Zune HD A/V output with Zune 120 A/V cable

I hope this is the right forum - I recently got my Zune HD and I'm trying to do the whole A/V output thing.  I don't have the Zune HD dock though - I have my old Zune 120 A/V cable.  The TV is a pretty basic CRT without any fancy input selectors or anything.  I'm not sure if it's a compatibility issue between the Zune HD and the older cable (it's not docked, btw, I'm just plugging it into the headphone jack) or if it's just the TV, but when i select "Composite" from the TV output menu on my Zune, nothing happens.  I lurked around and saw that some people had to select it and reset the Zune while it was connected to the TV.  My situation and their situation wasn't very similar, though, in that they were doing HD output using the dock made specifically for the Zune HD \: I tried it anyway, but to no avail.

I haven't done video except via the xbox usb, but I would think composite is the wrong setting for your TV, you would want to select one of your line in tv inputs if your cable is red, white, and yellow for right and left audio and video - this would get you standard old school tv video.

The thing is, the TV is pretty basic.  There aren't any input selections available for it \: The closest thing available is a "display" toggle between A/V and cable.

I've heard of people trying the older A/V cable and it not working with the HD. I think it only works with the A/V Dock. I think one reason is that you don't have a way to control it or go through the menus without the remote. Remember it relies on the touch screen. I'm in the same boat, I'm saving for a dock.

You said you were selecting the Composite setting on your TV.  You would want to select AV.  But if it is true, that won't work as the headphone jack on the ZuneHD does not output video like the ipod video does.

 Ultimate Sven wrote:

I've heard of people trying the older A/V cable and it not working with the HD. I think it only works with the A/V Dock. I think one reason is that you don't have a way to control it or go through the menus without the remote. Remember it relies on the touch screen. I'm in the same boat, I'm saving for a dock.

Just to be sure though, try it on another tv with selectable inputs. I haven't tried it myself but I have heard from others saying that it doesn't work without the A/V Dock.

Hope this helps

One more side note. Just to clarify, the dock isn't just for HD output. It does HD through the HDMI out but also does SD out through an A/V cable such as the one you have which also plugs into the back of the dock.

I am using the Zune 120 cord as well.  I have been experimenting with getting the Zune HD to output to my TVs without any success.  I have no dock, so I'm in the same position. However, I do have 2 baller plasmas so the auto-input is not the problem.  I would really like a straight answer from Microsoft as to whether or not it works.  I'm sure Microsoft is just trying to force me to drop $90 on the HD AV Dock.  Any more suggestions??

The straight answer has always been: The Zune HD has no video output capabilities out of the headphone jack.  To output video, you need the previous dock (composite only, no component) or the new HD dock (HDMI, and composite)... or another product that would plug into the dock jack.

If you have an xbox you can go through that, but then if you had an xbox you wouldn't need to use the zune to output movies since you can buy zune movies direct on xbox now I see - in 1080p.  Or if your network is fast enough stream them from your PC.