Filed under: iPod Family, Video
TV out locked in new iPod classic and nano
This is rather disappointing. According to iLounge, Apple has re-designed the TV out functionality of the new iPod classics and nanos so that they no longer work with older third-party TV out cables and docks. Apparently, the new classics and nanos require an Apple authentication chip in the dock/cable to unlock the TV out setting and these chips are only available to official third-party suppliers. At this point only official Apple products and a few select third-party offerings will unlock the TV out setting. The AV cables for the new iPods will reportedly sell for $49 when released.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Christina Warren said 11:25AM on 9-08-2007
That's pretty sucktastic - I mean, yeah, I understand the need to continue to sell new accessories to existing users, but come on - that's just LAME. And $50 for a TV-out cable? Are you kidding me? $30 was high enough, considering its just low-level wiring, but $50. Wow...that's just...wow.
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Jesse Gillespie said 11:36AM on 9-08-2007
This Apple-is-the-new-Microsoft thing gets more and more credibility with every boneheaded monopolistic move like this.
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Joe said 11:45AM on 9-08-2007
There is an obvious explanation for this in conjunction with the impending rental option - they need to control the output so people can't steal the rented movies easily. I'm sure the new cables and docks will have some form of protection to prevent you from attaching the iPod to a DVD recorder and making DVDs of any video content.
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DigitalFury said 11:45AM on 9-08-2007
Apple always has pulled stunts like that, nothing new to see here, unless you just got out of the distortion field.
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tanya said 11:47AM on 9-08-2007
Hi
I was wondering will the iPod touch work with speakers from JBL, Altec Lansing etc? I have a IM7 for my 3rd gen iPod, will it work with the new line?
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James Donevan said 12:19PM on 9-08-2007
The next bandwagon is now loading at this platform. All aboard!
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LittleJoe said 12:39PM on 9-08-2007
Well if you want all apple products all over your household maybe you should expect a little control from big brother in the accessory department too? imac, itunes, ipod, apple tv... why not apple cables, apple toaster, apple bread, apple cat?
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LittleJoe said 12:44PM on 9-08-2007
Well if you want all apple products all over your household maybe you should expect a little control from big brother in the accessory department too?
imac, itunes, ipod, apple tv... why not apple cables, apple toaster, apple bread, apple cat?
Im game.
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LittleJoe said 12:44PM on 9-08-2007
arghhh. delayed posts ftl.
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Angela said 12:50PM on 9-08-2007
Today my daughter and I went to the Apple store to look at the new stuff (and buy a family pack of iWork since our trial had run out). Honestly, I am satisfied with my 5G video which takes the regular cables and plays the movies and shows just fine on our 56" widescreen tv. We both agreed that the new Nanos are fugly, too! This business of making iPod stuff obsolete so soon is pure nonsense.
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Ric said 1:02PM on 9-08-2007
Slightly off topic on the A/V issue, but OS X 10.3.9 users beware, the iPod Classic requires 10.4.8, not just the ability to run iTunes 4.7. There is a discussion over on the Apple Support about the issue. Although it states 10.4.8 as required on the product page, the PDF manual for the classic states that 10.3.9 is the minimum requirement.
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Mo said 1:05PM on 9-08-2007
Although it sucks, I once had a third-party accessory that fried a PSX. The accessory in question was an extension cable for the PSX's controllers. Nothing fancy, just a male at one end, a female at the other, and each of the wires internally matching up. Difficult to get wrong, you'd think.
Turns out, the cable shorted and destroyed the PSX's controller board. I even managed to find a near-dead spare PSX (the motor didn't work too well, and it was on the scrap-heap) to try it with, and it fried the controller board in that one, too.
So as much as it sucks royally that you can't use unapproved third-party cables for something as simple as an A/V out, I wonder if it's partly to do with a testing process they have to go through before they'll get the authentication chip, so as to prevent bogus third party cables from frying iPods and suchlike.
Personally, I think it's probably a bit of a stretch (if the cable's that bogus, it'll fry the iPod regardless of whether it needs a chip to actually “work” or not), and more likely to do with support in this instance: Apple will ultimately, whether it's official or not, have to field the phonecalls and e-mails from people with faulty iPod accessories, and that costs money. It's a reasonable supposition that Apple wants to restrict accessories to those from companies who have a comparatively low fault-rate so that its own support costs aren't increased disproportionately by a third party.
Or maybe they just want to screw everyone. Who knows?
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Fuck Apple said 1:07PM on 9-08-2007
var Apple = new Microsoft();
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ItGuy said 1:19PM on 9-08-2007
Before crying "Apple hates Consumers", did you check this out?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300233
It looks like Apple has done away with composite and S-Video on the new iPods? The new docks and cales are not compatible with the old iPods, which has me thinking Apple has changed some of the pinouts of the Dock connector.
It's possible that Apple is re-using some pins or has modified the output of some of them (removed S-video, composite, or reassigned them). If you look at all the pinouts on the web, none talk about the Y-Pb-Pr pinouts, just composite and S-Video.
Those poorly designed units that were using the composite outs may be SOL, but if we find the new pinouts I'd imagine that there is no "chip".
What probably happened is those that licensed the specs from Apple will have their accessories work. Those that didn't and reverse engineered the protocol will be SOL.
Happens all the time. Head over to a Canon SLR forum and ask about Sigma lens compatibility with new Canon bodies....
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artifex said 1:23PM on 9-08-2007
I'd love to take an apple cat. I'm sure it'll come in my choice of colors and won't poop everywhere like a vista cat. Only problem is, won't it show fingerprints and only have one button with which to interact?
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Shawn said 2:01PM on 9-08-2007
This is stupid. As much as people where complaining about the price drop they should be complaining more loudly about this. Thanks for nothing , Steve Jobs.
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PSM said 2:07PM on 9-08-2007
Wow, Apple really is becoming the new Microsoft. It's very sad to me because the events of this week are really echoing why I left Windows in the first place: MS started purposely breaking 3rd party software with their updates.
The other reason was that they released WindowsME, but I don't think Apple will have that problem with Leopard. Still, I don't like seeing them going down the path to the dark side.
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kai said 2:08PM on 9-08-2007
this sucks big time. no nano for me till the hack is out.
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BobbyW said 2:44PM on 9-08-2007
Moves like this that break perfectly good accessories that people already have are bad for business, consumers, and the environment.
Apple already tried a stunt like this with the yellow red white rca cable we all know. People figured out their little game and now they're at it again, with bigger guns.
I find this extremely disappointing.
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Rich said 3:17PM on 9-08-2007
If there is a "chip" in the cable then it maybe more than an unlock device. It could be that the "chip" actually has some of the circuitry required to generate video signals. By removing it from the iPod they have cut the costs for those that don't need that functionality.
How many times have we seen people complain "give me a cheaper version of Product-X without Feature-Y because I don't need it"?
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