Q: Currently my 80Gb is connected to my hi-fi and TV using a docking station. Photos, videos and music play well. My problem is when selecting tracks to play music, due to the size of the iPod screen I have to walk right up to it to select a track.
Is there a way to have this displayed on the TV so I can easily control it with the remote of the docking station?
– Brian
A: Although the iPod itself doesn’t provide any ability to output its own menus onto a TV screen directly, there are a couple of third-party dock accessories that do provide this capability.
THe two specific options that have been reviewed by iLounge are the DLO HomeDock Deluxe Entertainment Dock (iLounge rating: B) and the Griffin TuneCenter Home Media Center for iPod (iLounge rating: B). Both of these docks provide on-TV menuing for music browsing, and the DLO model now provides this capability for browsing the iPod video library as well.
The other option, of course, is to pick up a device such as the Apple TV (iLounge rating: B), which will instead either stream your iTunes library from your computer, or synchronize some or all of it to your its local hard drive for playback without the requirement for the back-end iTunes library computer to be left on.
However, at half the price of an Apple TV, and the ability to output their signal to a standard (non-HD) TV, the DLO and Griffin docks are a reasonable alternative to simply facilitate the use of the iPod as a music playback device.
You can find more specific information in our Reviews of Docks with On-TV Menuing
.
