Apple's universal dock showcases your iPod while keeping it safe and upright.

How to get your iPod and TV to play nice

Ever sit at home looking at your iPod's tiny screen and wonder how your videos would look on your giant HDTV? Want to share some of your sweet video finds with your friends and family, but find gathering around a hand-held is uncomfortable and awkward?

One of your best bets to remedy this situation is to get your TV on good terms with your iPod. I'm going to walk you through all the necessary steps to get your iPod videos playing on your TV.

While video streaming is something that's worthwhile to explore if you own a video-game console or similar gadget, unfortunately, most purchased iTunes videos have a very peculiar type of copyright protection that will make streaming them impossible without the purchase of a +$250 Apple TV unit.

A far cheaper alternative to shelling out for another pricey gadget is to hook your video iPod up directly to your TV using special cables.

At $50, Apple's first-party component video cables for iPod have been a great investment. On my HDTV, the videos look as good as any DVD (so long as the source material was transferred properly), and there's little to no set-up.

Just plug one end of the cables into one of your TV's component video ports (the red, green, blue, red and white inputs on the back of your HDTV), hook the other end up to your video-enabled iPod and you're ready to play.

As an added bonus, if your TV has a USB port, you can charge your iPod while you watch videos on your TV.

Other manufacturers make cheaper cables, but I've had miserable luck with them. A grainy display forced me to return a faulty set to one big-box electronics retailer. In that case, the cables were open-box, so don't take this as the be-all end-all statement on iPod video cables, but I've had no problems yet with my Apple ones nor have my friends who use them.

And if your TV doesn't have HD hookups? Apple has you covered with a composite iPod video cable which is (sadly) the same price as the component version. I haven't seen many of these in stock lately, so you may have to do a little hunting to track them down.

To polish off your iPod setup, particularly for those of you with iPod classics and touches, consider Apple's universal dock. It may add another $50 to your setup costs, but it can't be beat for keeping your iPod safe and upright and showcasing your nifty gadget in a way that will compliment the rest of your home entertainment system. No longer will you look like you just dumped your keys and iPod out on your TV stand on your way in the door.

JD Speedy is a Toronto-based writer and gadget geek. He wrote this column on his iPod touch. Contact JD at playatyourhome@gmail.com.

Faced with a home electronics dilemma? Rob Wright takes your questions in Your Wired Home.