iPod Touch Non-Apple A/V Cable

[jquint21]

Hello,

I own an iPod Touch, and I am looking for a way to connect it to the composite video + audio ports on my TV. I am not interested in the "Apple Composite AV Cable." Can anyone confirm that there is a non-Apple A/V cable that works well with the iPod Touch? I came across a couple potential cables, but there weren't many reviews available, and I was skeptical about whether they worked.

1. Composite AV Cable For iPhone or iPod Nano 3rd Generation and iPod Touch
http://www.handhelditems.com/composite-cable-iphone-ipod-nano-generation-ipod-touch-p-14212.html

2. Retractable Apple iPod AV Composite Cable, Black
http://www.amazon.com/Retractable-Apple-Composite-Cable-Black/dp/B000QEDE4E

Thanks for your help,

Jason

 

[dgalvan123]

well, I have an iPhone 3G and I just received the first cable you posted after buying it on eBay. I can tell you that it doesn't work on the 3G. The audio gets through to the TV, but not the video. This really ticks me off because both the description on eBay, the list on the box itself, AND the Apple version of the same cable at the apple.com store say they are compatible with iPhone. yet, no video.

I guess that doesn't confirm whether or not it will work on the touch, but I guess I'm just confirming that you have good reason to be skeptical.

UPDATE:

So I got the third-party AV composite cable that was listed as being compatible with iPod Classic, Nano (video), touch, and iPhone. I plugged it in between my iPhone 3G and my TV, and only audio got to the TV, no video.

I tried it again a little later, and was surprised to see that video was working! Great, I thought. But after about 2 minutes of flawless playback on the TV, the iPhone just quit playing that video and went back to the video selection screen where I had chosen the video. That is, the iPod app did not crash because iPhone didn't go back to the homescreen. It's just the video stopped playing. And then I couldn't get the video to play on the TV again. After unplugging and replugging the cable several times, I got another video to start playing on the TV, and again after just a minute or so it stopped.

Also, several times I got a message on the iPhone 3G: "This accessory not made to work with iPhone." but it's supposedly compatible with iPhone!

I wonder if this is a problem with this particular cable, or if it's a bug in the iPhone 3G, or if Apple has somehow made it so that we can only use their particular AV cable?

Seeing as how I only paid $16 including shipping for this cable, it's not a huge deal, but I want to make sure that the iPhone 3G should be able to output TV properly before I fork over $50 for the apple-blessed cable. When the video connection WAS working, the video and audio were great. No flaws, no interference (I had the iphone in Airplane mode for some of the time, but the first time I got the video to play on the TV, it was NOT in Airplane mode).

My hunch is that there's an iPhone 3G bug. But if someone is able to output video to a TV from the iPhone 3G without problems, I'd love to be proven wrong.

 

[jaymicksee]

iPod Touch problem

I bought a cheap non-apple brand cable from ebay and found I have exactly the same problem as "dgalvan123", only I use an iPod Touch 16GB (with v2.0 software) instead of the iPhone 3G. The video plays for a minute or so and then exits out of the film, back to the video selection screen. Tapping on the movie to start it up again means that the film plays only on the iPod screen and not through the cable, but audio through the cable still works. I don't get the "This accessory not made to work with iPhone." error message though. Presumably the reason the cable stops working is that it doesn't have the apple authentication chip in it, or the chip is faulty, so that the iPod decides it is not an official cable and exits the movie.

There is no way I'm paying £35 for an official apple cable and a charger (which, for a £250 battery powered device, is ridiculous that it's sold separately).

If anyone has a way round this ridiculous problem let me know!!

 

[dasikes]

(which, for a £250 battery powered device, is ridiculous that it's sold separately).

Welcome to

Sorry. They always pull crap like this. Like the previous generation's A/V cables. They rewired them so that the RCA had to be adjusted to work, but made it seem as though ONLY Apple's work.

 

[atticus18244fsa]

I have the real Apple Cable and it works great. Probably just worth it to buy it.

 

[BucketsTouch]

Well just ordered one of the "off" brand one for the iPod hope it will work, I have a "9 portable TV I hope it works
Mark

 

[danimal99]

I'm curious if the A/V Component (not composite) cable is worth it to hook up to my LCD HDTV.

An iPod -> HDMI cable would be nice as well, but I guess no one has made one as of yet?

 

[dgalvan123]

I'm curious if the A/V Component (not composite) cable is worth it to hook up to my LCD HDTV.

An iPod -> HDMI cable would be nice as well, but I guess no one has made one as of yet?

We've been talking about this over on the apple forum here:
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=7774657#7774657

Many people have posted saying that the Apple-brand COMPONENT cable works just fine (as long as you have a digital TV with component inputs). However a couple of people have posted and said that the Apple-brand COMPOSITE cable yields the same problems we've been finding with the generic-brand composite cables.

This is worrisome, as I really only want the composite cable. (BTW, I think HDMI is overkill, as you're not going to get HD from the iPhone video output. At most you'll get 480p which is like progressive scan DVD. . . "Enhanced" Definition, and component handles that fine). I have an HDTV with component inputs, but I mainly want this cable so that I can show photo slideshows from my iPhone 3G at my relatives' houses, on their (usually older) TV's, which often only have composite input.

I'm a bit miffed that 1) Apple marks a $5 RCA cable up to $50 for pure profit. That's evil. 2) They prohibit people from using non-Apple brand video cables by taking the trouble to put a proprietary microchip in their cables, and putting a software "feature" into the iPhone 2.0 upgrade that would actually make an iPod touch or original iPhone NOT work with a cable that used to work before the upgrade, and 3) That apparently even the Apple brand composite cable doesn't work with the 3G.

What am I supposed to do to get this iPhone 3G to output to video over composite?

 

[danimal99]

Yeah I know it's not HD resolutions, but an iPod to HDMI cable is a lot less hassle than a component cable (since there are so many subcables on a component.)

That kinda sucks that Apple forces you to use their expensive cables, but not unexpected. Oh well, will just put that on my Xmas wishlist.


After reading the thread on Apple's discussions, it makes me wonder if it isn't some DRM issue that Apple has to comply with. I didn't realize there was a chip in the cables to authenticate it.

 

[jaymicksee]

To danimal99 - I don't think it's a DRM issue as the iPod only knows if it's an Apple cable or not, not what that cable is plugged into i.e. TV or DVD recorder or whatever. If Apple was that concerned about DRM they would only supply HDMI cables as they are actually capable of content protection. The chip in the Apple component/composite cables are there only to prevent you from using a non-Apple branded cable (a far as I know). Obviously the cheap non-Apple cables either don't have the required chips or aren't good enough to fool the iPod. I want to find a cable that is good enough, without having to pay ridiculous sums of money for it. I'd imagine you can probably get around the chip authentication thing by jail-braking your iPod, but I don't particularly want to try...

 

[fireboyz]

this is a really good thread. I too bought a third party av cable for my iPod touch (composite) and It only works to varying degrees. Has anyone found a third party cable that works?

 

[dgalvan123]

this is a really good thread. I too bought a third party av cable for my iPod touch (composite) and It only works to varying degrees. Has anyone found a third party cable that works?

I bought this one, and it works.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14395

No "not made to work with iphone" message. No cutting out after 30 seconds. It works perfectly. For $9.22 shipped.

Only drawback is you can't charge the iphone at the same time you are outputting to a TV. But since I mainly use this to show slideshows at relative's houses, it's not an issue for me. (power is readily available.)

 

[BennyK]

I bought this one, and it works.

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.14395

No "not made to work with iphone" message. No cutting out after 30 seconds. It works perfectly. For $9.22 shipped.

Only drawback is you can't charge the iphone at the same time you are outputting to a TV. But since I mainly use this to show slideshows at relative's houses, it's not an issue for me. (power is readily available.)

Do you have a 1G or 2G iPod Touch and is it jailbroken? Please let us know