12 Days of Gifts - Day 9

Moving Pictures. Apple’s mobile devices are great for taking your media files with you. This means that you can listen to your music or watch your videos practically anywhere. Originally, an iOS device – iPod, iPhone, iPad, or Touch – played video media on the device only. Late model iOS devices do have the option to output video – with the proper cables and adapters, plus a wireless way.

There are two ways to get video out of an iOS device. Some older model iPods have a special cable that connects to the headphone jack that has the standard red, white, and yellow audio/video connectors (composite video). This cable allows the device to be connected to a standard-def television, monitor, or projector.

Later model iOS devices use the Apple 30-pin dock connector. Depending on your model, this could be the standard composite video, HDMI, and even VGA. Check the Apple site for compatibility. The latest Touch/iPhone/iPad2 have the widest choices in outputting video.

With the proper cables and/or adapters, the iPad2’s screen can be mirrored to an HDTV, projector, or computer monitor. This is great for presentations, training, or even just movie night.

So today’s gift is a video output cable for iOS. This can be the Apple Digital AV Adapter, Apple Composite Cable, or Apple VGA Adapter ($29-$39).