Bug.Net, Zune TV, and My Sony MiniDV Handycam

Tonight’s Bug.Net meeting was sort of weird, when I got there I was the only one there. Not sure where everyone got to, but 3 other guys showed up while I was there, so we had an impromptu meeting. I wound up giving my “Developer Experience” presentation for the small group. I want to thank the three for hanging in there with me during the hastily put on demonstration. It was fun to do something for a small group.

When I got home I decided to give hooking my Zune up to my TV a try and see how it handled video. I don’t have my official Zune cable for hooking up the TV (yet), but I do have a cable that I got with my Sony Mini-DV Handicam. The two looked identical, at least from what I could see of the Zune cable on the web, so I decided to give it a try. Hooked up the various colors correctly, plugged the other end into the Zune and… nuthin. Butkis. Squat. Static filled the display. My first thought was “oh well I’ll need to wait”, but then some of the things I’d studied getting my ham radio license kicked in. Hmm, the cables LOOKED identical, and electrons flow the same, so perhaps the problem wasn’t with the cable exactly, maybe the Zune just used a different output than the Sony to carry the video signal.

So I unhooked the 3 RCA plugs, and this time plugged the red end of the Sony cable into the Yellow video In port of my TV. Eureka! I hooked up the other two to the audio and now I’m watching the Mix keynote on my small office TV, from the Zune. Sweet. My moral is if you have a spare cable from a Sony or other manufacturer, give it a try (at your own risk of course) and if it’s not working right off the bat, try swapping the ends as I suggested until you get some output.

Speaking of video, I already mentioned Doug Turnure will be speaking Thursday night (March 13) at the BSDA. We’re planning to record the session and make it available via the Silverlight Live site. Be patient with me, will likely be next week before I get the editing worked out and get it uploaded.