Review of Control4® Dock for iPod
Reviewed by HAI Staff
Control4® Dock for iPod
The Control4® Dock for iPod is the most effective and affordable way to connect your iPods to your Control4® system.
Overall Rating: 8.7 out of 10
Features
The Control4® Dock for iPod connects to the Control4 home controller via hard-wired Ethernet . The Control4 Dock for iPod offers better navigation and control than existing docks, allowing you to effectively distribute music and video throughout your home.
With the Apple dock or other 3rd party equivalents, an IR driver had to be created by the installer to allow the dock to be controlled like other A/V devices via the System Remote. The available functions were limited to basic navigation and select buttons in most cases. The Control4® Dock for iPod provides familiar navigation and control via all the standard Control4 system interfaces, and allows you to view content on the iPod or iPhone and select your desired music as though you had the iPod in your hand. This dock also re-charges the iPod when docked, which earlier Apple docks did not do.
Music from your iPod can be distributed to other rooms in the home via your audio distribution system. The system can also integrate multiple docks providing additional music or video sources available for distribution.
Rating: 9.0 out of 10
Ease of Installation
Control4 products can only be installed by a certified Dealer who has received the required training to be able to efficiently install a Control4 system. The Dealer uses the Composer software to configure and identify all the devices being controlled by the system.
Installing the Control4® Dock for iPod involves connecting the dock to the data network, connecting the audio output to the home controller and the video output to the TV, and plugging in the power adapter. In Composer the dock is added to the home configuration, and the above connections are defined.
Once the above is completed all that is left is to seat the iPod or iPhone in the dock to enable access.
Note the Dock is compatible with all iPhones and iPods, except the early classic iPod models with less than 80 GB of storage.
Rating: 9.0 out of 10
Reliability
The Control4® Dock for iPod is a relatively new product, thus the hardware reliability has no track record at this stage. Note, we observed some minor issues with the iPhone that appear to be corrected by the latest release of the Composer software. Control4 provides a two year warranty on all products.