew media players for the Wii, WiiMC is the easiest to use as it's GUI-based. Visit http://www.wiimc.org to download it (select the "New Install" if you have any questions on what to download). All you need to do is unzip the file & copy it directly to your SD card. 3) Starting up WiiMC This is the easiest. Just insert the SD card into the Wii, load up the Homebrew Channel & then load up WiiMC. It'll take a minute or two to do all these steps (possibly less if your fast), but you'll end up at the WiiMC's media selection screen. Just insert the desired DVD-Video disc into your Wii & hit the DVD tab on top to start. Again, you'll likely run into less than desirable results. However, if you have Wii Menu 4.3 installed (or installed IOS 58 separately), you can stream digital videos from a USB storage device. The Wii can handle 720p videos decently, but it works best with 480p. Hope this helps!

You have to buy a separate dongle for it.