DLO introduces HomeDock HD: yet another upscaling iPod dock

Just in case the HomeDock hasn't been revamped and slightly renamed enough already, DLO is busting out yet another in the line and throwing the all-too-trendy "HD" moniker in there for good measure. As with most every other alternative already on the market, the HomeDock HD offers up 720p / 1080i upscaling and gives your iPod an easy way to output content via HDMI. You'll also find an optical digital audio output, a USB port, an auxiliary input and S-Video / composite outputs. DLO claims that the enhanced on-TV interface will just melt your heart (more or less, anyway), and the bundled remote will keep you firmly planted on the sofa when flipping through clips. Mum's the word on pricing at the moment, but feel free to take a second and check out this thing's backside after the break.

[Via CNET]

[scooterbaga @ Jan 17th 2008 5:23PM]

Anyone know if the 'other alternatives' also have onscreen menus?

They tend to leave that little detail out of the descriptions. And then your stuck navigating from the ipod screen with your remote... *cough* griffin tunecenter *cough*

[Constable Odo @ Jan 17th 2008 5:30PM]

Nice dock. I don't know too much about upscaling, but most iPod videos are relatively low quality when downloaded from the net or if you need to conserve space. Wouldn't the quality be fairly crappy if watched on a big screen TV?

I suppose if you rip a DVD in high quality and don't care how much space it takes up on your iPod it could be good. Would ripping everything into H.264 be the best solution?

Can anyone confirm whether this dock would be worthwhile having?

[Charles @ Jan 17th 2008 9:23PM]

H.264 looks great on HDTV as long as the movie is encoded at no less than 640px wide. Upscaling through an outside device is redundant on HDTVs. They all do it automatically.

[Pete @ Jan 18th 2008 9:31AM]

The quality for most downloaded content would be horrible. However, if you encode your own content the quality can be about DVD quality. That said, i am skeptical that the upscaling capabilities of the unit will really be on par with a nice upscaling DVD player. Sure the menus probably look great, but the movies probably look about like standard def TV. You are trying to do something that the device just wasn't really designed to do.

[Constable Odo @ Jan 19th 2008 3:54PM]

Then I suppose this dock is fairly useless unless you're downloading iTMS video content. Might as just well leave the content on a DVD and watch it that way or just rip it to video file on a computer that's already hooked up to my HDTV. No need in running it to an iPod at all unless it's gonna be viewed on an iPod. As I said, it looks nice, but it is not of much value to me.

[kojo87 @ Jan 17th 2008 5:31PM]

i still don't get how upscaling works. its the same video. how can these things possibly increase the resolution of the original? these are nothing but sucker-finders if you ask me.

but please let me know if these things actually work well.

[Karl Kuhn @ Jan 17th 2008 9:14PM]

I agree that "upscaling" sounds like a gimmick. I haven't seen any mention of price, either.

[CapWKidd @ Jan 17th 2008 5:47PM]

Optical out, but it puts digital audio out through the HDMI, I would assume....

[Hecktic @ Jan 17th 2008 6:11PM]

Any one know if possibly it supports the iphone? i would love this if it did

[Rizzle @ Jan 17th 2008 7:24PM]

My guess is that the iPhone *is* supported but for $250 they didn't bother shielding the speakers from the GSM signal. I bet it'll work, but you'll get interference from the GSM signal.

So if you plugin in your iphone, you'll get the friendly "Do you want to turn on airplane mode" prompt like you do now with the iHome players.

[j_g_puff @ Jan 17th 2008 6:24PM]

Upscaling won't improve the quality - there's no way to recover the information lost when the video was downscaled to iPod size - but it may make that crappy image look better on your shiny tv. It's not anything to get excited about though - as the article suggests, these companies just want an excuse to stick the hallowed 'HD' tag on their products.

As for ripping everything at DVD res and encoding using H.264, watch out. Mobile devices may not have the processing power and/or battery life to decode this. Encoding and decoding hi resolution H.264 is an unbelievably demanding task. The best thing is just not to watch your iPod videos on a TV.

When we get scalable H.264 then we'll be laughing.

[gar @ Jan 17th 2008 6:37PM]

I talked to the rep at this booth...he told me it would release in march and for around $250 bucks. What a rip!

[Reid @ Jan 17th 2008 7:30PM]

Upscaling -- no thanks.

[Dusty Nipples @ Jan 17th 2008 8:35PM]

Hmm, I wonder if the digital out is a direct passthrough like on the Wadia? This is the only new feature on ipod docks that get me interested. Wav files + external DAC and you can actually get decent sound quality out of these things.

[Bad Beaver @ Jan 18th 2008 4:12AM]

"Pure digital audio via optical digital output"

*hmmm* Pure...

Yes, I wonder too. I'd say likely, but then who knows. The Wadia will be $350 IIRC? So this would be the better option, including a remote at a lower price, but with lower brag-factor. Yes, I say "better" because I cannot get myself to say "cheaper" as we're supposed to cough up $250+ for the newfangled luxury of a digital out. It has a certain prison/soap element to it.

[Charles @ Jan 17th 2008 9:20PM]

This is pretty nice. I've been converting my DivX .avis to H.264 to play on my touch and stream to the XBox. They look great on HDTV. This would be sweet for taking movies to friends or family's houses. $250 is a bit steep. Quite a bit. I would consider $100, maybe $150 since it does charge the iPod and it has HDMI (probably doesn't come with a cable). The upscaling is unnecessary since most HD sets do it anyway.

[Ian @ Jan 18th 2008 12:55AM]

So you have 3rd generation nodef content being upconverted. It cannot by definnition "look great." It amazes me that people pay serious bank for awesome displays then use them to view nodef overcompressed content. What's the point?

[Elijah @ Jan 18th 2008 1:59AM]

I was told by someone at the DLO booth at MacWorld today that it would be "around $250" when it ships. For what it's worth....

[Wayne @ Jan 18th 2008 10:41AM]

I think the digital out is like the Wadia. Wonder if it only works on recent generation Ipods like the Wadia. I have a Photo that Wadia doesn't support.

[Chris Fleck @ Jan 18th 2008 6:15PM]

I am waiting for Apple to build the Nirvana Smartphone. This HomeDock plus bluetooth keyboard plus virtual desktop gets closer.
http://www.nirvanasmartphone.com