In this, our spooky Friday the 13th episode, we cover some really scary stuff, like the DLO Homedock Pro and HD Radio. OK, so they really aren't all that scary, but it's a fun show. Take a listen.
$149.99 MSRP for the Deluxe consult your professional installer for the Pro pricing (
Buy Deluxe Now $115)
Unless
you've been living in a cave you're aware that Apple recently
released the Apple TV. In a nutshell The Apple TV takes media from your
iTunes library and makes it available on your TV. It does so in an
elegant way but is limited to what media you can display on your TV and
costs $300. Although an oversimplification, if its in iTunes, the Apple
TV can play it. Well if its in iTunes its probably on your iPod.
Wouldn't it be nice if there were a product that you can plug you iPod
into and have it display its contents on a TV. This would give you much
of the capability of the Apple TV. Well there is such a product and it
only costs a penny less than $150.
The DLO Homedock Pro and
Deluxe is an iPod docking station that you connect directly into your
home theater system or TV. The Homedock Pro has the same functionality
but comes with three interface ports (RS 232, RS 485, and Ethernet) for
home automation. It also has a discrete on and off switch. The Pro is
only available through professional installers. We will just refer to
the product as Homedock for the remainder of this review. The docking
station is almost 6 x 4 x 1 in size. It has its connections to the
Receiver/TV on the back of the unit. In addition to the interface ports
of the pro the device has S-Video, RCA, Power and USB. The Top of the
unit has a dock for the iPod and a place to put your remote control.
The Homedock will charge your iPod while you use it.
Setup
Setup
was trivial. If you can connect a DVD player you can connect this
device. For our tests we ran the Homedock through the Yamaha 2700 with
upconversion turned on. For video we tried both S-Video and Component
cables.
How did it perform?
Navigating
to your music and videos was as simple as using the iPod
GUI. The only real issue was that there was a delay in using the remote
control so it got a little annoying remote control. Also, you
had to point the remote right at the base to get it to register the
commands. A limitation in the design is that you can not select a photo
album from the on screen GUI. You have to switch the control mode to
the iPod itself. At this point you can still use the remote control but
you have to be pretty close to the dock to see what you are selecting.
Its kind of a bummer because this is one feature that I really like but
its a pain to have to get up and switch photo albums at the player.
Having
all your music, podcasts, and iTunes Music Store Videos available to
you in the palm of your hands is a nice thing. The audio played back
nicely. We found music that we ripped at high bit rates sounded
excellent through the 2700. But 128 Kbps mp3s did not fare as well. Its
not due to the homedock. Its kind of like watching SD material on a HD
TV. It exposes all the flaws. The same thing with the video. Even at
the highest quality that the iPod would support the video was barely
watchable for TV programs and movies. Its perfectly fine for Video
podcasts as you are not expecting DVD quality to begin with. Speaking
of podcasts, the Homedock does not display an indicator letting you
know that you have not played or viewed a podcast. The Homedock does
display album art but not anywhere near as nice as the Frontrow or the
AppleTV
You may say I can do all of this with a $20 A/V cable
and you would be right. But you would not have the ability to do it
from the comfort of your sofa. The DLO Homedock adds convenience and
ease of use to eveyone's favorite music player.
Final Thoughts
If you are waiting to buy a receiver with iPod connectivity your wait
is over. The DLO HomeDock product line integrates with receivers or
powered speaker systems. If you have a Nano or a Mini you'll want to
consider the standard Homedock (
Buy Now)since
you can't play videos anyway you might as well save $50. If you have
home automation, contact your installer and ask if they can sell you a
Homedock Pro. It will integrate in with the rest of your system.
What is HD Radio?
If you
listen to this podcast you already know what HDTV means. But what about
HD Radio? HD radio is the brand name of a digital radio by a company
called
iBiquity Digital. They claim:
HD Radio broadcasting is dramatically higher quality audio, far more
programming choice and compelling new wireless data services brought to
you by your local AM and FM radio stations. No more static, hiss, pops
or fades.
This
new technology promises AM that sounds like FM and FM that sounds like
CDs. But if you look at the data rates supported on AM And FM you
wonder how that statement can be true. AM has a 32Kbps data rate and FM
has 96Kbps data rate. These are maximums. The one thing that is true
is that when the radio is locked on you won't here static, hiss, or
pops. Digital radio also transmits song information to the radio
screen. So its like satellite radio but without the subscription cost
but you still get all the commercials.
FM radio stations can
multicast just like their TV counterparts. So a station can transmit
different music formats or have a talk stream if they choose.
Here is a list of stations that are currently broadcasting in HD.
But as with TV, if a radio station starts multicasting the CD quality
of FM can quickly degrade. Since it works on the same frequencies as
current AM and FM radio there is no need for an analog cutoff. Also,
the current frequencies will still be good. Analog radios will ignore
the digital data and digital radios will not. An HD Radio will lock
onto the analog station first and then try to find the digital stream.
If digital signal is lost the radio will drop back to analog.
Some future enhancements to HD radio include:
- Real-time traffic reports broadcast by local stations and visually displayed on a vehicle's navigation system
- Surround Sound
- Store-and-Replay - Will allow listeners to rewind a song they just heard or record an
entire program to play back at a more convenient listening time
- On Demand Capabilities - Will give listeners instant access to news and information
- "Buy" button - Will turn the radio into an interactive device for e-commerce,
allowing for instant purchases of everything from concert tickets to
advertised products.
The
stations and content are free just like OTA HDTV but you have to buy a
HD capable radio. HD Radios start at $150 for a car and $200 for the
home. For more information check out
http://www.hdradio.com.
