Q: “Does Wii U play DVD or Blu-Ray discs? Hey everyone, currently debating between Wii U and PS4. If Wii U could play Blu-rays, it would be a definite buy, since it would be nice to have one. I read Wii U uses a ‘new type of disc format’ but wasn’t sure if that meant Blu-Ray. “
A: No. The Wii U console does not play DVDs or Blu-Ray discs, but Wii U offers access to video-on-demand services* such as Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and YouTube. 
The Wii U’s disc reader is a proprietary slot-loading drive that won’t play DVDs or Blu-rays. And the Wii U doesn’t appear to officially support the streaming of videos from your local network, one owner discovered that the functionality is there Thursday and is accessibly through the new Nintendo console’s web browser. So if you have already had lots of Blu-ray or DVD movies, and want to play Blu-ray or DVD on Nintendo Wii U, you can rip or convert your Blu-ray or DVD collections to Wii U supported MP4, then you can put them to your local web server and stream them to Wii U for playing.
What You Need:
* A top Blu-ray ripper
* An internal or external Blu-ray drive
Editor Notes: “ If you want to play Blu-ray on Wii, you’ll need to rip Blu-ray/DVD disc into Wii-friendly format firstly. I’ve had success using Pavtube Wii U Blu-ray Ripper for the job. The output video is excellent and see no diffence compared to the original discs themselves. You could give a try!”
Pavtube ByteCopy offers specified video formats for Wii U and many other game hardware like PSP, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii, Roku and more. With it, you will be able to watch any Blu-ray/DVD movies via Wii U. It’s well compatible with Windows oprating system and converting with fast speed and extremely high quality. Below are the steps to change Blu-ray/DVD format to Wii with Pavtube ByteCopy, only with a simple clicks, you will finish the conversion from Blu-ray to Wii acceptable format. Read the review.
Note: Pls pay attention to the converted file size. If the video is converted from Blu-ray disc, the file is always pretty large. But the Wii has a poor support for a video larger than 2 GB. Therefore, when you rip & convert a Blu-ray/DVD movie to AVI/MOV video, please lower down the quality to control the file size. The Mac equivalence to convert Blu-ray/DVD to play Blu-ray/DVD on Wii-U is Pavtube ByteCopy for Mac (including El Capitan).
Free Download Top Wii U Blu-ray Ripper:
Other Download:
– Pavtube old official address: http://www.pavtube.cn/bytecopy/
– Cnet Download: http://download.cnet.com/Pavtube-ByteCopy/3000-7970_4-76158512.html
Step-by-Step: How to Rip Blu-ray/DVD to Wii-U for Permanent Enjoyment
Below is the detailed procedures on how to convert Blu-ray/DVD to Wii U supported format. And the screenshots are taken from the Windows version of Blu-ray Ripper.
Step 1. Import your Blu-ray/DVD movies
Download and install This Top Wii U Blu-ray Ripper. Launch it and import your Blu-ray/DVD disc by clicking “File” and “Load from disc”. When both Blu-ray or DVD disc exists, the program will load DVD disc first. 
Note: Subtitles and audio tracks could be selected after loading Blu-ray movies.
Step 2: Output settings
Here we select AVI with H.264 codec for Wii U. Click the format bar to find “Wii” item, and follow the option “Wii AVI Video (*.avi)” under “Wii.” You can select other Wii U format for watching. 
Step 3: Start converting Blu-ray/DVD to Wii U
Finally click the Convert button to begin ripping Blu-ray/DVD to Wii-U video format.
After encoding process has finished successfully, go into the destination directory and drop the converted files into Wii U. Once all this is done, your movies will be ready to play with Wii U. Just enjoy. Below is the tips which can help you stream media to Wii U.
A Comparison of Two Approaches to Streaming Media From Your PC to Your Wii U
1> PlayOn Vs. Plex Media Server
There are two good options for streaming media from your computer to your Wii U; PlayOn and Plex Media Server. Here’s a look at the strengths and weaknesses of each. Note that if you’re using Linux or a Mac you can skip the rest of this article and just install Plex; PlayOn is PC only.
Learn>> Add Your Movie Collection to Plex for Streaming
Cost: Free
Plex Media Server and PlayOn are both free, although both offer paid for services that aren’t relevant to this article.
Ease of Setup: Easy and Easier
Plex’s setup is a little more complicated than PlayOn’s. That’s why I wrote a step-by-step guide on setting up Plex, but didn’t do the same for PlayOn, which only requires that you install it then open settings and add your media folders via the My Media tab. Then just go to wii.playon.tv in your Wii U browser and go to My Media Files->Media Library->Videos.
Plex is pretty straightforward to install, but not quite that simple.
Interface: Simple or Fancy
Plex has a much more elaborate interface than PlayOn. Plex downloads detailed information on your movies, categorizes TV shows into a library system, and offers various sorting capabilities. You can add tags, choose subtitles, and change the resolution, which is useful if the file is streaming more information than your connection can carry. This fanciness has some drawbacks on the Wii U, like difficult-to-grab scrollbars, and some things don’t work well; for example, if you change the default settings on your Wii U they will revert back the next time you start it up.
PlayOn just gives you a list of files which you can find alphabetically or via folders. Very simple but also very rigid.
Playback
In terms of the steadiness of the stream, I’ve found PlayOn to be more consistent. Plex struggles more with some video formats than others, and is more prone to pauses and stuttering, although these effects usually lessen after a couple of minutes. I’ve had PlayOn play videos that Plex choked on.
Summary
Plex is a complex, feature-laden application that suffers from some technical issues and interface quirks on the Wii U. For the most part though, it does what I want it to, and includes some features like support for subtitles and dual audio that are essential when playing some videos. PlayOn, on the other hand, is simple and clean, but its bare-bones approach isn’t nearly as engaging. Personally I prefer Plex, but it’s worth having both installed, in case one gets you problems that they other can resolve. Learn >> Plex Supported Format and Installation.
2> Tips for Install Plex on Your Computer for Playing Video on Wii U
First, you’ll need to install a media server program such as Plex on your computer. Plex provides a nice web interface that you can access not just from the Wii U, but from your other computers, as well as apps for your smartphone, tablet, and streaming boxes like the Roku.
Download and install the Plex Media Server to your computer. Then you should create a free account and go through the basic setup process. Point Plex at your media library — in other words, the folder on your computer containing all those local video files you want to watch on your Wii U. You can also learn >> How to Set up Plex on Roku. 
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