HOW-TO: Cheaply watch iPod videos on your TV
Why would you fork out $19 bucks for the Apple iPod AV Cable when you don’t have to? We were looking around for cheaper solutions for getting video over to you TV and came across an article on O’Reilly’s MacDevCenter.com. By following simple steps, you can get any AV cable (with yellow/red/white outputs) to work with your iPod. Read on to find out how.
All you’re going to need for this is an iPod video (obviously), an iPod compatible video on your iPod, and any A/V cable with eigth-inch-to-RCA (yellow/red/white) camcorder cable (get it from ebay if you don’t have one).
- Set up your iPod video options
Go to Videos -> Video Settings from the main menu on your iPod. This screen offers three settings: TV Out, TV Signal and Widescreen. Adjust the selections to give the video playback options you need. We suggest you set the TV Out option to “Ask” so you always know it will play. If you live in the US, your TV Signal is NTSC. Make sure this is selected. If you’re outside the US, you might want to check which option to use.
- Plugging the AV cable into the TV
You’re probably thinking that you don’t need help doing this one. Well let me tell you, you do. Since Apple wants you to buy their proprietary cable, they decided to be sneaky. They send the video over the Red RCA cable (usually yellow). Therefore, they send the audio over the white and yellow cables. Oh you’re so tricky Apple, whatever will we do? In easier words, do the following:
Red RCA plug -> TV’s yellow RCA jack
Yellow RCA plug -> TV’s white RCA jack
White RCA plug -> TV’s red RCA jack
If you can believe it, that’s all you have to do. Pretty much the only tricky thing was switching the Red and Yellow RCA cables. If you have any problems, let us know and we’ll get our directions fixed. Enjoy.
UPDATE: We’ve been informed this method works for the iPhone as well. Just plug the RCA cable into your old school iPod dock, set your iPhone in the dock, and you should be golden. [Thanks, Nate]
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Excellent article. I just bought a video iPod. I will have to try this when I get home. :)
on December 8, 2005 at 06:06 AM - LINKi read this trick on another website and was horribly disappointed to learn the APPLE 1/8th inch to 3-way RCA cord i bought for my late-2001 iBook with the 1/8th inch a/v port doesn’t work.
on December 8, 2005 at 06:28 AM - LINKwtf?
I tried this on my TV (AU PAL) and the results were pretty average, i toggled the NTSC and PAL settings and nothing came from it.. the picture was black and white adn incredibuly fuzzy… any ideas?
on December 8, 2005 at 07:15 AM - LINKI’m a little skeptical that this will work, but I can tell you as a video producer for both web and television that the picture quality of your ipod video is going to be pretty cruddy. The video in your ipod is compressed for a little screen, which is why it looks so good on the ipod. What Avatarpalin is describing sounds like video coming across the wrong connector. If anything should have worked, it should have been Nick’s set up. You can try switch the configuration, but don’t expect great quality, especially if you have a big screen tv. Good luck!
on December 8, 2005 at 07:17 PM - LINKWorks Great! Thanks!! I was just about to by that cable from apple too. Instead I opened my Sony camcorder case and used that av cable. Yellow = Red. would have never guessed that one.
on December 8, 2005 at 10:23 PM - LINKI’ve been doing this for a couple weeks now since I got my Video Ipod and it works great.
The quality is pretty much perfect. Better than any DVDs that I’ve managed to burn.
The screen on the Ipod is tiny but it has the same resolution as regular TVs, so it looks great.
on December 8, 2005 at 11:20 PM - LINKred>orange>yellow
works fine for me!
on December 9, 2005 at 03:48 AM - LINKSwapping the video and audio signals is standard practice in proprietary devices. If you want to use a camcorder A/V cable with pretty much anything that’s not a camcorder, chances are you’ll have to swap them around. I use a portable DVD player as a video monitor for my miniDV camera using the 1/8 inch input, and red carries the video from the camera just like the iPod. This not have even been a deliberate choice on Apple’s part, and merely the way that the component they used was built.
on December 9, 2005 at 08:01 AM - LINKSo I guess this would also have worked with my old ibook 2001 AV cable that I forked out AU$45 for.
on December 9, 2005 at 04:17 PM - LINKI had at first bought one of these generic camvorder cables. I’m pretty sure I tried all the different cable combinations before I bought the Apple branded one, of course now I’m not so sure.
The only problem is video cable is 75ohm, and audio cable is not.
The result is, it works… but possibly black and white or with some kind of picture loss.
Sorry guys, this isn’t an easy way out of $19.
on December 12, 2005 at 12:16 PM - LINKHonestly, everyone is saying apple F’d us on purpose to make more money. And while I don’t doubt that they love to make money off of accessories, I don’t believe they did this on purpose.
As an engineer of portable devices, I can honestly say I probably would have done the same thing as Apple.
Here’s why:
http://img476.imageshack.us/img476/816/standardvsvideoipod3mc.jpg
If you look first at the IPOD AUDIO vs STANDARD AUDIO, you’ll notice the LEFT and RIGHT channels are reversed. I’m not sure why they did that but it’s bunk. Something to keep in mind when using any standard audio cable as well.
Now look at the difference between STANDARD A/V and STANDARD AUDIO. LEFT and GROUND stay put on the same pin, but for some bizarro reason the standard is to put VIDEO where the RIGHT channel would be, and move the RIGHT channel to the new 4th pin.
Now what Apple did, is they said.. hey, we have to make our iPod work with standard headphones and audio cables, but since we have to make our own custom A/V cables.. let’s just put the VIDEO output on the 4th pin. This makes it’s easy for them because they don’t need any extra circuitry to switch the VIDEO and LEFT signals. In fact, it’s not a cheap or space saving solution to have to switch those signals.
So in my opinion, Apple just tried to save some money and PCB space and give us audio and video from the same jack.
If you look at standard a/v and audio cables, they are not interchangeable with each other. The reason why when you put headphones into a camcorder’s A/V jack you only hear the LEFT channel, and you may get some static on the RIGHT channel because it’s actually a VIDEO signal.
If Apple wanted to totally screw us, they would have swapped the GROUND and LEFT signals in their jack on the iPOD. This would render a standard cable useless, and require you to cut the wires and reconnect them in the proper order. However, this would also make all standard headphones and audio cables not work.. I think if they messed with it too much people would really look down on them with disgust.
It could be viewed as them just tweaking it to trap the average joe into purchasing their A/V cable, but honestly I think they just took the easy path in engineering the iPOD output circuitry.
Hope that was enlightening ;)
on December 21, 2005 at 06:11 AM - LINK-Brett
I saw these threads and decided to try my Sony DV camera cable. Worked well by simply swapping red and yellow. Colour, picture quality and sound were all excellent. Ran my connection through my DVD Recorder to my plasma panel. I’m using PAL out here in Australia. Saved myself the price of the Apple cable.
on December 22, 2005 at 01:41 PM - LINKI recently purchased the Sony A/V cable. When I initially hooked it up to my TV (red=yellow), the video was extremely choppy. Then I tried another TV...and the picture was fine, but it was in black and white. With the video still playing, I changed the signal from PAL to NTSC. Nothing changed...still black and white. Then I stopped the movie, played a mp3, and then went back and played the movie...SUCCESS! It works fine on both TVs now. So it might be necessary to completely exit the video mode before the TV signal type updates. Hope this helps.
on December 23, 2005 at 02:37 AM - LINKI don’t care what any of the skeptics are saying, they are full of crap. And Jill (comment #4) you should have tried the tip before you opened your big mouth, Quote: “I’m a little skeptical that this will work, but I can tell you as a video producer for both web and television that the picture quality of your ipod video is going to be pretty cruddy.”
This works! And, the video quality is flawless!! Thanks for the tip… you saved me some cash.
Boyakasha, beeyotches!
on December 31, 2005 at 09:17 AM - LINKIt works perfectly for me. The only thing it would not show on the Tv screen , by just clicking on the centre button when showing a pic on the ipod, I had to press on the bottom >” pl;ay /pause button , this then shows a three pic slideshow screen, choose the TV on, and then click in the centre, it then works.
on January 3, 2006 at 07:02 PM - LINKIts woks with me too…
on January 4, 2006 at 06:42 PM - LINKawasome ipod technlogy for me.
Can this still work with a black and yellow cable? Or does it have to be red/yellow/whit? COz I’ve tried it over and over and I get nothing!
on January 11, 2006 at 12:12 AM - LINKIt took me all of 60 seconds to get this to work. It’s brilliant! (Just don’t forget to set your TV to “VIDEO”. One button. Thank you for this post!
on January 14, 2006 at 10:26 PM - LINKhmmm...mine doesn’t seem to be working at all. I’m using the cord that came out of my canon camcorder and plugged it into an old tv directly, to a vcr attatched to the tv, and an LCD monitor with a tv tuner. It didn’t seem to display any of my pictures under ask or tv out with the NTSC setting on. (for us products, right?) Is there something that I’m not getting?
on January 17, 2006 at 01:09 AM - LINKYes it works fine on my TV it has a 52” screen and the picture is good and the sound is good
on January 20, 2006 at 11:31 PM - LINKim using a rf modulator cuz i dont ahve the plugs in my tv, and its not working. i do the little switching things u guys say, when i plug it in it just flashes in and out a black screen and makes little noises whenever it is on the black screen. its set to tv out, bla bla bla, usa tv signal just like u all say and its not working, i have ipod video. does rf modulator not let it work??????????????
on January 25, 2006 at 05:48 AM - LINKI would just like to say, thank you for this post, it worked a treat....as a total idiot when it comes to technology, it amazes me that people can get around ANYTHING if they want to. Thank you again for your advice, it is VERY much appreciated.
on February 12, 2006 at 12:33 AM - LINKNo offense Jill, but you supply a lot of incorrect speculative statements.
Brett was much more enlightening as to Apple’s reasoning than the iPod critics who just love snagging up iPod products just to complain about how evil they are! Really? You shelled out all that money for a video ipod and then complain about a cheap cable? As for the adventurous ones out there...kudos! Whatever works! There are exceptions to rules of thumb. Most people report clear pictures on the tv, and are pleased with a product of which I have purchased two. The iPod with Video gives me space for music/videos/movies.
I can play it on my stereo, my tv, and I can, of course, listen to music on my walks, or catch an ABFAB or COUPLING or Curb Your Enthusiasm on the bus ride home. Honestly, only a curmudgeon would complain. If you can’t get it to work, please just shell out $19 for a cable, and stop your whining. You probably spend more ordering out a pizza. The iPod is great..you love yours..I love mine...ADMIT IT! ADMIT IT! BE HAPPY!!!!
David
on February 27, 2006 at 02:22 AM - LINKI agree with Dave.
on February 28, 2006 at 01:40 AM - LINKsome clever people out there.
on March 28, 2006 at 05:38 PM - LINK