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iPod touch Will the iPod Touch ever get a Video out?

U

urbanskywalker

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 30, 2007
255
0
Do you think the iPod Touch will ever get a Video out? I would like to be able to use an iPod touch to make a Keynote presentation. I teach a lot of classes for which I use a laptop, but I would love to be able to just take a small touch. Is this just dreaming at this point?
 
What does the special cable do? I have a cable from my previous iPod but I can't figure out how to enable TV out on the Touch itself.
 
There was a thread on this just the other day...

You can output either Composite (Yellow, Red, White) or Component (Red, Green, Blue) video from the iPod touch. You just need the cables that Apple sells on their website that connected through the dock connector. These new cables are required for the new iPod Classic/Nano/Touch/iPhone because of the DRM chips they contain.
 
yuck...DRM......but yes, the Apple Cable is a simple solution.


But as far as I know, that doesn't work for the internet browser, email, etc(its pretty much only good for videos and music)
 
I'm trying to use the cable from the headphone port. I'm not playing DRM-protected video, but I can't even figure out how to enable the TV output.
 
Nermal said:
I'm trying to use the cable from the headphone port. I'm not playing DRM-protected video, but I can't even figure out how to enable the TV output.
Click to expand...

It should happen when you go to play a video, and the special "chip enabled" cable is connected to a compatible video source. I believe when you hit "play" it will pop up a window to ask "where?" and let you select the TV out.

The DRM is a handy excuse, but I think the real reason is so they can charge you another $50 for the "special" cable.
 
So the old cable won't work at all? In that case you're right, it does sound like Apple's being greedy.
 
iHerzeleid said:
Instead of the chip being inside the iPod Touch, it's inside the cable.
Click to expand...

Basically, yeah.

Apple isn't necessarily being greedy here, although it is a profit-seeking company. The iPods no longer have the hardware in them to export video through the headphone jack. I'm sure this saves them room, power and some money to boot.

So to review, the only way to get video out of a current-generation iPod is with the video cables that connect through the dock port.
 
Nermal said:
So the old cable won't work at all? In that case you're right, it does sound like Apple's being greedy.
Click to expand...

Not completely. There's a tad bit of functionality issues as well. It's due in part to the iPhone; the 4th segment of the headphone jack was being used for video up until the iPhone came out, which used the 4th segment for audio. To allow the iPhone to have video out, a dock connector solution was needed, so Apple used that opportunity to mandate an additional DRM chip (whereas previous iPods didn't need the DRM chip to output video through the dock connector IIRC). As thus, all current iPods don't have anything that connects to the 4th segment.
 
This made me think. If the TV out hardware is not actually in the iPod, then how can Apple advertise that the iPod has TV out functionality? Well, it seems that Apple has thought of this too, as I can't find any mention of TV out support on the iPod website.

On the other hand, I've only ever used the TV out once on my old iPod so it's not really that big a deal :rolleyes:
 
my old cable (from my 5th Gen) works great om my iphone, i Plug the phone into the universal dock (the one with the IR window) and play my videos on My tv. Mow the only thing special about that cable is apple changed the colours arround on the yellow and red i think
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

millar876 said:
my old cable (from my 5th Gen) works great om my iphone, i Plug the phone into the universal dock (the one with the IR window) and play my videos on My tv. Mow the only thing special about that cable is apple changed the colours arround on the yellow and red i think
Click to expand...

The cable you got with your 5th gen is probably okay to use because its new enough.

Just out of curiosity, could you try to play a purchased video through that video cable and see if it works?
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A93 Safari/419.3)

I think that $50 is ridiclous for a set of cables, I mean come on.. We all paid $300+ for our iPods, you would think they could throw some more in for that. :/

Though I am very happy with mine, dont get me wrong
 
So, if I have the cable, will I be able to control a slideshow from an iPod Touch? What would the quality be like?
 
I use my old iPod Universal Dock and A/V cable with a Classic just fine. I've noticed no "DRM chip" troubles, just that since the iPhone, the extra connector on the mini-jack is now used for microphone input instead of video output. The video out is now only available through the dock connector. Even the cable that came with an old camcorder works from the dock's line-out. Unless the Classic lacks the DRM of the Touch or Apple started putting the DRM chip into docks in 2005, I think it's all just smoke and mirrors.


So, if I have the cable, will I be able to control a slideshow from an iPod Touch? What would the quality be like?
Click to expand...

Yes. Apple Product Page.
 
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