I have a 60gb Video iPod. I've had this problem for a while now. whenever I select TV out on Video or Photos I get a scrambled video on the TV(yes it's on NTSC!) and a Humm in the audio, I've tried all 3 RCA jacks, they all give me Humm and Scrambled Video.
Usually an audio hum is caused by electrical interference but most commonly its a bad ground, in cables this is broken wire or shield. Try finding another cable and give that a shot.
I had the exact same issue and i found exactly the reason why some cable work, and some cable do not.
Here's the low down:
The Video Ipod has 4 connections in its earphone jack. 3 signals and 1 ground. The tricky part is the sequence of these 4 connections. Starting from the bottom of the jack, you have the following sequence: Signal A - Signal B - Ground - Signal C.
When you use your standard earphones to listen to music, the 3rd signal (Signal C) is disabled. But when you activate the video output, Signal C is activated.
The tip of the cable i was using (and i guess the one you are using too) was setup in the following sequence: Signal A - Signal B - Signal C - Ground (i checked and confirmed it with a standard multimeter). So when you plug it in the Ipod, the 3rd signal from the Ipod gets connected to the ground of the cable, thus scrambling everything.
To make your connection work, you need a cable connected with the following sequence (the color of the wire do not mather because you can always switch them around, but the location of the ground
IS critical)
Signal - Signal - Ground - Signal
If you are at a retail electronic shop, and you're not sure if the cable fits, ask the technician to make a short and open test on your cable before you make your purchase. You should have the following results for it to work on your ipod:
Tip (Signal A) -> Short with 1 RCA tip
1st ring (Signal B) -> Short with 2nd RCA tip
2nd ring (Ground) -> Short with all 3 RCA rings
3rd and last ring (Signal C) -> Short with 3rd RCA tip
So you don't need the actual brand name Ipod AV cable, but you do need a cable with the same signal/ground configuration.
This has been verified and i garantee that it's 100% accurate. Hope it helps.
Try going back to the origional settings on your Ipod
Go to your main menu>settings>reset all settings>reset
Seems like one for the DUH! file but that was the only thing that let me play videos on my TV. I must have changed the settings so much that something wasn't working right.
Signal is PERFECT now
Dual processor 2.5 GHz G5-8GB RAM Mac OS X (10.4.8) been with apple since 1987
