Review: USBFever iPod AV Cables

Posted by: Ragart on Aug 24 2008

[Note] This is a dual post between Thomas and Doug.  Thomas’ comments are in normal type.  Doug’s comments are in bold.]

Y’know, as great as the iPhone and iPod Touch are for video playback, there are just some times you want to sit on the couch and watch something on a big, juicy screen. Until now, that would have required investing in the MyVu wearable media viewer or watch it on your big screen TV ey on.  But what if you want to atch something from your iPod on that large TV?  Sure, Apple sells a set of AV cables, but they’re in the $50 range, and that seems like a bit of premium for something that just transfers video from one screen to another.  Now, USBFever offer a set of AV cables on their site, at the much more reasonable price of $10.  Hit the jump to see how they fared!

Set Up

Thomas: Whether it’s the iPod Touch, the iPhone, or anything else in the iPod line, setup is the same deal. You plug the dock connector in, attach the component cables to your TV, and enjoy…well, on the iPod Touch anyway. There is also a USB connector along the cable so that you can charge or sync your device while it’s hooked up.

Doug: Yeah, pretty much if you can use a standard RCA plug, then you are going to be able to figure this one out.  Just remember: yellow to yellow, red to red, and white to white.  I did like the way USBFever marked the colors around the rim of each plug so that they were clearly marked, without interfering with the color scheme.

Build Quality

Thomas: I haven’t had these cables for a very long time, but I can say that they don’t feel cheap for their price. The wires are thick, and all connectors fit snugly into their slots (no deformities). The dock connector on the cable is the older kind with the clips you have to squeeze before disconnecting. This is a more solid connection to your iPod/iPhone, but it not as simple as the new design where you just pull it right out when you’re done.

Doug: The RCA end really felt about as good as any RCA cable I have used.  It is not gold plated, but for the most part, you are not going to need that.  It might make a slight difference in the quality of the video connection, but not a significant difference.  I did also notice that the iPod end required you to squeeze the buttons on the side.  This is something I have found on all of USBFever’s iPod plugs.  Not really a bad thing, but it does throw you off when you are not expecting that locking mechanism.

Bit of an iPhone Problem

Thomas:  The thing is, although this cable is supposed to support the iPhone 2G (USBFever site says 3G is incompatible so we did not test it with the iPhone 3G, but the original iPhone should work fine), I was only able to get the cable working on a few occasions. On the day I received the cables I set them up and switched my TV to input mode and started watching an episode of Geek Brief. Things were going great, and I could even turn the iPhone’s screen off while the video played on the TV. Then it just stopped. The video feed and sound just cut out. I re-plugged both the dock connector and the AV cables to troubleshoot the problem, but the cables simply didn’t want to work anymore. I spent around ten minutes fiddling with the device and cables, but to no avail. A few days later I gave it another shot and the same thing happened – it can take a lot of attempts to get the iPhone to see the cables, and even then, video and sound cuts out after about 40 seconds. So if you’re an iPhone user, I’d definitely have to stick a warning on this one. You might not have the same experience I did (the cable can obviously work), but my experience has been far from a reliable plug-n-play.

Doug: I tested this with the iPod Touch and did not experience any problems at all.  It worked great every time I tried to watch a video.  My only regret is that while i got these so we could watch the video I rented through iTunes, it looks like that will not happen.  The video (National Treasures II) is due to expire tonight.  Stupid Olympics.

Conclusion

Aside from the strange incompatibility with the iPhone, this set of cables are called “iPod AV Cables” and they work just fine for that purpose. The iPod Touch is fully supported and you can even use it with programs like MXTube and YouTube, aside from your regular old iPod videos. The ability to charge the device while you play is also a plus (this is supported by Apple’s cables as well), but I’d say the real feature in this set of cables is the price. You’re paying a fifth of what you would for Apple cables for exactly the same functionality. It’s just unfortunate that I’ll have to look elsewhere for my iPhone needs, though.

More Info

Price: $9.99

Availability: USBFever

If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!