Gear4 Video Buddy iPod accessory

Gear4 produces a wide range of iPod accessories and its Video Buddy is a simple way to play media on your iPod on a big screen. The Video Buddy allows any new iPod to be hooked up directly to RCA ports on a television or stereo to enjoy content without the restrictions of the iPod’s small screen. Although the iPhone isn’t officially supported, Gear4 tells us it, too, should work fine.

The kit takes the form of a small AV module with built-in volume controls (though we’re not sure why) that plugs into the dock connector of your player. A supplied RCA cable can then be connected between the device and a TV or stereo, with the player’s controls used to browse and select content.

The iPod’s TV-out setting is remotely enabled to save you having to trawl through menus, so to set up you just plug it in and select media files for playback. We were impressed by how quick and easy the Video Buddy was to use and reproduction quality on the big screen is about as good as can be expected.

Unfortunately the experience is hampered by the supplied cable being just 1.5m long and therefore unlikely to reach between a television and a sofa. Users will have to keep walking up to the player to adjust settings, though an extension cable could obviously be used to make things slightly easier.

In addition to video, photo and audio playback, iPod Touch users will note that Youtube clips can be streamed wirelessly for playback through a TV.

The Video Buddy is a tidy, reasonably priced device and, in the absence of a (more expensive) iPod dock with dedicated video-out support and a remote control, is certainly a nice way to view video and photos on a TV or play music through a more powerful stereo.

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