Playing iPod videos through Kenwood HU

I just installed a Kenwood DDX812 - same unit as the DNX8120 less the NAV. I tried playing videos through it using my video iPod, but somehow the picture isn't going through. All the connections are good and I'm using the right iPod adapter (KCA-iP300V).

Do the videos on the iPod have to be in some format to play on Kenwood? Has anyone with the DNX8120 had this problem before?

Any help would be appreciated...thanks!

 

I can't get videos to work on mine either. I also tried video podcasts. I just figured that, like many other products, the video part is not compatible with my iPhone... I'm curious to see if you can get it to work, and if so, maybe that'll work for me too.

Side question: I can play mp3s from a usb flash drive but it seems that videos won't play from there. Does that work for you?

 

What do you use to convert the files? Thanks.

 

Interesting. The iPod adapter cable we have has a USB connection, analog composite video, and analog audio which led me to believe that the iPod video was played through that composite connection, not decoded by the head unit. Does your head unit read the raw file and decode the video itself? I would think the encoding specification wouldn't matter too much in our case. Here's the cable:

 

Wow...that's all some good insight. I have the 80G iPod Classic that I just bought a couple of days ago just to use for this very purpose...now I feel it was a waste. I was doing some research and I heard that Apple changed the USB interface on the newer iPods that limit their ability to play on head units.

Yup, I grounded the parking brake line, so I should be able to get the videos playing. Besides, I was parked anyway when I was trying to get this to work.

I haven't tried this.

So when you convert the file, do you use iTunes to get it back on the iPod? I'm not very good at converting stuff and I'm pretty ignorant about this subject. I have the movie files on iTunes now. Some movies I got when I bought the DVD - like Hitman - and it came with a digital copy.

One more thing is I noticed the video files on iTunes are .m4v formats, while the Kenwood DDX812 and DNX8120 accept .mpg and .avi files. Is this why we have to convert?

 

Yup...I may have to do this video file conversion thing.

 

It is amazing that Apple would limit the play to headunits from the ipod itself. I thought they wanted to make money. How does limiting the playability from their Ipod to a headunit that would allow you to utilize THEIR product more be detrimental to them? Crazy, I think....

 

Thanks! I'll download the conversion software when I get home and convert the files for iPod. Hopefully this will work. BTW, did you mention that you're using a 160GB iPod Classic or iPod Video? I just bought the 80G version two days ago and I'm hoping that the file conversion will help.

Thanks!

 

That's exactly what I was thinking! How lame is that?! Well, hopefully the video file conversion thing will work. I don't want to sell my new iPod Classic to go and buy an older iPod video.

 

That's great news! Thanks! How do the converted video files look on the head unit?

 

Well I found my problem... from crutchfield's 8120 page:

Damn.

 

Darn Apple sometimes...

 

Man, I'm excited now!

Thanks a lot for the help, silverback! I was really bummin' out last night wondering if I just wasted $250 on an iPod - I probably would have kept it anyway, since I need to load up my CD inventory in it.

 

hey guys - i too have been foiled by apple's gayness since i can't play videos off of my iPod touch...

so i've been trying to play videos through other means. i can't play them via USB because well you can't...and i've been trying to play them through a disc but are you supposed to use a CD-R or DVD-R? and can they be in avi? or do we have to convert them to mp4?

 

I've the 8120 and told my classic would not work. - The tech @ the shop dicked around with it for about an hour and found that to watch video---
Pick "video" - when you hear the movie/ ipod video playing thru your speakers, simply touch the icon (showing whats playing) and wa la... full screen video! He tried it with the touch and a couple other apple models and it worked fine... Kenwood says nothing in the instructions