Ahhhhh: Connecting Ibook to TV

[brobson]

I am unable to connect my newly purchased tv adapter to my tv and apple won't answer any questions unless I bring it back in. (I cannot even lift my tv) and I did bring my ibook in and they assured me this was all I needed. I cannot find answers on the net that I can understand and of course I am not under warranty so there's no applecare. Why doesn't apple just print instructions!!!!!

My cord looks like this:
http://www.canadiancomputer.com/product_details.php?id=165

It says it is for the ibook with an external reset button. That'd be the power button on the top maybe?


Is this what I am supposed to have?
http://www.canadiancomputer.com/product_details.php?id=159

I opened my quicktime movie and hooked the video out (yellow) plug to the tv and plugged in the end to the ibook. I then opened my displays and clicked detect displays and nothing happened. I turned both off and on again and still nothing.

Am I hooking it up wrong on the TV? Should I go through my vcr?
Help me please.
The ibook is 2004
Brenda

 

[Anonymous Freak]

The second one is what you are supposed to have. Earlier iBooks used the cable you actually bought, yours uses the second one.

edit: The external reset button is *NOT* the power button. The cable you bought only works on the "Late 2001" or earlier iBooks. Starting with the "16 MB VRAM" (May 2002) model, they use the latter cable.

The difference is that the cable you bought is for a special modified headphone port that has an extra connector, that the cable you bought converts into a standard RCA video plug. This type of cable is reasonably commonly used on camcorders, and works just fine with the iPod Photo and video iPod, too. (So you can get video out through the headphone port.) The second cable breaks out from the mini-VGA port to give you both RCA (composite) and S-Video plugs. This allows for the higher-quality S-Video connection, but means that you have to run a separate headphone-to-dual-RCA cable from the headphone jack. The headphone jack on your model only has two 'data' connectors, so the cable you bought doesn't even have anything connecting to the 'video' part of the plug.

 

[brobson]

Thanks soooo much

Thanks,
I will at least stop trying to make this one work.
Tell me kind sir, when I get this adapter, what exactlly do I need in addition to hook it up and how exactly do I hook it up. (I am not the least bit technical as you can see, that's why I bought an apple-ha)

 

[brobson]

Rats

Ok now I bought the new connector ($20) and a video S cable ($20) and discovered my tv is so old it doesnt' have a spot for the s cable. So we ran it through the vcr, put the channel on L2 shut it all down and started it up, began the quicktime movie, turned on the tv, tried to detect displays and still nothing.
Am I just out of luck here?

 

[Anonymous Freak]

Alright, so you are running it through your VCR.

First, set your TV so that you can view a videotape from your VCR.

Second, plug the Apple Video Adapter into the plug on the iBook (it is the same plug that a monitor would plug in to, the closest 'big' plug to the front, just before the headphone port.)

Third, plug the cable from the Apple Video Adapter into your VCR. Make sure it is in a 'Video In' port not a 'Video Out' port.

Fourth, on the Mac, go into System Preferences, then Displays, then click 'Detect Displays'. Your Mac should then show two displays in System Preferences.

Fifth, find an 'Input' or similarly named button on your VCR or its remote. It should allow you to switch between multiple inputs (one of which should be normal TV channels, one should be the video input plug on the back, and if your VCR has a video input plug on the front, that would be another listing. For example, if my VCR was on channel 3, and I pressed the 'Input' button, it would switch from "3" to "AV1" to "AV2" back to "3".)

You should see a mirror of what is on your iBook's display. (The iBook only supports mirroring, so you will always see the exact same picture on both the iBook's display as well as any external display (computer monitor or TV.)

Later tonight, I'll do a quick video tutorial for you.

 

[brobson]

Alright, so you are running it through your VCR.

First, set your TV so that you can view a videotape from your VCR.

Second, plug the Apple Video Adapter into the plug on the iBook (it is the same plug that a monitor would plug in to, the closest 'big' plug to the front, just before the headphone port.)

Third, plug the cable from the Apple Video Adapter into your VCR. Make sure it is in a 'Video In' port not a 'Video Out' port.

Fourth, on the Mac, go into System Preferences, then Displays, then click 'Detect Displays'. Your Mac should then show two displays in System Preferences.

Fifth, find an 'Input' or similarly named button on your VCR or its remote. It should allow you to switch between multiple inputs (one of which should be normal TV channels, one should be the video input plug on the back, and if your VCR has a video input plug on the front, that would be another listing. For example, if my VCR was on channel 3, and I pressed the 'Input' button, it would switch from "3" to "AV1" to "AV2" back to "3".)

You should see a mirror of what is on your iBook's display. (The iBook only supports mirroring, so you will always see the exact same picture on both the iBook's display as well as any external display (computer monitor or TV.)

Later tonight, I'll do a quick video tutorial for you.

Thanks, that did the trick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!