Panasonic Viera TH-50PE8U and the Wii

Question

My husband and I recently purchased our first HDTV.  Before now, we relied on a boxy Toshiba from the early '90s!  We ended up with a Panasonic Viera TH-50PE8U.
We were able to get the cable working, but so far have been unsuccessful connecting the Wii.  I can't wait to play Guitar Hero on my new 50" but so far no gaming for us.  What's the trick?

Answer 1

Unlike the Xbox and PS3 the Wii does not have high definition content so it lacks a HDMI connection.
You connect it either with component or composite cables.
Choice 1: Composite may be best described as the old RCA VCR dubbing style cables with red, white and yellow male end cables for three connections (2 audio and one video). Yellow is typically video on each end of the devices. Composite is the most typical Wii hookup and your TV has those inputs and the Wii includes those cables. You will need to press the TV/Video button on the hand control and select Video 1 or Video 2.
Choice 2: Component hookups are superior in quality. I have a Wii hooked up that way to my Panasonic 50 plasma and it looks and sounds noticeably better on component. You will need a special Wii component cable made for the Wii and it is sold at Best Buy. Nintendo makes one and Rocketfish (which I bought). On the end connecting to the TV there will be three cables for video and two for audio connections. If you use this hookup you will see Component 1 and 2 selections using the TV/Video button on the Panasonic hand control.
The first first two choices descibe hooking the Wii up to a standalone Pansonic and without an optional surround sound receiver. If you really want your Wii to sound and look great (as well as everything else on your TV), buy a nice surround sound system and run the Wii to the receiver (along with any other auxiliary devices like cable or satellite DVR, bluray players, DVD players, Xbox, PS3. For optimal results these devices (except for the Wii which is limited to component or composite) all connect using HDMI cables to the input HDMI jacks on the receiver (so you need at least 4 input jacks). Then a single HDMI cable runs out from the receiver to the TV's HDMI input port. That runs everything beautifully and you will control which device is being currently used with the receiver hand control. To recap...it's a very simple setup concept....all devices connect with cables (preferably HDMI cables) into the surround receiver and the TV itself only has its power cord plugged in and one HDMI cable coming into it. Every media display that requires video flows into the TV from the receiver's single out HDMI cable.
Buy a nice receiver and speakers and make sure it has plenty of input HDMI connections and your home theater will be awesome. Expect to spend $500 to $800 for a decent receiver and speakers. Don't waste money on a surround system that doesn't meet the standard of at least 4 HDMI inputs. Buy plenty of HDMI cables and make sure they are long enough...6 foot cables are usually a good bet, 3 footers not so good. Shop around for these as you can way overspend for HD cables. I have the cheapest cables and they work as well as cables that are very expensive. YMMV.
HTH.