Missing AV cable? Maybe not!

Using the Ipod Photo as a picture viewer with a tv is an interesting feature for me.

I found it hard to believe that the optional AV cable available at about 30,- € should be necessary to get the images on tv.

We own a Sony camcorder and a Nikon coolpix camera, which both have an AV cable with a 2.5mm AV jack. The Nikon camera is mono only, so I tried with the Sony cable. At first I got no image. Then I tried switching the three composite video and audio inputs, and - voilá!

Just swap the yellow (composite video) and red (audio right) cables, and congratulate yourself for just saving 19,- $ (US) or 39,-€ (Austria).

When I first showed some images from the last holidays to my families they really enjoyed the experience, while they are used to slide shows with 35mm slides, the added music and the ease of setup are really appreciated.

For me having literally thousands of images in my pocket for sharing with friends and relatives is a nice additional bonus to the mp3 features.

No Movies? Turn it on!

Using the Ipod let´s you appreciate it´s speed and great usability. But one question came up, not only by me but also by other people trying using it or watching a slide show:

Can it also play videos? Why not??

This is a gif animation with only a few of the originally about 2000 single frames of my Ipod clould "movie"

Some guys tried to "play" movies by exporting the movie to individual jpeg frames and displaying the frames quickly one after the other by turning the click wheel.

I think this is kind of stupid, it will make your fingers sore and you´ll need to have lot´s and lot´s of pictures for a full length movie (25fps x 60s x 90min. = 135000 images!!!). Not even to mention synchronous sound...

But: I am fond of time-lapse movies. Since they start-off as sequences of images, and there is no natural sound (imagine listening to somebody talking sped up by a factor of 200... ouch!).

I uploaded a time-lapse sequence consisting of about 2000 images and was surprised by the effect. You get a nice time-lapse movie like experience with the click wheel acting as a jog-dial like on professsional VCRs!

Cheap protection

The display and the chrome plated backside of the Ipod are quite sensitive to scratches.
The Ipod didn´t come with any protection, so I considered buying one of the not quite cheap accessories.
When the Ipod was lying around on my chaotic desk, I noticed that the cheap Tevion Card Reader which I use, is approximately the same size. I dug out the case which came with the card reader, tried to put it on the ipod - and voilá it fits like a glove!