If you want to play your MP3 through a TV (it can be an 11 inch or a 54 inch) first check if your MP3 has a video out.  Check the manual for an option of Video out.  It will probably have an option that must be turned on from a menu item.

You will need a cable. A good search on the web to find one is ” S-Video Male 3.5mm Audio 3 RCA Composite Cable”. The 3.5 mm can be also expressed as 1/8 inch. The cost can be from $10 to $20 with shipping. I suggest if you have two TV’s you will be using it with, buy two cables and buy the ones that are about 11 feet or buy a short cable and an RCA extensions – many of the TV’s have the jacks in a place that is hard to connect. The extension brings the connect point to the front.

Allow me to give some pictures.  The cable that is used to do this has a 1/8 inch phone plug on the one end.  It is at the lower left of the picture and looks like a headphone plug.  This is a 90 degree angle plug that may not look exactly like the one you get but both this and the regular style shown in the other picture will work.  If you look closely you will see that it has more contacts than a regular headphone plug.  This is how they use the same jack on the MP3 for both a headphone and video out.  It saves space and money and is good for the environment.  There is one connection each for ground, left audio, right audio, and video. To allow the same jack the audios are on the tip and the first ring, the video is on the second ring, ground is the larger portion at the back. The other end has three male RCA connector, they are ones with colors.  .

Picture by Ralph Brandt

A alternative cable possibility is to use one with the 1/8 inch (or 3.5 MM in the Mickey Mouse system) plug on one end and RCA female connectors on the other end.  You will then need an RCA cable with three RCA male connectors on each end to go to the TV – these are available in longer lengths.  A 20 foot cable may be nice if the TV is across the room.    

Picture by Ralph Brandt

Some of these cables are wired a little different and the colors may not match the TV jacks. I suggest you turn on both the MP3 and the TV, plug into the MP3 and then plug the RCA’s into the AUDIO jacks one at a time. If the audio comes out it is one of the audios. If you get a buzz, that is the video line. If you get nothing, you do not have the video turned on in the MP3. If nothing works you do not have the TV set to the proper input.

Feel free to contact me if you need help.