Apple Composite AV Cable - MB129LL/A

Unfortunately Apple had to create this cable with a chip to block copyrighted content from being stolen. This was required by the movie studios for the latest generation. It sucks, but it isn't Apples fault.

I found, like others that my old Component cable would not be recognized by my new 160gb classic. Luckily I had a docking station w/ remote nearby.

( http://www.amazon.com/Premiertek-Cradle-Station-Remote-Control/dp/B000NWTLH8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1200630095&sr=1-1 )

I thought I'd try the old cable with that, and wouldn't you know, that didn't work either.

what did happen was that instead of showing me an error sign on my iPod screen, the iPod showed that the movie was playing. I unplugged the iPod from the dock, swapped in the cable, and viola! Video on my TV withought shelling out big $$ for a new apple cable.

enjoy.

UPDATE: Well, I bought one of these cables from Apple for $56 (shipped directly from Hong Kong - where all great American products come from), and plugged it in. Now the video comes out on the screen! Yippee! But wait... when I adjust the audio with the click wheel it shows the slider control on the screen adjusting the level, but the sound output stays constant! Why put the slider control on the screen? I guess I will have to plug my audio in using the headphone jack if I want the audio to adjust when I use the IPOD. That makes perfect sense - make me buy an A/V cable to get the video out of the IPOD, then don't allow me to adjust the audio levels when I plug in the "A" part of that very cable into the audio input. This just means you will need to bring along those extra cables unless you want to fumble around with the remote control on the TV *and* the IPOD to manipulate playback of a video.


BUT WAIT!!!! THERE'S MORE!!!! Let's say you want to play "Music" on your stereo or TV with this new $56.00 cable... well, you can't. No audio comes out when you play music. Only when you play videos does audio come out of this cable. Slide shows can't have music either. Nope, that's right, no music playing behind your slide show, but you *CAN* hear the clicks when you move the volume control, which helps your audience with the slide show experience.


What more can I say? Maybe this is part of the "Green-ness" of Apple's new marketing campaign. They've gone green. Never mind copper and silver - just green, and lots of it if you want to use their products. It is kind of them though to employ those kids in Hong Kong to make their multitude of cables necessary to plug the IPOD in to something.


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At first, I was skeptical, after all, I've been using Crapintosh since 1985 and got my first Mac - a Powerbook 100, and next a Powerbook 180c. That was my first bend over experience with Apple. $5,500.00 for a laptop that they discontinued and obsoleted after about 5 months. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, so I got an Ipod "Classic" for x-mas. I actually asked for a Creative Zen (who does a much better job at design, and *INCLUDES* the cables!!!) but got a 160Gb ipod classic instead. So I went to plug the video into a TV set so I could share a video with my 83 year old grandpa, and oops - no video. The little screen said: "Make sure your wallet is open for Apple's greedy fingers, and you have a video accessory plugged in" or something like that. So the video no longer comes out of the headphone jack with a a/v cable. HOW LAME! You need their special cable for $50.00.

My last Apple MacBook has had so many problems (four times I had to return it). First was for the CPU overheating and coming unglued. Next was a CPU failure (yes they just reglued an overheated CPU to fix my $2,000.00 crapintosh), and next was a video problem that required a replacement mb. The last time was the icing on the cake for me... but I am off track here.

This is such a great cable (I guess, because I can't find one in stock...) You shell out $50.00 plus shipping for a few cents worth of cable, plastic and metal... so that Crapple can keep their investors happy. Apple - you suck.

I was a bit skeptical about this product at first. Mainly because of the price. But, later found out that it actually has 4 functions. It comes with the usb power adaptor, the usb syncing cable, can be used to hook up to your stereo and also your tv. It works with just about any tv. I was pleasently suprised by the video quality and also the auido quality. If your going to buy a usb power adaptor for $40 then this just an extra $20 and you get two more functions with it (stereo and tv connection). The only other thing is the component cable is the same price so Im thinking about exchanging this one for that, so that I can use it on a HD tv in the future. Im still not 100% sure you can use the component cable with regular tvs. Works to display any video that is on your iPod touch and also you tube videos and any other videos from your safari browser which are not flash based. Great product overall and worth the money. Edit: Cables can also be used when you purchase or rent movies from the iTunes store then transfer the movie to your iPod and conncet the cables to your tv. Instead of spending atleast $250 on an apple tv you can get these cables which are only about $50-$60. Keep in mind the quality is much better with the apple tv but the cables allow dvd quality videos to be displayed on your tv.

Until the most recent incarnation of the iPod, you could use any company's composite video cable to stream video or pictures from your iPod to your TV. I got a great cable on Amazon for my 5.5G iPod to do just this not long ago, and paid about $15 for it. Apple, however, now requires an "authentication chip" on the cable, otherwise the iPod "Classic" will not stream to TV. Only Apple and "Apple authorized" cables--which will sell for about $50--can now be used. Oh, the cable comes with a USB charger? Big f#@*&!g deal: I can hook my iPod to my computer and charge it or put it in my JBL speakers. If I wanted another charger, I'd buy another charger. But if you just want a cable to view your movies and pictures, sorry, that will now cost you about $50.

I love Apple's computers, and would never buy a PC, but this is just simple, stupid greed. Apple has been on a mission to kill proprietary video and music formats, so why the hell is it requiring a proprietary chip to allow its latest iPods to stream content? Simple, stupid greed.