I listen and watch podcasts on my video iPod as I commute to and from work. Sometimes I want to watch or listen to podcasts on my home stereo system in the living room. My wife would like to listen to her iPod on the stereo too. As far as audio goes, it’s easy to simply hook up a cable, and the same goes for video, but it leads to a gnarly mess of wires.
Santa provided a more elegant solution this holiday season, delivering us a DLO HomeDock Deluxe.
While I have mixed feelings about this gadget, it provides an acceptable solution to the problem of integrating a video iPod into a home stereo system and television. It comes with RCA line outs for the audio and both composite and S-Video connectors for the video.
You can navigate the iPods menus on the television, and it will display the song information while the music plays. It also has a screen-saver. However, apparently there’s a firmware problem (or intentional limitation) with the video iPods so the HomeDock can’t display the menu when it’s in video mode, so when you’re watching videos you have to use the iPod for navigation. This, and the low-build quality of the device is what leads me to the mixed feelings, however, right now there’s really no better solution to the problem. Someone is sure to come out with a better solution. Time will tell, for now, this is what I’m using to listen to the iPod and watch some video podcasts in the living room. It’s kind of a low-budget alternative to AppleTV if you’ve already got a video iPod, but no where near as elegant.
Summary of basic features: Easily navigate and select music on your home television; Control the iPod with an included remote control; charges the iPod while it’s sitting in the doc; and an adjustable back-rest for the iPod allows you to adjust the doc for an iPod nano (1st or 2nd generation), the iPod mini, 4G iPods with click wheels, the iPod Color, and of course, video iPods.