iPod TouchHave you ever rented a movie from iTunes for your iPod but yearned to watch it on your television? Did you know you could connect your iPod to your TV to watch whatever you download onto your iPod? When consumers invest in an iPod, they often forget all the things they can do with it.

Connecting it to a TV is just one of the many things you can do to make watching movies easier on your eyes. It also allows you to share videos on your iPod with family, friends and coworkers.

 

What do you need to connect your iPod to a TV?

You only need three things to connect your iPod to a TV. You need your iPod, a television with at least component cable hook-ups and a camcorder A/V cable. The A/V cable does not necessarily have to be from a camcorder, but this is the simplest method available. As long as your cable has red, yellow and white plug-ins on one end and an A/V plug at the opposite end, you are set.

If you do not have the A/V cable, you can often find them at electronics retailers. If your local store does not have any, you can try online at Amazon or eBay. Once you have your A/V cable ready, you can hook your iPod up to your TV.

How to find compatible videos for your iPod:

The first step to connecting your iPod to your TV is to find the right type of videos to play on it. The quickest way to do this is hook your iPod up to your computer, open iTunes and visit the store. You will find a variety of TV shows, movies and more to watch on your iPod. Some of these downloads are free, others will cost you between $0.99 and $2.00. Once you have downloaded a few videos to watch, you can transfer them to your iPod and change the settings on the unit to watch them on TV.

You can also convert any videos on your computer to iPod compatible format and watch them on the TV.

How to change the video settings to watch your iPod on TV:

Next, you want to change your iPod settings so it knows to transmit to the television and not the built-in screen when playing videos. You want to go to your Video Settings. There are three settings that will need to be changed here: TV Out, TV Signal and Widescreen.

Your iPod can play widescreen video just not on its own screen. If the video you want to watch was in widescreen format (16:9), you want to make sure this setting is set to widescreen.  If the video was in standard format, leave it at standard so it does not stretch across the screen.

video settings in iPod

The TV Out feature tells your iPod to broadcast through the television or any other device you may hook it up to. You have three options here: Yes, No and Ask. Yes and no are obvious; Ask means the iPod will seek your advice before automatically playing back video.

The TV Setting option allows you to choose which country setting your television is set up for. If you are in the United States, this is NTSC. If you are in Europe, this is PAL. It is important to set it to the right standard otherwise videos from your iPod will not play when connected to the television.

How to connect your iPod to a TV:

Now, it is time to connect your iPod to your television. The first step is to plug the A/V cable into your iPod. You take the jack of the cable and stick it where your headphones go. From there, you have to connect the red, yellow and white cables to your TV. This part can be tricky, so make sure to keep this guide handy when you hook it up so you remember which cable goes where. Normally, the video signal on a cable like this travels through the yellow cable.

blank tv jacks

Apple, however, decided they would transmit video through the red cable. This means that you have to plug your A/V cable in a little differently than normal to get the desired result. You want to plug the red into the yellow jack, the yellow into the white jack and the white into the red jack. This may seem confusing at first but the more you hook your iPod up to the TV, the easier it will become to remember how to hook the A/V cable up properly.

filled tv jacks

Now, you are just about set. You want to turn your TV on, turn your iPod on and navigate to whatever channel or source your television uses for A/V connections. From your iPod, you should be able to begin playing the video you want.

If you chose the “Ask” feature in the TV Out setting, it will ask you if you want to connect before starting playback. Click “TV On” to continue. From here on out, you will control the video from your iPod. You can pause, play, speed through or go back to parts as well as control the volume.

Conclusion – Is watching movies and more on TV through an iPod worth the hassle?

If you own a big screen TV, a Blu Ray player and all the bells and whistles for your home theater system, you may be thinking hooking your iPod up to your TV is a waste of time. It just may be in that case, but for the millions that own an iPod and a run of the mill TV, watching videos you download from the iTunes Store can be much easier by hooking it up this way.

It really depends on your set-up at home and whether you would get more enjoyment out of what you watch on your iPod on a television. Connecting an iPod to a TV to watch movies and more is easy to do if it is worth it for you.

See Also:

How to connect your PC, Laptop to your TV