Hacking Away at iPhone 2.2 TV-Out Secrets

By Rene Ritchie
last updated

Updated iPhone with live Video Out (opens in new tab) from Ars Technica (opens in new tab) on Vimeo (opens in new tab).

A few days ago we mentioned Ars' iPhone expert, Erica Sadun was taking the lifting of iPhone OS 2.2's NDA as an opportunity to dump code and sift for gold. Turns out she's not only found some in the way of "hidden" TV-out features in iPhone 2.2, she's sacrificed her well earned turkey day to experiment with them. From her previous post, here's what's at work:

The MPTVOutWindow class allows your iPhone to send its video to a connected TV rather than to the built-in screen. Intended to be used with movies, the unpublished class creates a live video feed that is sent out through the iPhone's connector port. End-users will need to buy a video adapter or cable to use this functionality.

Early days still, but fairly awesome stuff. Can't wait to see what she and other developers -- not to mention Apple eventually -- come up with!

Rene Ritchie
Rene Ritchie
Contributor

Rene Ritchie is one of the most respected Apple analysts in the business, reaching a combined audience of over 40 million readers a month. His YouTube channel, Vector, has over 90 thousand subscribers and 14 million views and his podcasts, including Debug, have been downloaded over 20 million times. He also regularly co-hosts MacBreak Weekly for the TWiT network and co-hosted CES Live! and Talk Mobile. Based in Montreal, Rene is a former director of product marketing, web developer, and graphic designer. He's authored several books and appeared on numerous television and radio segments to discuss Apple and the technology industry. When not working, he likes to cook, grapple, and spend time with his friends and family.

3 Comments
  • Possibly a football game on the tv where I can pic my plays on my iPhone? Nah. I'm dreaming.
  • Unfortunately, this ONLY seems to work with Apple-dongle video-out devices. Works fine with my Apple video-out cable, works briefly with my HK manufactured composite cable, until the software detects it's not an Apple product, displays a popup up "Gotcha, you aint got an overpriced Apple cable" and rudely disables the TV Out.
    Add this to the list of REDMOND-like drawbacks of buying a product from Apple (to wit: no removable storage, no MS Office (Really, Apple, isn't time for the iPhone to grow up? Without it, its just a toy), no removable battery, clumsy Sim tray, etc... etc... etc...
    In a perfect world, your chef is Chinese, your wife is French,your mechanic is German, you clothing is Italian, and your cellphone is from Finland.. :::Sigh:::
  • Hi,
    What is the status, any progress? I have bought a $5 AV cable for my iPhone 3G which doesn't work on my 2.2 firmware. I hope there is something jailbreak app or code examples available...