Connected my XTi to television but nothing displays! Help please...

linarms wrote in post #3205847
The OP mentioned using the cable that came with the camera ... so shouldn't be any problem there.

Sounds like something is brock ... maybe the cable is frayed inside or something?

If you can pick up u 3.5mm to dual RCA cable/adapter, try both the red and white plugs in your TV's video in and if neither work, I would suspect the camera itself ...

Not always true. the 3.5mm plug has been modified many times where the spacing between contacts lead to different wires.

themirage wrote in post #3205866
Not always true. the 3.5mm plug has been modified many times where the spacing between contacts lead to different wires.

Fair enough ... my suggestion was based on something that worked for me when I couldn't find my Canon cable.

Not trying to rub things in but i'm bored so I may this nice little graphic.

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OK, let's take this back to square one. As far as I know, the EOS cameras only come with a cord which has a single yellow jack for video. It shouldn't have another jack colored black because the EOS cameras don't have sound capability (unless this is new to the XTi but I doubt it). The manual for the XTi even says that it comes with a video cable, not an A/V cable. So, the yellow/black coded A/Vcord may have come with the OP's camera but I don't think it's the right cable for the camera.

But that doesn't mean that the A/V cable won't work with the XTi. It shuould. But you can't use the yellow video jack. You have to use the black audio jack because of the way the video socket in the camera is wired.

Interesting ...

I don't suppose you've noticed that the contact closest to the tip is in (as far as I can see) the same spot on each 3.5mm connector.

I suspect it is the only required contact for video.

But I haven't tested my theory and won't be anytime soon ...

This is what it says in the manual (at least for the XT)


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linarms wrote in post #3206051
Interesting ...

I don't suppose you've noticed that the contact closest to the tip is in (as far as I can see) the same spot on each 3.5mm connector.

I suspect it is the only required contact for video.

But I haven't tested my theory and won't be anytime soon ...

Yes, but on a single wire video cable, that contact point is the ground with the video being the tip. On a two-wire A/V cable, the tip is the audio, the one next to it is the video and the farthest is the ground. on a three-wire stereo A/V cable, the tip is the L audio, followed again by the video, followed by the ground and the last contact (the farthest from the tip) is the R audio.

So, depending on which cable is being used, you'd have to connect the yellow jack, the black jack or the white jack to get video from the camera.

I have the XTi and I had a problem like this. I found out that I was using the wrong cable. I have a P+S that shoots video and was trying to use that cable. I then found the cable that came with my camera that was only the yellow connector and it worked fine. I would say the OP is using the wrong cable and finding the one with only one connector woudl make it work.

PacAce wrote in post #3206050
OK, let's take this back to square one. As far as I know, the EOS cameras only come with a cord which has a single yellow jack for video.

I think the OP is describing this cable (hopefully). It has the yellow end for the TV and the black end for the camera...

Make sure you plug the black end all the way into your XTi.
The lcd won't show the images, just the TV, after you press the '>' button.

PacAce wrote in post #3206050
But that doesn't mean that the A/V cable won't work with the XTi. It shuould. But you can't use the yellow video jack. You have to use the black audio jack because of the way the video socket in the camera is wired.

Wrong again, I don't think I can press this point enough.
Lets say the XTi is looking for video from contact E. Then if you use a normal AV cable with stereo/mono sound and video using contacts B,C and D. Then contact A, which is the same as E, will never get used and Rebel XTi won't show anything regardless of what connector you use.

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PacAce wrote in post #3206117
Yes, but on a single wire video cable, that contact point is the ground with the video being the tip. On a two-wire A/V cable, the tip is the audio, the one next to it is the video and the farthest is the ground. on a three-wire stereo A/V cable, the tip is the L audio, followed again by the video, followed by the ground and the last contact (the farthest from the tip) is the R audio.

So, depending on which cable is being used, you'd have to connect the yellow jack, the black jack or the white jack to get video from the camera.

One of the three should work in theory.

themirage wrote in post #3206136
Wrong again, I don't think I can press this point enough.
Lets say the XTi is looking for video from contact E. Then if you use a normal AV cable with stereo/mono sound and video using contacts B,C and D. Then contact A, which is the same as E, will never get used and Rebel XTi won't show anything regardless of what connector you use.

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I think you missed my post previous to this one. Read the part where I indicated that depending on the cable being used, you have to select the plug that connects to the tip of the cable for you to view the video from the XTi. On an A/V cable, that's the black plug which is where your A or E is. On a stereo A/V cable, that's the white plug, which is also where, again, your A or E point is. Of course, with a mono cable, it's a moot point because you only have one choice.

Well I did a test with my XT.

Regular AV cable, none will output the video, but the yellow video cable will make the camera think it's connected and black out the lcd.

Apple's AV cable, same as above just another cable.

The mono cable that came with the XT is the only cord that works correctly.

themirage wrote in post #3206198
Well I did a test with my XT.

Regular AV cable, none will output the video, but the yellow video cable will make the camera think it's connected and black out the lcd.

Apple's AV cable, same as above just another cable.

The mono cable that came with the XT is the only cord that works correctly.

Well, then, the XT must be wired totally different from the other EOS cameras because I just tried all three types of A/V cables on my 30D and it works with all of them the way I described. As for the Apple A/V cable, Apple has their own propriatary way of wiring it because they only work with the iPods (assuming that's the cable you were talking about).

Matthew62024 wrote in post #3206131
I have the XTi and I had a problem like this. I found out that I was using the wrong cable. I have a P+S that shoots video and was trying to use that cable. I then found the cable that came with my camera that was only the yellow connector and it worked fine. I would say the OP is using the wrong cable and finding the one with only one connector woudl make it work.

WE HAVE A WINNAH!!!!

I went to check out the contents of my XTi camera box and I found the cable with only one color coded "yellow" plug and the 3.5mm plug on the other end... Plugged it into the TV and BINGO!!! The images are shown on the TV!!!

Now my next question would be, what the hell is that other cable (the one with the yellow and black plug) for? But we can talk about that another day!!!

Thanks to all for the insight, suggestions, and feedback to ease my mind on this resolved problem!!! And a special thanks to Matthew for his suggestion!!!

- airbutchie