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Browse your iPod on the big screen!
Compatibility The Tekkeon NavDock is very compatible. When buying a dock for your iPod, the first thing you should investigate is model compatibility. Not every dock works with every iPod... especially when it comes to video. But the Tekkeon NavDock will work with all non-video iPods as well as with most video iPods including the iPod Touch (a complete list of compatible iPod models is at the beginning of this review). There aren't many iPod video docks that are compatible with the iPod Touch. So if you own an iPod Touch, then the Tekkeon NavDock is the dock for you.
The NavDock's compatibility isn't just limited to iPods. The NavDock is multilingual. You can change the language of the NavDock's on-screen menus to English, Japanese, and Spanish. And there's a NTSC/PAL switch on the back of the unit. So if you travel between NTSC and PAL locations, then this switch will be of great interest to you and the NavDock will probably frequently find its way into your luggage.
So let's review: multiple iPods, multiple languages and multiple video output standards. Like we said, the NavDock is very compatible. Remote The Tekkeon NavDock has an awesome16-button remote that allows you to adjust or mute volume, shuffle, repeat or skip songs, and fast forward or rewind through music or videos. The remote offers a 5-way navigation pad and quick keys that enable you to jump directly to your videos, photos, music or settings.
Beautiful menus, but... Besides having a great remote, what really sets the Tekkeon NavDock well beyond Apple's video dock is the menu navigation. The Tekkeon NavDock has a fantastic menu interface. Cheaper iPod video docks either don't have any on-screen menu navigation or their menus look like dried out donkey crap. Not the Tekkeon NavDock. The NavDock has beautiful menus that rival the Apple TV's interface and allow you to easily navigate the contents of your iPod in style.
The NavDock's interface is both aesthetically pleasing and easy to read, but there's a functionally issue. Displaying album art will make the NavDock act slightly sluggish, especially if you have giant high-resolution album artwork attached to your music and video files. The NavDock sometimes needs a couple seconds to buffer these image files and may make your navigation a tad slow. What does that mean exactly? You might see a 1-2 second pause between songs when using the NavDock so album artwork can be loaded. Songs with no album art will never get paused. But don't go deleting all your album artwork in iTunes just yet. If you are really seeing a speed issue, you can turn off the NavDock's album art feature altogether. An unglamorous wad of text will tell you what's currently playing on your iPod. But if this is a deal breaker for you, you should probably just cough up the extra cash and buy an Apple TV. Picture & Sound Quality In general, both your picture and sound quality will greatly depend on the original quality of your media files on your iPod. If you don't already own a video iPod dock or an Apple TV, you are probably used to watching movies on your iPod's small screen. So a 320 x 240 movie that looks great on your iPod might look pretty pixilated and stretched out on the big screen. If you usually rip DVDs to MP4 files using Handbrake, you might want to up the quality and pixel size. Handbrake has plenty of presets so be sure to experiment on a setting that will give you a file that will look good on both your iPod and TV. Photos The NavDock will also display photo sideshows using the photos on your iPod. But you will have to queue up the slide show using your iPod and not the NavDock's remote. Honestly, it's a little awkward. But awkward photo navigation by video iPod docks is a limitation of Apple's iPod firmware. The iPod doesn't have the ability to send fancy thumbnails to 3rd party docks and other video hardware yet. Also, the photos feature is not completely compatible with the iPod Touch. But there is a work-around. iPod Touch users can setup a slide show on the iPod Touch's screen and mirror the output through the NavDock. It's an extra step, but it works.
Overall Pros and Cons
What makes the Tekkeon NavDock special is its interface combined with its ability to work with the most recent iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPod touch models, as well as earlier iPods. But the NavDock isn't completely glitch free. Sometimes you may experience a communication failure which may require you to re-docking your iPod.
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