We all know that you can connect video-capable iPods up to televisions, using expensive connecting cables from Apple or a third-party supplier. Not everybody knows however, that you can do it with a couple of dollars' worth of standard cable from any Radio Shack or similar store.

Erica Sadun at Mac Dev Center posted a nice, clear guide a while back. All you need is an audio/visual cable with the standard three male phono jacks on one end (red, white and yellow) and an a/v minijack on the other (like your headphone jack but with an extra stripe).

Plug the minijack end into your iPod Video. Now plug the phono jacks into your TV,

but in the wrong order

. Put the red plug into the yellow socket on your TV. Put the yellow plug into the white socket on your TV, and the white plug into the red socket.

Now you need to set up some options on your iPod Video. Under the menu option for Videos > Video Settings, you have three settings: TV out, TV signal, and Widescreen. Set the TV out option to 'Ask', so that each time you play a video, your iPod will ask whether you want it to play on the TV or just on the iPod's own screen. Set the TV signal to either NTSC (for the US TV standard) or PAL (for the European TV standard). Set the Widescreen option on or off as appropriate for your TV. You don't need to change these settings in future - they should be fine for every time you hook the iPod and TV up to each other.

Now just switch your TV to the appropriate input channel, pick a video on your iPod and press play! The iPod screen should show your file details and progress bar, and the TV should show the video.

[Via Mac Dev Center]