Ipod Touch - which docking station
 

My old ipod crashed for a fourth time last month, and BestBuy gave me a full credit under my extended warranty yesterday - 3 months short of it expiring! ^ I used the credit to get a 16g ipod touch. So far I like it, except when I try to dock it and play my videos on my TV, I get sound but no picture.

Apple CS told me I must use their universal docking station (I have Dynex right now) and apple cables -composite or component.

Before I shell out the extra $100 ($50 for the docking station and $50 for the cables) can anyone tell me if it is really necessary? Has anyone docked with another brand?

If I do have to purchase cables which ones would be better? I have a Sony Wega LCD tv.

Thanks in advance.

You need an Apple cable for this but not a docking station. Go to Apple.com and look at their cables and make sure it says it works on the iTouch and you will be OK.

thanks, planemechanic. I had asked the CS rep if I could do that and he told me no!

True, you don't need both a docking station and a cable, but only if the cable has a dock connector on one end. If you want a docking station, you should be able to buy a cheap cable to connect the docking station to the TV:

http://www.macdevcenter.com/pub/a/ma...ideo-ipod.html

Note that this cable cannot be connected directly to an iPod touch (as the minijack doesn't have video out).

The problem is that the new generation iPods don't send video without a new generation dock. They will work just fine for audio and syncing but for video out you'll need the original Apple dock or cable. The reason is because Apple added an authentication chip in their docks.

The previous link posted by cjheck only works for old(er) iPods as the Classic, iPhone, Nano (new nano) and Touch no longer send video over the headphone jack.

Even with that video cable posted above you can ONLY get video out on a dock with authentication...

Sad, but true
 

Unfortunately for us consumers, it appears that you must now have both the apple docking station and apple cables. I tried the fix with an apple universal docking station and it still won't work. Major hassle, at least for me, since I can't even go buy the cables where I live. Need to order and have them shipped - just that one little bit of added expense.:mad:

All very aggravating! Right now, I'm leaning towards returning the docking station and sticking with hooking the laptop up to the tv.

I agree. It is a major inconvenience. When I got my 80Gb Classic they didn't even have the dock connector video cables, and I often use my iPod in the car to play stuff for my daughter, so I was driving around with a dock and video cable... It took them 2 months to get the cables out there.