To all who own or planning to buy video ipod

[shhas]

I wanted to share something interesting with you all. I replaced my ipod photo and bought the new ipod video (which I think really rocks). Anyway, to keep the cost down Apple is not including any extras with the new ipod. The old one had a charger stand, USB and firewire wire cable, AC adapter and AV cables. The new one comes pretty much bare bone.

That brings us to buying accessories. Interestingly, you can send your compressed videos to your TV from the new ipod. Obviously, you need an AV cable (left, right audio plus video). Apple says you need to purchase their AV cable or the one put out by Belkin which is sold out and not available as the other AV cables are not compatible with the new ipod.

So I get my ipod an hook it up to my TV with my regular 3.5mm jack/RCA AV combo cable, and I get a faint sound and no picture. Getting ready to order the sucker from Apple I do a little search on the internet blogs. Thank God for the internet!

What they have done is to substitute the order of contact on the internal plug! In other words, if you attach audio red to red, white to white and yellow to yellow for video.. you get crap. But wait, if you instead hook the red output (supposedly audio) to yellow plug on TV and vice versa .. you get perfect sound and picture Now most people go and buy the cable for ten times the price for this little sneaky move.. shame on you Apple (still pretty darn cool gadget)

[scubasteve2365]

I'm recieving one as a gift for christmas. A 30gig Video Ipod.

What exactly does it come with?

Does it come with anything at all?

does it at least come with a wall charger and connection to the PC? I would think that would be obvious, and I assumed so, but your post seems to be the contrary

[shhas]

It comes with a headset (too big for most people's ear canals), case, and a USB cable which also works as a charger cable off the USB port. No AC charger, dock, AV cables... you need to buy those now.

[smearbrick1]

My IPod photo came did not come with a cradle. From what I've read, none of the newer IPods come with a cradle. My did, however, come with a USB cable and the wall charger.

[rallynavvie]

Yeah, my 60GB color (4G) only had the AC charger with its USB cable and the earbuds, no dock or AV cable or case. I had to buy my FireWire cable and dock seperately. Last I heard the new video ones do not support FireWire at all. If you get a FireWire cable that connects to the Dock Connector and it works let me know, because that's really the only thing keeping me from getting one.

However the new one does come with a simple case for it, which is actually a nice thing to have since one of the first things most people get for theirs is some sort of case. And you can choose between white and black. To author the video properly on a PC I think you need the full version of QT Pro so you need to spend another $30 on that if you don't have the proper codec to begin with. I think Premiere Pro has the H264 codec bundled with it though, or perhaps my old version of QT Pro put it there.

[Doramius]

What they have done is to substitute the order of contact on the internal plug! In other words, if you attach audio red to red, white to white and yellow to yellow for video.. you get crap. But wait, if you instead hook the red output (supposedly audio) to yellow plug on TV and vice versa .. you get perfect sound and picture Now most people go and buy the cable for ten times the price for this little sneaky move.. shame on you Apple (still pretty darn cool gadget)

Sounds like it should work, but it all depends on whether the common for the video & audio are running along the same line or isolated from each other. I'd have to see the tips of the cables to tell you for sure what apple did, but I wouldn't put it past a company to pull a small stunt like that so the lame consumer would have to buy a special cord & spend more money.

A friend had an SNES power supply go out on him. rather than buy a whole new PSU unit, he went to Radio shack and spent less than $5 for a standard wall wart socket. Opened up the SNES and changed the socket out. Made sure the polarity was correct and plugged in a wallwart that went to a phone that no longer worked. I also think the end to the original wallwart tip had damage, so we couldn't just cut & splice the cables.

If you check the PSUs on game consoles, they usually run generically along similar voltages & currents to cheap stuff you can get anywhere. To make a few extra bucks, they mod something to make lure the general person into a captivated market. Not all of the companies do this, but most of the big names do. Check it out. Just check the main input voltage & current.

[Conquest10]

The $299 iPods never came with a dock. Only the $399 and up versions. Did they just get rid of it? My iPod came with a Firewire cable, earbuds, and charger.

Firewre is not usuable in the video iPods. It will give an error message. Its USB only.

[Faustus]

This sounds like a problem with the cable and not the iPod unless I missread it.

[rallynavvie]

No, I don't think the new ones support FireWire at all.

[Doramius]

Though as good as firewire Really is. It's widespread use is going the way of Apple/Mac. USB has taken the market before firewire can show off it's working capability. Only heavy PC users seem to use firewire on a frequent basis, but even they use USB items quite often as well. The market is much stronger for USB than firewire currently. Maybe it'll change, but when I go to the store, I don't see that change happening anytime soon.

As for the iPod having a dock or not, companies lately are making accessories before the units themselves are making it on the shelves. Plus there are people who only use the iPod in their car and have no need for the AC wall dock. By selling the base unit alone, a consumer can buy the individual accessories they prefer on their own. It's great I can get a bundle pack for cheaper, though it has RCA cable connection & wall dock, but What the heck am I gonna do with an iPod carry case that includes a lipstick holder & mirror? The bundle still doesn't come with the S/Video cable connection nor the car charger for when I would be using the unit the most.

[shelbyGT]

Back when I got my 40GB iPod, it came with firewire and usb, dock and earbuds. Now they come with USB and earbuds only? Dang... that must suck.