iPod to TV connection

I can't get videos to play on my TV through my video iPod. I have the dock, the cable (S-video), the TV set to the right "channel" and all the cords hooked up properly. I have even changed the settings on my iPod under "video settings" so the TV setting is ON, yet no picture shows up - only sound.

So, rather than watching a purchased video on the TV like we had hoped, my dear sweet husband and I watched it on his outdated desktop. The video card probably isn't top of the line so the video feed was a little choppy. We reduced the screen size to about 5 by 3 inches and set the background screen image to black. It was okay - small and still a little choppy, plus the seats were less than ideal. Our office chairs - IKEA garden furniture that we bought because we thought we'd actually use our deck in the back to play Scrabble during the long summers here. Instead we used the table as a table in our living room and the chairs became office chairs.

I'd like to figure out how to make the iPod -TV connection work so that next time, if there is one, we'll be able to watch missed TV episodes on the bigger screen from the comfort of the couch cushions. We don't do the whole Tivo thing. The list of television shows we indulge in is short - Grey's Anatomy, Lost, 24, and Desperate Housewives. Recently we happened to stubble on a new one that we both really like - Heroes, "an epic drama that chronicles the lives of ordinary people who discover they possess extraordinary abilities." We missed the second episode. Hopefully we won't miss any others, but if so, watching them on my laptop wouldn't be so bad. We should have downloaded the episode on it instead of the desktop, but we weren't thinking we'd have to actually watch it on that. We figured we could hook my VIDEO iPod up to the TV, but alas, that didn't work out. What is the problem???

I'd sure like to know how to make the iPod images appear on the TV.

Anyhow, NBC offers free downloads of the Heroes episodes after they air but I haven't been able to get them to download on my Mac. Maybe it's the browser? We gave up and bought episode two from iTunes for two bucks. And then it wouldn't play on the TV. Grrrrr.

The episode was great.

There's a cheerleader who kills herself over and over to prove she's indestructible, two brothers who can fly, a guy who has psychic powers, a guy who can paint the future, and another one who can alter the space-time continuum. Heroes is one of the four shows on TV that holds our attention for the full episode. I have to admit to doing other things while watching DH, but Heroes is so captivating I would never want to sneak a quick read of an Economist article.

Lost was always the same way, but I have to say that I was a little disappointed by the first episode of season three. The highlight was Sawyer finally figuring out how to get the treat dispenser in his cage to work. It was easy for the psychologist in me to imagine him inside one of Thorndike's puzzle boxes, tripping levers and pushing pedals randomly and then intelligently to get the reward. The speed of problem solving is often equated with intelligence and Sawyer's mental alacrity has been the subject of a few snippets on the show here and there, so when the Others henchman came by to condescendingly say the bears figured it out far faster, it was a classic Lost moment. There weren't enough of thoe, but I'm sure they'll come. It has been my favorite show on TV for the last two years. Sawyer's probably my favorite character. Charming, sexy smart-ass bad boy with a brain... sounds like someone I know :-)

Heroes is a lot like Lost. There's mystery, interesting characters who find connections, and an element of science that makes it a thinking show. This house's favorite Heroes character right now is Hiro, the Japanese office worker who can bend the space-time continuum. He's a lovable geek who likes comic books and Star Trek. He's also so exuberantly confident in his abilities and his coworker friend is in such joyful disbelief that the play between the two buddies is a pleasure to watch.

Plus, he's got a great costume, as all super heroes should. In the first two episodes he wore a totally awesome sweater exactly like the one that my dear sweet husband scored at Urban Outfitters on our trip to Seattle over spring break. The sweater cost too much but it was on a serious sale and was like nothing we had ever seen before. (He looks far too cute in it.) We were both surprised to see his sweater on TV.