This week, we leave you with some impressions of Apple's Component Cable. We have been curious as to how the cable works with the iPad, and longtime STP/PV reader Scott Bedard has provided us with his insights and a video of what's in store for you should you pick one up. We hope you have somewhat low expectations, as it doesn't yet do enough to satisfy our desires for viewing iPad content on the big screen.
I had visions of watching Netflix movies on my HDTV, so I went out and got the Component Cable for the iPad, iPhone and iPod. When I hooked it up to my iPad, I was disappointed to find out that Netflix did not support the TV-out option as of yet, but I tried to justify my purchase by trying some other apps. What I found was very hit or miss.
Photos: You can not just show an individual photo on your TVand then swipe to go to the next. You can, however, view a slideshow with music, but you can only pick the Dissolve option for transitions, not the fancy new Origami one, for instance. The picture quality is also sub par, as the photos on your iPad have been reduced in size to look best on the iPad, not on your TV.
Videos: Watching both home movies and motion pictures worked great. They looked as good as expected.
Music Videos: Music videos played fine over the cable, but because all the videos I have bought over iTunes are only standard definition, they just didn't look very good. This is more of a source problem than a cable problem, and i imagine it will change in the future.
Music: When the cable is attached, all sound from the iPad goes to your TV, so music played fine. However, there was nothing displayed on the TV. I was hoping for some album art or even some karaoke style lyrics, but alas there was nothing.
YouTube: Worked great, looked great.
Netflix and ABC Player: Nothing. So bummed.
Safari: Although the web pages would not show on the TV, the in-page videos would play over the cable just fine.
Other Apps: I tried a bunch of games, Pandora, maps and other apps, but none of them have any output over the video-out connection as of yet.
The cable does come with a charger, as well, so you could hook it up to your TV and leave it there and use your iPad, iPhone, or iPod to watch videos and have it charge, which is a nice feature.
In conclusion, it depends on what you want to do with the cable. If you just want to watch some movies and YouTube videos on your bedroom TV, it's great. I have high hopes that Netflix and the other video apps will add the ability to work over video-out in the future. That would make this a must-have item.
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