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Product Review: Page (1) of 1 - 06/25/08

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Tekkeon NavDock

Play your iPod media on the TV

By Joshua Virata

Almost everyone has an iPod that is usually jam packed with MP3's, pictures, home videos, iTunes videos and other media available on the iTunes music store. There are many cable solutions to share this media as well as many companies that make dock systems for displaying this media on a TV. The Tekkeon NavDock is one of the best and cleanest dock that I've ever tested. The user interface is clean, straight forward and quite responsive to control.

Setting up the dock was fast and easy because all of the plugs were provided and were standard RCA cables with the yellow video, white and red audio cables. The AC adapter doesn't have a power brick, which was a definite plus but I did have one gripe and that was with the length of the power cable itself. It was too short. Once powered up though the dock works almost flawlessly.

When the dock is first turned on a home screen is displayed and gives the status of the dock and whether or not there is an iPod in the dock. Once an iPod is docked, a different page is shown that includes music, pictures, and videos. There is also a menu for settings and about information. The information about the iPod is displayed on the top of the display including the name of the iPod attached. The menus control exactly what the manual says it will with the music menu leading to the same menus available on an iPod including playlists, albums, artists, songs and other items. Videos opens to another subset of menus including movies, TV Shows, and video podcasts.

The NavDock package includes the NavDock itself, a 16-button infrared remote control that is probably the best built remote for a iPod home media center, a six foot standard AV output cable, universal dock adapters, iPod, video, nano, power adapter and user guide.

Tekkeon NavDock

The NavDock should be on anyone's short list when it comes to playing your iPod media on a big screen. While the iPod is a great device for storing all your favorite TV shows, music, and movies, the screen is still small, especially when you want to share those TV shows and music with others. The NavDock is a pretty good device that lets you to share those entertainment files on your TV screen. One thing though is it doesn't lend itself well to wall mounted TVs because the cabling is too short, so I imagine companies such as Tekkeon will find a solution that is hopefully wireless, yet still works well. The NavDock does a great job as is of sending your videos and music to your TV. The remote control is especially intuitive, especially the scroll wheel that lets you more easily navigate your song selection and menus, as well as the one touch capability for menu selection. The interface is well thought out and very easy to navigate, which sets this docking system apart from the many other systems on the market that target iPod users.  It costs $129. More information on the NavDock is at www.tekkeon.com