Photo Channel

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Photo Channel
Photo Channel.png
Type Pre-installed
Developer(s) Nintendo
Platform(s) Wii Channels
Release date(s) JP December 2, 2006
NA November 19, 2006
EU/AUS December 8, 2006
KO April 26, 2008
Genre(s) Utility
Input methods Wii Remote
Compatibility 4Stars4.pngEdit rating: Photo Channel
Playable
GameIDs
See also...

Dolphin Forum thread
Open Issues
Search Google
Search Wikipedia

If a user inserts an SD card into the console, or receives photos or videos via email, they can be viewed using the Photo Channel. The user can create a slideshow simply by inserting an SD card with JPG/JPEG photos, M-JPEG videos, and, optionally, MP3 (Photo Channel 1.1-a and earlier) or AAC (Photo Channel 1.1-b only) audio files. The Wii will automatically add between the photos and play either the music on the SD card or built-in music in the background.

A built-in editor allows users to add markings and effects to their photos. Mosaics and puzzles can also be created with this feature. Edited photos can be saved to the Wii (the Wii will not overwrite data on the SD card) and sent to other Wiis via the message board.

An update to the Photo Channel, named the Photo Channel 1.1, became available on December 10, 2007. It allows customization of the Wii Menu by letting users replace the Photo Channel icon with a picture taken from an SD card or a picture from the Wii Message Board. It also allows playback of songs in random order.

Emulation Information

Photo Channel 1.1 Doesn't Show Up in Wii Menu

Although Photo Channel 1.1 runs when launched from Dolphin's game list, it will not show up in Wii Menu unless the Photo Channel 1.1 Dummy (title ID 0001000048415A41) is also installed in the emulated NAND.

On early Wii consoles, where the Photo Channel 1.1 Dummy was not pre-installed from factory, users were intended to download the 1.1 update from Wii Shop Channel (since the shutdown, only accounts that previously downloaded the update when it was available can redownload it now). As Dolphin does not ship with the Photo Channel 1.1 Dummy either, Wii Menu believes the update is missing, and will only show Photo Channel 1.0 instead.

To make Photo Channel 1.1 show up in Wii Menu when run from the emulator, a full NAND dump from a Wii console that has the Photo Channel 1.1 Dummy pre-installed (or, alternatively, an extracted WAD of Photo Channel 1.1 Dummy) must be imported in Dolphin. This is also required for the Photo Channel 1.1's "Post to Wii Menu" function to work correctly.

"The data cannot be read. The SD Card is corrupted and must be formatted."

Photo Channel is a bit picky and can throw this error when clicking on "Digital Camera/Cell Phone" with a virtual SD card that has been manipulated outside of Dolphin. Using "Convert Folder to File Now" (available since Dolphin 5.0-16891 by going to Config → Wii) to regenerate the virtual SD Card will fix the problem.


Problems

Doodle Drawing Tool Bug

When you draw a line sometimes it will appear and sometimes it won't. Change Texture Cache Accuracy to Safe to fix this.

Doodle Scissor Tool Bug

Disabled EFB Copies to Texture Only to fix this problem.

Photos Posted to Wii Message Board Are Completely Black

In v1.1, photos posted from Photo Channel to Wii Message Board will be an empty black square when using default Dolphin settings. Going to Graphics → Hacks and turning "Store EFB Copies to Texture Only" off, will fix it for future photo posts.

Corrupted Save File on Initial Launch

The first time the Photo Channel is launched, an error message about corrupted save data will be shown. This does not happen on console. Although the error were harmless, it got fixed in 5.0-11578.

Configuration

Only configuration options for the best compatibility where they deviate from defaults are listed.

Graphics

Config Setting Notes
Store EFB Copies to Texture Only Off Fix Scissor Tool Bug
Texture Cache Accuracy Position 1 (Safe) Fix Drawing Bug

Version Compatibility

The graph below charts the compatibility with Photo Channel since Dolphin's 2.0 release, listing revisions only where a compatibility change occurred.

Δ
5.0-21222 (current)
Δ
Δ
Δ
Δ
Δ
2.0 (r5384)
Compatibility can be assumed to align with the indicated revisions. However, compatibility may extend to prior revisions or compatibility gaps may exist within ranges indicated as compatible due to limited testing. Please update as appropriate.

Testing

This channel has been tested on the environments listed below:

Test Entries
Revision OS CPU GPU Result Tester
4.0.2 Windows 7 Intel Core 2 Quad @ 2.6 GHz NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 Runs great, BUT WHO THE HELL IS THAT KID? Edit- I found his posts on the Message Board, he is German(?), you can find them from late 2007 to late 2009-2010, if you got the Wii Menu same way I did, which was not the way Dolphin has it. Anyone who knows how to reset the icon, tell me. Tom Nook
5.0-19159 Windows 10 Intel Core i7-6700K @ 4 GHz NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Runs without issue, beyond doodle tool problems. Kolano

Gameplay Videos