Friday, July 21, 2006

Watch your iPod on your TV


I mentioned in a previous entry that you can watch your iPod on your TV. This entry will explain how to do it, cheaply. First things first... you need an iPod video, 30 gig or 60 gig, it does not matter. Next you will need a cable like the one pictured above. You don't need to buy Apple's cable for 20 bucks, you may even have one from your video camera lying around (that's what I use). The last requirement is a TV with RCA composite video and stereo audio inputs (the yellow video, red and white audio inputs), not to be confused with not to be component video inputs (red, blue and green all video) . Make sure that your iPod is set to output to the TV by accessing the setting with in the iPod menus. Go to Video>Video Settings then choose TVout and select "Ask". This makes the iPod ask each time you play a video wheather you want to watch it on TV or the iPod.

There is a trick to using the non Apple branded cables, it's not hard... are you ready...
switch the red and yellow cable (for those that are slow, put the red cable in the yellow input and the yellow cable in the red input). Yep that's it. I'm guessing that Apple figured that many people already have the cables and would try them, so they pulled a switcheroo and wired it differently to get more accessory money. Now you too can enjoy Hannah Montana on your 35 in TV instead of your 17 in iMac. Plus it frees up your computer so you can surf while watching!

When they add movie rentals to iTunes in August, you will be set. There are other options, you can get a dock from Apple, Griffin or DLO. But, at over $100 each, the cable option seems easier to get you going. The docks all include remotes and that makes sense, but this option will let you get up and running for 10 bucks if you don't already have a cable.

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