I've often wished I could plug my iPod or iPhone into a TV and watch video content that way instead of on the device's small screen. Then I discovered ShowTIME by Scosche, which does just that. Yes, it's a one-trick pony, but its trick is a good one -- it lets you watch video from your iPod or iPhone on any TV with composite video/audio inputs.

The product itself is nothing more than a six foot cable with an iPod/iPhone Dock Connector on one end and three RCA barrel connectors (yellow for video, red and white for audio) on the other.

But it works and it works pretty well. The image quality isn't fantastic but, depending upon the quality of your source material and TV, it is generally quite decent. Most video looked pretty good on my old 35 inch CRT tube TV. But even on my 50 inch plasma TV I found much of my video collection -- movies and TV shows purchased from the iTunes store as well as material created from DV tape or captured with my EyeTV 250+ -- was eminently viewable. There is no software to install -- just connect your iPod or iPhone to the TV and use its controls to start playing some video and that video magically appears on the TV screen. It supports the iPhone (1G and 3G), iPod touch (1G and 2G), iPod nano (3G and 4G), iPod classic,and iPod with video (5G). I tested it with an iPhone 3G, iPod touch 2G, and iPod classic and in all cases it worked as advertised.

About the only complaint I have is that every so often I'd have to unplug and reconnect the iPod or iPhone before video would appear on the TV. It didn't happen often enough to be annoying but it did happen more than once during my testing. Other than that the Scosche ShowTIME has been a pleasure.

The Bottom Line

It'll never replace HD cable, AppleTV, or Blu-ray. but it certainly beats the heck out watching a movie or TV show on a 2 or 3 inch screen which is why it has earned a permanent place in my "on the road" backpack.