iPad, iTunes movie previews and the Apple Component cables.

Movie rentals only for iPad

Today I decided to go out and get myself the Apple Component Cable (at a whopping $89) so that I could view my movies on my iPad via my TV. My thinking was that I could output rented movies from it and I was hoping as an added bonus that Netflix and ABC player would also output (as it happens they don’t). I could also output slideshows and other videos / podcasts as well.

Hit the ‘read more’ to find ut how I got on.

Apple Component AV Cables

I figured it was about time I got myself these cables as I could also use them with my iPhone, and I regularly take quick videos of my kids on the iPhone so it’s pretty cool to watch them on the big screen. I set the iPad video output to PAL and did a few tests to check that video was working before heading into the store to rent a movie.

Movie Rental

Upon finding the video to rent I decided to do a preview to check what the quality would be like, and all i got was a blank screen with broken-audio. Oh. great, $89 and I won’t be able to watch rented movies.

I thought I must have the settings wrong, or maybe it didn’t work with a New Zealand account so I went and double checked everything, I also changed stores, switched to NTSC and still nothing. Perhaps it was the setup it didn’t like, so I picked up my iPhone and tried the same movie with that. It worked, without a hitch, so what could be wrong? Maybe the iPad wasn’t doing rentals yet, you know early release doesn’t have all the features type thing, but no… using it without the cable worked fine.

Settings correct

I searched around on Google for a while, but didn’t find anything conclusive. I did find that there is a disclaimer on the iTunes store, hidden under a “Learn About Rentals” link, that says “Movies rented on your iPad may only be watched on your iPad – they cannot be transferred to your computer or another device”

Movie rentals only for iPad

What I thought strange though is although it says it cannot be transferred to another device, there is no mention of not being able to use the component cables to output the video.

So I played and played but couldn’t get it to go. I decided to rent the movie anyway, to make sure it didn’t work once I had downloaded it. So I hit the rent button and waited. The I waited some more. The HD version of the movie was 3.02GB! I also thought you could watch movies whilst they were downloading but apparently not (not with the HD version at least) and being at 3.02GB I am not sure how well it would have worked as it took longer to download than the length of the actual movie.

Movie quality is great

The good news is that the movie played on my TV via the component cables through the iPad and as an added bonus, although it only outputs to 576p (PAL) or 480p (NTSC), the quality of the video was fantastic.

So to be clear, the issue I encountered is only for Movie previews via the iTunes Store when outputting via component cable (and I imagine composite cable as well). It works fine for movies you purchase or rent, movies you have stored locally or already downloaded, and it is only when you try to output the preview via the component cable (i did hear the VGA adaptor will work OK though) that the issue of hearing the sound but not seeing the picture rears its head.

Another plus point of getting the cables, for all you iPhone and iPod touch owners out there is that the Apple Component Cable’s output quality is great and turns your device into a great mobile ‘DVD player’. The iPad movie rentals runs at $7.99 for HD and $6.99 for SD. On the iPhone you don’t get a choice, it is SD only.

iPhone Movie Rental

I have taken a video of me trying this below. It’s a shame the previews don’t work but no biggie.

The component cables output any videos and photos from your iPad to your screen. They also output YouTube and video Podcasts. They will also output sound from iTunes, so you can listen to your music on your surround sound,  but you won’t see the covers or any other information. It’s possible that this will change with OS 4.0 when the ‘iPod out’ feature is activated.

As previously mentioned, Netflix and ABC Player don’t output via the component cable and neither do any other apps. It is only for Videos, Photos and listening to music.

– Apple Store