6. Altec Lansing IMV712: Video Foremost

Massive, but elegant

The Altec Lansing iMV712 is relatively large. That’s partly accounted for by its 8.5" video display. Yet its visual design is elegant. Operation is a little more complex than the other docks we looked at. One sour note is that the large display isn’t made use of when you’re navigating in the menus. That’s a shame, because it’s a lot more comfortable than the iPod’s small display.

A very multimedia-oriented dock

With its 8.5" screen, this dock lets you view film or music videos via a video iPod. The quality of the display is not extraordinary; the resolution isn’t high enough. But it’s still much more pleasant than on the player’s screen. The device has various outputs, including S-Video and auxiliary. The bass and treble can also be adjusted using the remote control.

Respectable sound quality

The Altec Lansing iMV712 doesn’t boast the best sound of the units we tested for this article, but it’s good enough. The sound is clear, with no saturation. Still, the bass is sometimes too pronounced and the attainable volume level is less impressive than on other units, though it’s still satisfactory.