So, what can we expect from the tv-out function?

Will there be color distortion like in this video or is it just the camera?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDsse8nNnp0

and what will the resolution be?

I tried it earlier today on a 1080p LCD. Quality wasn't great. Didn't spend any time messing with it.

its seems very good on this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYgiO...layer_embedded

How big was your tv and how would you describe the quality (jaggered?, pixelated?)

40", pixelated with the OS up on the screen. Blocky video. I can do some more formal testing if desired.

I would imagine the quality and res would depend on the clip you are playing. You play a low encoded clip on a 50 inch TV and nothing in the world is going to make it look like a dvd

Yeah and I wasn't sure what the quality of the couple vids i threw on were so I didn't really mess with it. Just having the phone UI up on the screen looked pretty nasty though.

EDIT: 640x272 H.264, bitrate: 1,163

The N900 outputs analog, composite video. It looks like it can output PAL or NTSC. NTSC is 30 fps to PAL's 24fps, but PAL has more scanlines (higher effective resolution) and doesn't suffer from the color/hue problems of NTSC. Both are rather crappy in today's digital era, however. The ultimate perceived resolution of both is sub-vga in quality. I would kill for some way to output HDMI (with audio channels, please!) from a NIT. Would be great for presentations, showing pictures, etc. A lot of the high end digital SLRs have HDMI outs built in and if you use a proprietary adapter cable, the bezel space taken on the device can be quite minimal.

sadfist, so is it something you would use for showing photos and videos? Are the colors very different from the display?

Uh, TV out is old Nokia tech, and it works great. It isn't like on the iPhone, but a full rendering of the device screen at all times. It looks great on an old school CRT TV. I use it on a 32 inch Panasonic all of the time on my N95 8GB. Not sure about a larger HDTV, but the videos I've seen look like a similar result. Perfect for showing photos and videos, web browsing, gaming, etc. In fact, look back at the Bounce videos for a good view.