Here’s a gem of a product, in a heretofore nonexistent category, from a brand you’ve probably never heard of.
It’s the AVi Digital TV Docking Station from Chinon, which includes all the usual iPod dock features- AM/FM radio with 20 presets, alarm clock, etc.- but adds a twist: a 7-inch LCD screen that, through a digital antenna, can play local TV channels. And not only that, but the screen can play video hosted on your iPod.
This has all sorts of potential applications- you can bring it to work (if you can hide it from your boss). You can put it in a room of your house where there’s no TV or cable (like the bathroom, for instance.) You can bring it to a football game, so you can watch the pregame show while tailgating, without needing to lug a satellite dish along with you.
In all, it’s a rare way to watch TV for free in the post-DTV transition era, along bringing the station on the road with you will require eight "C" batteries.
The TV function is crisp and easy- I was able to watch every local channel without any difficulty. No complaints about the iPod or radio functions either, except the device- like most docks of its kind- is not able to display song metadata on-screen. And the small remote control is one of the best of its kind that I’ve seen- featuring 32 buttons, and working from more than 10 feet away.
One of just two products manufactured by Chinon USA, the newly relaunched brand that formerly made cameras in Japan, the AVi docking system is a success- doing everything it sets out to do very well.
www.chinonusa.com
And it costs how much?