HomeDock Deluxe

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A Hardware Review
by Steve Evans
Review Date: December 2007

Product: DLO HomeDock Deluxe
Company: Digital Lifestyle Outfitters
URL: http://http://tinyurl.com/28ylzr
Price: $149.99

Requirements: Works with these iPods:

5G iPod with Video (30, 60, 80GB)
4G iPod with Click Wheel or Color Display (20, 30, 40, 60GB, U2)�
iPod Mini (4, 6GB)*
iPod Nano (1, 2, 4, 8GB)*

*Music playback only
�Music & Photo playback only

Test System:
iPod (5G) 80GB with Version 1.2.1 of iPod Software(see text)

Reviewer's Rating: 4 out of 5 Apples

�I want my MTV!�
�TiVo it!�
�What�s on your iPod?�
�Apple TV?�

If you�ve been around technology or even a TV set in the last two decades, you�ve heard the first three phrases. The last one has yet to catch on, but it will. Until that time, Digital Lifestyle Outfitters has helped Apple bridge the gap between your iPod and your big screen TV with their �Home Dock Deluxe.�

Of course, you could just plug a $5 cable into your iPod�s headphone jack and watch the latest episode of �24� on your plasma TV. It�s simple and neat, but you�d be using your iPod�s battery the entire time. And what if you wanted to skip to the next show? You�d have to get up from your comfortable seat and fumble with the iPod�s controls until you found the next thing you wanted to watch. An inelegant solution.

Enter the DLO HomeDock Deluxe. Not only does it make it easy to watch your iPod videos from your favorite armchair; it does so in style. The sleek silver dock stands your iPod up while charging it. Right next to that is a slot for holding the similarly shaped and full-featured remote. The remote feels much more substantial and logically designed than the AppleTV/FrontRow remote. While the HomeDock�s remote sports 18 buttons to the Apple remote�s 6, the buttons are clearly labeled and arranged

On the rear of the dock you�ll find the usual composite RCA and S-Video connectors for getting video out of your iPod and onto your TV. I tested my unit with the RCA outputs and it looks and sounds great. There�s also a USB port for updating the unit in the future

The HomeDock Deluxe powers on to a welcome screen, just like the early Macs did. After a few seconds the main menu screen pops up listing the following:

Videos
Playlists
My Jukebox (basically �On the Go� Playlists)
Shuffle Songs
Now Playing
Settings

Under �Settings,� you may choose one of 12 lovely color themes, some very pedestrian screen savers, the on-screen language of the unit and you�ll also discover some information about the software version of your unit.

The HomeDock allows you to listen to music with album artwork displayed. Or you can program photo slideshows with some iPods [though strangely the iPod Nano can only display slideshows internally, not to external devices].

The real reason you�ll be buying this device, however, is to watch video. While it does this very well, there are some �gotchas� that you ought to know about.

First, it won�t work with the newly released iPod Classic. There�s been much discussion on reputable Macintosh websites that this is an Apple �feature� of the new iPods. Perhaps DLO will fix this in a future software revision, but for now it�s a no go.

Second, even with a compatible device, you�ll need a compatible software version. This review was almost foiled by an innocuous �bug fix� software upgrade suggested by iTunes. My 5G iPod will work with the HomeDock Deluxe when it�s running v1.2.1, but not v1.2.2. Apple�s software is now up to v.1.2.3 at last check.

Third �gotcha� is navigation through the HomeDock menu system. While simple, it does require you to click more often than you would while navigating to the same place on your iPod�with much less visual feedback.

On the two occasions I�ve written to DLO�s product support, it�s taken longer than 24-hours to get an answer back from them. I�ve yet to hear back from them on my latest attempt. That does not bode well.

Overall, I do like this product. It�s no AppleTV. The menus are nice, but not slick and beautiful like the AppleTV�s. On the upside, it also doesn�t cost AppleTV�s asking price of $400. Yet, at $150, it is pushing the limits of what most people would pay for an iPod Dock. Especially one which doesn�t work with the latest iPods and where support is slow to respond to customer concerns.

If you have a 5G iPod and need something to bridge the gap until AppleTV catches up with customer needs, the DLO HomeDock Deluxe may be for you.

Steve Evans
Reviewer: Steve Evans

Steve works full-time for FOX-TV and spends the rest of his day with his wife & four beautiful kids.

Rarely he manages to pry his kids fingers away from the keyboard long enough to turn in product reviews for MLMUG.

This site has many more reviews, all written by MLMUG members.
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