Playing iPod Video on Your TV
Please note that this entry is about my 5G iPod Video. Information may not apply to other models like the iPod Classic.
Getting video files to play on your TV from your iPod is actually a lot easier than I imagined it would be. If you have AVI files that you couldn’t be bothered burning to VCD/SVCD or DVD, a much friendlier alternative is to play download them to your iPod. There are two hurdles you’ll have to overcome, but in reality, the process is much more painless than converting the files to MPEG and burning them to a CD or DVD is.
Converting Your Video
Before you put a video on your iPod you will need to convert it to an iPod friendly format. For this I recommend the free program, Videora iPod Converter. This will convert your DivX or Xvid AVI files into an iPod-friendly MPEG-4 file; I recommend the highest bitrate 1500kbps setting.
That’s it; easy! I’ve found that the time taken to convert a video file using Videora is slightly less than the play time of that video. A 2 hour video file should be converted in about 1 hour 25 minutes.
Playing On Your TV
When Apple released their video iPod they released a special AV cable for it that would connect your iPod to the red, yellow and white AV sockets on your TV, allowing you to watch the videos on your iPod on a larger screen. As it turns out, this was a bit of a scam. All they did was take a standard RCA-to-AV lead (commonly used for connecting camcorders to TVs) and send the video over the red cable (which usually carries sound) instead of the yellow one. This means that you can use a standard RCA-to-AV lead if you have one kicking about - just connect the red plug to the yellow socket, yellow plug to the white socket and white plug to the red socket. Scumbags, eh?
Don’t panic if you, like me, don’t own a camcorder and don’t already have an RCA-to-AV lead. You can buy one specially colour-coded for iPods (so red goes to red etc.) off eBay, where I got mine for £3.73 including postage!
Then it’s really simple, just go into your iPod video folder and set the Video Settings to output to TV, connect it up and you’re away.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
I have converted the files to mpeg-4 and have gotten the video and audio to play on my TV. The problem I am having is that the picture is fine on the ipod but very distorted on the TV. Any help in solving this problem is appreciated.
April 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Not sure what you mean by distored exactly. Have you set the correct video mode (NTSC or PAL) in your iPod’s video settings?
January 13th, 2008 at 2:56 am
I’m having difficulties -I have an ipod classic and the camcorder lead. The sound comes through but there is no picture, this is when tv output is turned off, when it’s switched on the ipod asks for the component lead to be connected.
Please help?!?!
January 14th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Despite the name, the iPod classic is a new (at the time of writing) iPod, but functions similarly to the old ones (as distinct from the iPod touch).
The problem is that it doesn’t handle video out the same. According to this thread at Digital Spy, video output is done through the Apple Universal Dock connector which means the camcorder cable won’t work. The iPod Classic doesn’t send video over the headphone jack.
If it’s any consoloation, if you do get the proper cable (according to that forum anyway) you should be able to get component out (480p).
January 17th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Ahh, I thought that might be the case. Most disappointing - proper cable is £35 (those bastards at Apple).
Thanks.
January 21st, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Please help!!!! I have the Ipod 80g classic. I have purchased both the component and composite cables and cannot get either of these to work through the tv. The best that I have acheived so far is sound!! I have changed settings on ipod several times, from NTSC to PAL etc. I don’t know what else to try now…… I have read several reviews stating that you must have an HDTV is this right? My tv only has red white and yellow connections. Do I also need a universal docking station?
January 21st, 2008 at 5:14 pm
Jo, the red/white/yellow leads are the ones you need. The Yellow is composite video (assuming it’s an iPod cable you have rather than a camcorder one).
You need an HDTV to use component video (3 video cables + 2 sound). HTH.
January 26th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I have an iPod 80g and am having similar problems to jo159jo. I’ve bought a logic3 cable and all I got was sound. Thinking that it might be the cable, I decided to be a bit cheeky and popped down to a local electrical store (lets say they are out of this world). Managed to try this cable on there TV and got them to try the Apple cable too. But this gave the same - sound no picture. Now not being that clever with all this newfangled stuff, help please!!!!!!!
I’ll be your best friend!
January 26th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Ignore me, I’ve solved the problem. I needed to set the video to TV on in the movie settings. Jo give this a go, it worked for me. Go to videos/video settings/tv out and set that to on. You won’t get a picture on your iPod but it works on your tv.
Oh happy days.
January 29th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I’ve got the ipod cable… but I get jack shit when I plug mine in… I got one of the new ipod nano’s. I’ve converted the files and all that… I plug the cables in. Tried every cable in every slot… and all it says on the ipod is ” Connect the necessary components ” or something like that.
Are you sure this AV cable is all I need?
Thank You.
January 30th, 2008 at 1:26 am
hello ive got the new 80gb ipod classic and i bought the av cable aswell but every time i pllug it in it jus keeps sayin u need 2 plug in the necessary components and its really startin 2 get 2 me….. plz plz plz can sum1 help me
January 30th, 2008 at 1:28 am
This guide is for the iPod Video (5G). THIS IS NOT FOR THE IPOD CLASSIC OR IPOD NANO!!
The Classic and Nano do not output video over the headphone socket.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:13 am
so i have the new ipod 80g classic and the component AV cable with the extra green, blue, and red wires. how do i connect these to my tv? i dont understand. i dont have green or blue things to plug into. thanx for ur help!!!
February 1st, 2008 at 11:14 am
As I said, I don’t have a Classic - all I know is they don’t send video on the same way.
What I can tell you is that if you don’t have Component In (analogue HD) on your TV then a component cable isn’t much use to you!!
February 24th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Alright I hope this post will help some of the confused readers out there.
Firstly if you have an ipod classic, ipod touch, iphone or a an ipod nano video, please make sure you have the right cables for them. The above mentionned model have brand new hardware and hence any accessories compatible with a 5.5 video ipod will no longer work with the new (damn apple!!!).
Secondly look behind your TV. If you see the following inputs RED WHITE YELLOW, you have a COMPOSITE input (RCA) which basically means 1 for video, 2 for audio (left and right). If you have RED GREEN and BLUE at the back plus another RED and WHITE inputs, it means you have a COMPONENT input.
Also along with these connectors, your ipod TV OUT cable should include a USB for power. Make sure that this is plugged in. (I forget if the composite pack (R-W-Y) has the USB. If it doesn’t disregard this). The current line of ipods & iphones require additional power.
On your TV make sure that you watching the correct input. What I mean by this is check your TV’s source list. Depending on what cable you have make sure you are watching that particular one (i.e. if you have connected with the component cable, make sure you are watching the component channel on your TV)
Once connected, on your ipod go to videos>video settings>TV OUT and enable it (ON). Select the correct phase setting (PAL if you are in Europe or most of Asia, NTSC for the US and Japan).
Don’t worry about the other settings, as they don’t matter at this stage.
Next select your video and press play. The video should now appear on your TV and your ipod should display a freeze frame image similar to the coverview when you play music.
Brightness and the actual time position can be now adjusted from your ipod.
I hope this helps out a few of you.
Cheers
March 13th, 2008 at 12:47 am
I have an ipod touch, and am only getting audio when connecting to my tv thru the vcr. I have a 3 ended cable (red white and yellow) I’ve tried putting the colors all sorts of ways and get nothing but audio. When I go into video settings, I dont have a tv out option. The words are there, but they’re not clickable. Any chance anyone can tell me what I’m doing wrong?
Thanks in advance for your time!
March 30th, 2008 at 7:02 am
I have a 5G iPod video. I bought one of those cables (with the RED, WHITE, and YELLOW connectors). I plugged it into the headphone jack of my iPod, matched the colors as you instructed (RED–>YELLOW, YELLOW–>WHITE, WHITE–>RED), and made sure that my iPod was set to all the correct settings (TV Out: On ; NTSC; etc.).
The audio works perfectly. But, for some reason, no matter what I do, I’m only getting audio; no video signal whatsoever. If I fiddle around with the part that’s plugged into the headphone jack, I get some squiggly video (with really obnoxiously loud feedback on the audio), but that’s about the closest I’ve ever come to getting the video to work.
Any suggestions?
May 15th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Hi there I am having problems with my 80gb classic too, I have sound and picture through the tv bu the picture is a split screen double up? can anyone shed some light on why that would be happening?
May 21st, 2008 at 10:08 pm
This site has been very helpful. But, still cannot get video to display on the TV from my iPod.
The posting above by Tony on February 24th makes sense to me and is a great post.
I have 160Gb iPod Classic, Apple Component AV Cable (3 for video - red, blue, green) (2 for audio - red, white).
Trying to connect to a TV that has the Component inputs. Plug all 5 connectors in, set the iPod to TV OUT ON and cross my fingers. All I get is the audio, no picture coming through. Get lines of color and that is about it.
This TV is not an HDTV. If you have the component inputs on the TV but it is not an HDTV, will I be able to display video using my iPod or is an HDTV required? The other thing Tony mentioned is that you should have your iPod USB plugged in for power. I did not do this but my iPod had plenty of power and I had no issue with my iPod displaying.
Any help would be very much appreciated.
I have spent hours and hours on this. I am a Technology Teacher and we are trying to incorporate the students using iPods in the classroom, so this would be extremely helpful, but nothing has worked. I had 5 people working on it today and NOTHING!!!!
Thanks for any help.
June 19th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
i bought a portable tv with an ipod dock. i dock my ipod classic. i did what the instruction say but still there is no video
transfering to my portable tv screen. what im gonna do.