gstois

Does anyone know if the new video ipod outputs video that can be played on the rear seat entertainment system? It just occurred to me that this may be a good option for taking movies/shows on trips.

SilverLady

I don't have the rear entertainment system, but we do have the new video IPOD.

The rear entertainment system is supposed to have audio/video inputs for things like playing video games or movies from your videocam. If so, the standard inputs would be either regular RCA type jacks (like the red/white(or black)/yellow inputs on just about all TVs and VCRs OR an audio/video minijack which is like the output on the ipod and many other small devices.

You have a choice in wires. You can either buy an Apple version of the above wires (check which input you need first), or use standard wires that are much cheaper and that you might already have. Here is the kicker - I have read that Apple switched the wire code that everybody else in the whole country uses as standard - mainly that yellow is the video wire! If your DVD system inputs are RCA jacks no big deal - you just have to switch one of the other wires (I forget which color) and put it into the standard yellow video receptacle. If the DVD player uses a minijack input that obviously won't work - You would need to run minijack out of Ipod to RCA, then Female RCA to minijack (switching the colors) - or you could just buy the proprietary Apple wires.

This is a main reason I am not a big fan of Apple, even though I owned one of the first computers (the original Apple II without the disk drive) that they ever made.

The IPOD can be set for external play via the menu system. Then you should be able to tell the player to use the external input in some way.

gstois

Thanks! Can it output widescreen, and how good is the image quality on a small screen such as a car drop-down?

Also, is it pretty easy to get the content to it? Can you rip dvd's to it?

SilverLady

Sorry - I haven't done this yet - it is my daughter's IPOD and the only time she parts with it is to charge it (which must be done WAY more often than advertised, even when playing music with the backlight off). I have played audio out using regular miniplug to RCA jack wires to my stereo.

To answer some of your questions - There is a widescreen setting. Under the video menu, you can set it for video out (yes or no) and widescreen (yes or no). Not much else you can do.

For your second question - it is a pain. The only way to load anything into an IPOD is through Itunes - once you do that you can set it to automatically put new content on you IPOD, so that part is easy. HOWEVER, it is not a simple matter to just play whatever you have on the IPOD. Although my videocam software can convert my home video to all kinds of formats - write to regular DVD, write to CD in videoCD format, watch in several programs on my PC, and even format to watch on my PocketPC, it cannot save it in a format that will work in Itunes.

You can buy stuff readymade on the Apple site - Single song MTV type musci videos are $2, as are single episodes of shows like Desperate Housewives. They appear to be highly compressed, so I won't vouch for bigger screen quality. I have found a few freebies around the net of samples or homemade stuff (legal), but my daughter rarely watches it because of the crummy battery life in the IPOD. Video drains it like crazy - you will need an in car charger if you want to use it.

You can buy a few programs (I believe including the full version of Quicktime for about $40) that should let you do some conversions, but I don't know how easy it is to use. Copyrighted DVDs will also be a problem.

If you enjoy tinkering with tech stuff to make it work go for it - if not stick with the DVDs. As you don't appear to have the video IPOD yet, and if you are serious, you might want to look at some of the other brands of video mp3 players (I think Archos is one) that are more designed for video viewing and don't just throw it in for kicks like Apple does.

darylhuff

At the risk of turning this into an iPod support forum... The Nero Recode utility that comes in Nero Ultra Edition 7 (http://ww2.nero.com/enu/index.html) will recode just about any video format to MPEG4 (one of the formats the iPod will accept). Here's a link to a good walk-thru of how to do the conversion. http://arstechnica.com/guides/tweaks/ipod-video.ars/5

Once you have the content in mpeg4 you do need to use itunes to get it onto the iPod.

lonewolf69

GSTois,

Yes you can do this, the RES has the three (3) necessary RCA jacks right in the center console by the 2nd row passenger seats, near the shins. It's covered by a thin plastic pop off cover, remove them and plug in all three cables, RED, WHITE and YELLOW (Right Audio, Left Audio, and Video).

Note: If you do this, do NOT expect the sound from the IPOD (or Playstaion/XBox) to be piped through the GX's Mark Levinson's audio system, it will not work. To hear the sound from this connection, you'll have to use the wireless headphones supplied by Lexus dealer or plug in the "wired" headsets into the center console.

Hope this helps...


-Alex