| DLO HomeDock Deluxe for iPod | Today's Top Stories | ||||||||||||
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(Review) - Listening to Apple’s iPod with earbuds and squinting to watch videos on the video iPod are so old school, at least that’s how you feel when you take a look at some of the iPod exclusive accessories that are available to make your life a bit more entertaining. The DLO HomeDock Deluxe, a successor to the original HomeDock, is a classy product that’s designed to output audio and video to your TV; in return, putting you in a more comfortable position to enjoy your music, video and photo collection. The exterior of the device is nothing short of amazing with a sleek black dock and a matching infrared remote control. Unfortunately, the HomeDock Deluxe is only available in black, so it’s not exactly the perfect match for a white iPod. The dock is multi-functional in that it’s a recharger for the iPod as well as a dock for the PC. The base has a built-in compartment for the remote control and an adjustable backrest for Apple’s family of music players. As we noted in our original HomeDock review, we would much rather have a perfect fit for all iPod flavors than a mere backrest. While DLO could’ve resolved this issue with the Deluxe version, it didn’t. Hopefully, the company will take of this issue in the future. The remote control is an essential aspect of the HomeDock Deluxe package, and it, too, is loaded with functionality. The remote alone has 18 separate functions that will make controlling the iPod a breeze. With the HomeDock Deluxe, you now have a great looking interface that you can interact with for your multimedia needs. For instance, you can now control your music, videos and photos through the TV in simple, yet robust interface. To begin, you will have to choose between the two available modes: music and video. Thereafter, controlling nearly all aspects of the iPod is seamless. Under the music mode, you can skip forward, backward, shuffle and control all standard functionality that you would otherwise with the iPod Clickwheel. The blue interface effortlessly guides you through the features, though it does have a few of striking drawbacks. There is no support for album art, a feature that could certainly make the otherwise bland DLO interface look more refreshing and interesting if replaced with custom album art. Also, if you are speedily browsing through a substantial music collection, the device tends to lag just enough to make it noticeable and annoying. And finally, if you try to skip through parts of a song, the slider is more or less useless until you stop. Basically, you never actually know where to stop exactly before trying it a few times. The last issue we have isn’t much of a serious drawback as the other two, but it’s an anomaly nonetheless. While the music menu is simple to navigate through, the video and photo navigation isn’t as impressive. Much of that has to do with iPod’s locked firmware that prevents third-party vendors from exporting the iPod menu into their products. As a result, you don’t have much choice but to navigate through the iPod display with the remote control. That means you must be within the viewing distance of the iPod (and HomeDock Deluxe for that matter) to be able to steer through the process. Honestly, it’s a pain. But we can’t blame DLO for not trying. The quality of output for photos was downright great, though we can’t say the same for video resolution. Expectedly, as you increase the video resolution and output it to a much larger screen, the video gets pixilated. It’s definitely not high-definition DVD playback, but it’s acceptable if you don’t want to squint or are desperate to watch the latest show you just purchased from iTunes. Other than the drawbacks we stated above, the DLO HomeDock Deluxe is flawless for the most part. Another quirk we wanted to mention was the lack of necessary cables. The package doesn’t include the S-Video cable, so that’s something you will have to purchase separately. Although the HomeDock Deluxe supports all 4th and 5th-generation iPods, iPod Mini and iPod Nano series, we wouldn’t recommend this elite device for the Nano, since it doesn’t support video. It doesn’t make sense to opt for a product with functionality that you will never utilize. All in all, the DLO HomeDock Deluxe is a pleasant, albeit expensive ($129.99), device for Apple’s iPod that further enhances its functionality and makes the iPod a bit more enjoyable. |
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