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Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away.
In a move that's bound to confound and anger iPod users, it seems the company has disabled the TV Out feature on the new iPod nano and iPod classic, rendering nearly all third party TV docking cables and stations useless.
I first noticed this when setting up my new iPod classic. In the Settings menu, the TV Out option was frozen in the "off" setting. I thought perhaps the iPod had to be connected to a TV out dock or cable in order for the setting to be changed, so I didn't think any more of it until I went to watch my Seahawks highlights—purchased through the iTunes store—on my TV via the DLO HomeDock Deluxe II.
Nothing. So, that's $150 down the drain with no warning or explanation from Apple. Thanks, guys.
Official word is that the TV Out in the new iPods will only work with accessories that include an Apple authentication chip. Of course, Apple's docks and cables include this chip. Chances are very good, however, that the third-party cables and docks you currently use do not.
What's the reason for this? I can't really say, as I have yet to hear any sort of official explanation from Apple. It most likely wouldn't be a digital copyright issue, as Apple encourages people to download and watch videos on the iPod. No reason, then, to refuse people the ability to watch those videos on a TV after they're paid for.
Moves like this can, however, drive people to Apple products. If you've been burnt like this before, would you risk buying another third-party product or stick with Apple products to ensure compatibility? The only TV Out products of which I know that currently work with the new iPod nano and iPod classic are the $49.00 Apple Component AV Cable and the $49.00 Apple Universal Dock, and those aren't even available until next month.
Is it, then, to drive sales of AppleTV? Any video you can transfer to your iPod, after all, can be played through AppleTV.
I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so I doubt Apple is purposely trying to kill off third-party devices and make you give Apple more money. Most likely, there's something in the new chipsets that's causing this to happen, and Apple just didn't care to or was too lazy to correct the issue. This will work out well for Apple-authorized third-party developers, too, as they'll now be moving more products once they've got the Apple authentication chip in their devices. Be sure when shopping for such products that you do your homework first to find out if the cable or dock is compatible with your iPod.
So, that just leaves us, the people who actually buy this stuff, to figure out if it's worth it to lay down more cash in order to use the iPod the way Apple, you know, actually wants us to use it. Steve Jobs and Apple may be making this concept of a "digital hub" easy to use, but they sure aren't making it cheap.
Tags: Hot Topics ď iPod ď iPod News ď
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I have been trying to find out about this for a week or two.
On Apples discussion boards there are some who theorize that this was a mistake from a feature designed to help people and reduce support problems.
Many people now switch on video out and then later when they try and play a movie or pictures get a blank screen. So apple made it have to be connected to a Video out before you could be turned on, unfortunate its not working with 3rd party devices.
*IF* this is the case it should be simple to update and give you an option to not check for device, just like there is now an option to *ask* about video out. Since most people never use video out, and I have personally seen people get confused by the black screen I think this is possible.
There are other conspiracy theorists that think this is a way to make you buy an expensive Apple accessory. Just like there are those that thought and still think that Apple changed the Video Out of the headphone jack from that of a standard camcorder cable to force you to buy a proprietary cable. These people don’t bother to think that if Apple used the same connection as a Camcorder then standard headphones wouldn’t work and you would have to buy proprietary headphones. (The new iPods “Classic” & “Video Nano” no longer have video out the headphone jack, just the dock connector)
Its also been reported that once you turn on the “Video Out” you can then put it in a third party device and it will work until the end of the video, but when you start a new one it will *check* again. People have been putting them in an Apple dock, starting to play the video, and then while its playing switch it to a 3rd party device.
I have called Apple Sales who were not sure about this, so contacted a “iPod Engineer” He stated that the “Video Out” of the dock connector is exactly the same as the previous generation, so all devices that worked with the 5.5 iPod Video should work with the new classic.
I also called iPod tech support and they also told me that any device that worked with Video Out of the Dock on the previous iPods would work with the new classics.
So I’m leaning to this being a unintentional mistake that HOPEFULLY will be fixed soon. It seems its just this software check is not recognizing the 3rd party devices.
If it was deliberate I’d think that the “iPod Engineer” and the iPod tech support person would have known that it wouldn’t work.
OH, please turn the auto refresh off, its very frustrating when you are writing a LONG post and then have the page refresh and erase everything.