JVC HDTVs with built-in iPod Dock
JVC's new LT line of televisions marries that chic-est and most useless of gadgetry fashions — the iPod dock — to its slim HDTVs. Starting at 32" and 720p and going up to 52" and 1080p, you're looking at way too many pixels and way too much screen real estate to make the average, highly-compressed iPod video look like anything better than an animated smear of pixelated puke. Luckily, the JVC also allows you to play your iPod music through the dock... which is probably a much better use for such a thing.
I question the wisdom of buying expensive gadgets with iPod docks. I use my iPod a lot, I love it, but it's hardly a future-proof accessory. It may very well be the DAP du jour, replaced in a couple years by a company that unexpectedly ambles up and delivers the iPod line a bowel-evacuating haymaker. Even if that isn't the case, Apple's just one flip decision away from changing the shape of the docking connector or changing the shape of the iPod so it no longer fits (as they've already done with the iPhone 3G).
I suppose I'm old fashioned: I look at televisions as electronics that should last decade, so a television with an iPod dock strikes the same discordant note in me as an old 80's Magnavox with a built-in Walkman connector. Still, if you're interested, the various models of the LT line cost between 640 and 2000 euros and are available now.
The New JVC Combo: HDTV - iPod Docking Station Now Available [Akihabara News]
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Well, they only change the form factor of the devices. The Dock connector itself hasn't ever changed that I know of. Maybe it changed once back towards the beginning of the line? That's why iPods come with those little plastic inserts to work into the dock. The shape changes, but the plug itself does not.
a decade ? I expect (and get) decades (plural) of use. Anyway, a 4 by 3 CRT TV fits in a corner better than a 19 by 9 flat screen.
Ugh, iPod docks. Way to screw up a TV. Actually, I take that back, the only way to get the sound from the iPod in the dock to a a home theater system is a single analog output.
I also like that they don't even mention actual specs. Is the TV 120hz? What's the contrast ratio?
pseudo-edit: After visiting the product page, it does have an optical output but there's no mention of if the iPod uses it, still uses 3-2 pulldown (PUKE, a new HDTV should never be 60Hz) and they omit the contrast ratio entirely.
And they want $1000 for a 32" 720p TV? Wow.....
Can electronics manufacturers PLEASE stop playing it safe and putting ipod docks on everything?
There are OTHER MP3 players on the market!
My 3rd generation iPod (four buttons, no clickwheel) is too old to work with current docks. It *kind of* plays through them, but the screen freezes and it doesn't charge. And the car charger I got a year ago doesn't work with it at all. Oy.