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Composite or Component AV cable for iPhone?

What is the difference between these two cables? I have a 6 year old Sony Trinitron 36" tv. It's not a flat screen but it has the usual audio/video connections. Does it matter which cable I buy? Do these cables allow you to watch a movie or video stored on the iPhone on your tv?

Macbook Pro Core Duo 2; Airport Extreme Base Station "n", Mac OS X (10.4.10), Powerbook G4; iPod nano (2nd gen); iPhone 8G

Posted on Feb 10, 2008 2:10 PM

Reply
8 replies

Feb 10, 2008 2:29 PM in response to Bluesygirl

Hey Bluesygirl,

Yes, these cables allow you to output the audio and video to a TV. This article describes the cables and differences in detail:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=300233

Most people will buy the Apple Component AV Cable if they are only going to use it with a TV that has component connections. The Apple Composite AV will be compatible with a wider range of TV's, especially older TV's.

Jason

Apr 28, 2008 5:43 AM in response to Jason L

Hi Jason,

I’m wondering if you lend a helping hand.

I just bought the component av cables for my ipod nano 3rd gen. I want to watch a movie saved on my ipod on my TV... my problem is I can’t a visual all I get is the audio. How annoying.

I currently have the cables attached to my TV this way...

VIDEO END

Red is in the red port
Blue is in the white port
Green is in the yellow port

AUDIO END

Red is in the red port
White is in the white port

Any tips or tricks you can share would be great.

Cheers.

Apr 30, 2008 5:45 PM in response to Bluesygirl

Composite video is a composite of all the video signals into 1 yellow cable.
Component video splits each video component into 3 cables: red, green & blue.
Both have left & right audio in their own white & red cables.

Composite is much more common, and is therefore better if you plan to take your cable with you (on vacation to plug into the hotel TV, etc.)

Component video is meant to provide a better quality picture, but since the video source is a compressed video from an iPod or iPhone, I don't know if the component video would look any better than the composite video.

(I have both connections on my TV at home - I literally stood in the Apple store with the component cable box in my left hand, the composite box in my right hand, and me doing my best to not block any aisles trying to decide which to get. I bought the composite (yellow, white, red) cable, and was glad I did when I plugged it into a hotel TV and watched a movie on TV with it.)

Composite or Component AV cable for iPhone?

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