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Provides: Portable viewing of 5G iPod videos and DVDs

Developer: iLuv

Minimum Requirements: 30/60/80GB iPod for iPod viewing

Retail Price: $199.00

Availability: Out now

They sure are making it easy to watch videos these days. At the risk of sounding like the angry codger who sits on his porch and screams at the kids on the street, using words such as "codger," it wasn't like this when I was a kid. I remember being so thrilled when a commercial on one of three network TV channels or two UHF channels would announce that Star Wars had been re-released, and we'd go nuts. We'd call our friends, we'd dance in the living room. We'd get out our toys and relive the movie in the sandbox. We had no movie rentals, we had no DVDs, and HBO was for the wealthy (and it took them forever to get the good movies, anyway).

The difference between me and the angry codger on the porch is that I won't pretend I miss those days. Sure, it saddens me that my children won't get the thrill of waiting forever to see a movie they're eagerly anticipating, but on the other hand, who cares? I'm not entirely convinced there are any movies worth waiting for that long anymore, and honestly, I don't think there ever were. Seriously. Watch Star Wars objectively. It's really just not that great of a movie.

And now that I've turned away all the Star Wars fans who wouldn't be interested in this product anyway because who wants to desecrate the holiness of A New Hope by watching it on such a tiny screen in (gasp!) stereo, we have the iLuv z1055BLK...a name only slightly worse than iLuv Portable Multimedia Tablet-Style DVD Player with 7" Active-Matrix TFT LCD Screen. For the sake of all involved, I'm just going to call it the iLuv throughout this review.

The iLuv gives you both DVD and iPod viewing in one unit, and they make it very simple with both. More than just inputs for the iPod video signal, you can actually plug your 30, 60 or 80GB 5G iPod into a docking unit on the back of the system (your choice of plastic placeholders on the back will accommodate either a 30GB iPod or the 60/80GB models). Make sure your iPod is set to "TV Out" or "Ask" when playing videos (if set it to Ask, you'll need to select TV Out when prompted), select "iPod" on the iLuv unit (making sure it's on, of course), then hit play on your iPod. Simple as that. Depending upon the video you're watching, you'll want to make sure you have the proper aspect ratio selected on both the iLuv and the iPod. A plastic cover will protect the iPod when it's in the iLuv, but you do have access to the click wheel (which you'll need, because you still control the video with your iPod even when it's playing on the iLuv screen).

Obviously, that's the selling point of this device, so we have to throw bulk out the window. Most portable DVD players are quite thin, but not the iLuv. It's about 10"W x 6"H x 2.625"D in the center where the iPod sits. It's a bit heaver than most systems, too, so you'll want to use the enclosed stand. Again, though, all of this is necessary to accommodate the iPod in such a simple manner.

And besides, the most important question we need to ask is how good the videos look. That'll depend largely upon the quality of the video, of course. What the iLuv brings to the mix is a 7" widescreen (16:9 aspect ratio) active-matrix LCD display. Considering that iPod movies are meant to be watched on a screen much smaller than that, the picture's not that great. The 640x480 aspect ratio helps, but if you have older iPod videos at 320x240, they'll look a bit blurry on the iLuv.

DVDs, on the other hand, look great. You can sit two or three feet back of the iLuv and really appreciate the video clarity of a DVD. This is helpful, because you'll often want to have more than one person watching at a time. Your choices for DVD viewing are mostly the same as what you'd get with other DVD players, including multiple subtitle and video angle options. You'll do no better than stereo sound either with the built-in speakers or the two headphone jacks, but I can't imagine any of you out there have 5.1 surround sound headphones, anyway.

The iLuv includes S-video and component video/audio out for viewing your movies on a TV set, which seems kind of counter-intuitive, but isn't at all. Obviously, using the iLuv to run your iPod videos and photos from the iPod to a full TV is helpful, and if you don't have a DVD player, the iLuv can serve that function if you don't mind the loss of surround sound. It's also worth mentioning that the iLuv plays video CDs, audio CDs and MP3 CDs, so the audio and video outputs become more valuable.

Of course, there's no way all of the necessary cables for these connections are included, right? Wrong. The iLuv ships with nearly everything you need for connecting it to your audio and video equipment as well as to your power sources. You get your audio and video cables (though, sadly, not the S-video cable), you get the power adapter and you get a cigarette lighter adapter. The power adapters are important, too, because you only get about 2 to 2.5 hours on the built-in Ni-MH rechargeable battery before having to recharge. And finally, you get a remote control (as with the on-device controls, unfortunately, the remote doesn't work with iPod viewing) and a decent—if somewhat clunky—pair of headphones. They get decent sound, but the padding fits on top of your ears, not around them, making them uncomfortable to wear for long periods of time.

For transport, the iLuv comes with a great carrying case designed to accommodate the iLuv and most of its cables (it's hard to work the power adapters in there, but it can be done). I'd like to see room for a DVD or two, as well, but the case is free, so I won't complain. An included strap can be attached for over-the-shoulder carrying, and there's also a strap for the iLuv player itself, allowing you to attach it to a car seat, for example.

And that, by the way, is what makes the iLuv z1055 so worth it. Why pay the auto dealer for a DVD player when you can buy an iLuv for less, get the iPod compatibility, and be able to remove it from the car when you want to watch it elsewhere. The battery life isn't great, but as long as you're near a power source either at home or in the car, that won't be an issue. Again, you can do better for a portable DVD player, but the iPod compatibility and overall portability make this well worth it.

Make the kids wait a while, though, to watch Star Wars. It'll make the movie seem better than it really is, and your kids will thank you for that. Trust me.