Customer Reviews

Ipod Dock for "ipod Ready" Pioneer Elite Receivers

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This product is a must for any Home Theatre user who also uses a Ipod. My Pioneer Elite Receiver came with the cable to connect it directly into the receiver. If your receiver does not include the cable you must purchase it separately. I plugged in the device, spent about 5 minutes with the Receiver manual and had the Ipod playing music and pictures on my Plasma display. Your Ipod menu is displayed directly on the TV when selecting music. Pictures require you to select play directly on the Ipod sitting in the Dock. If you have problems getting the menu to display on your TV just unplug the Ipod or Dock from the cable and reset.

This thing is great since you can use or create playlist to run while entertaining.

This product does exactly what it says it does. However I wish it worked differently than designed.

Having set up the iPod doc with the Pioneer AV receiver, and my Logitec Harmony 890 remote the iPod adapter is very easy to use. Plug the iPod into the doc, push the "listen to iPod" button on the Harmony, and you're off and running. The contents of the iPod display on the TV screen where you can select album, artist, genre, etc as you can on the iPod. Well almost.

On the iPod (when it is out of the dock) you can use the click wheel to rapidly scan through songs or albums. When using the adapter the click wheel is disabled and you must use the TV. The interface lacks that rapid search capability and you must slow scroll through genre or album until you finally get to what you want to play. I wish the design allowed the click wheel to operate while in the dock. That way you could plug the iPod in, rapidly select what you want to listen to, and walk away.

The other problem is the TV has to be turned on to select music. If you want to save energy and money you must turn off the TV after you make your selection, then turn it back on to switch albums later. My TV draws about 250 watts so it isn't wise to leave it on for hours while listening to music. This just isn't the best setup.

So my advice to the designers of either this dock or the Pioneer is don't disable the iPod click wheel on your next design. I have a second iPod dock which isn't so well integrated into the Pioneer but I'm thinking that is a good thing. The other iPod doc simply would output audio to the amplifier and all other controls would be on the iPod itself. I may end up using the other doc which has it's own Apple remote, perhaps less convenient in some ways but more convenient in other ways.

Works great. Allows you to view Ipod functions on your TV and control the Ipod with the remote. The only down side is the Ipod information is displayed in black and white. I have all my music on one Ipod and do not need any other music device connected to the receiver. I have a VSX-92TXH receiver and a Pioneer display. I also use a SR+ cable to view the receiver information on the TV.

Great doc for the Elite Receiver, I received the cable with my receiver and it worked instantly. I do agree with the other comment on having to use the TV to view what is on the iPod. I wish the workings were a little different but it is still great to hear the iPod on the receiver.

I just bought the brand new Pioneer Elite receiver VSX91TXH and this dock. There was a notice in the receiver box that the iPod cable was missing and that you should call with your model and serial number and they would ship you one in mid September.

This product does what it says, you can play your Ipod thru the receiver, and control the Ipod too. The people who made this, no doubt, "es gente muy inventosa." But, the first thing that shocks the user, is the black and white display. Here I am with a high definition LCD TV, and a $500 receiver, and I'm looking at what for all the world appears to be MS DOS commands with very low resolution. Shocking! After a minute or so, on your screen appears the primitive black and white notification: "Press any button to cancel the screensaver." This notice moves around my tv screen like it's been plucked from the video game "Pong". There's no one in the world that wouldn't like to see some beautiful, color imagery while listening to their favorite music. Why did this not occur to Pioneer?

The problem I had with this dock is it didn't have the correct size adapter to fit my ipod. I guess my ipod is a little older than those that are accommodated with the included adapters. Never the less it was inconvenient. I had to use the adapter that was closest in size to my ipod which meant I had to force it slightly. This is the reason for most of the three stars. I use this dock with a compatible Pioneer Receiver.

The IDK-80 is very easy to set up. You must have the Pioneer 16-pin cable, and a Pioneer "Elite" receiver for it to work. The 16-pin cable is NOT supplied with the dock, but should have been in the box with the receiver when you purchased it. If it wasn't; contact Pioneer, and they will supply you with one free of charge. The most important thing that is not mentioned, is that the "video" portion will not work with the latest Apple iPods; the Classic, iPod Touch, and the iPhone4. So like me, all you are going to get, along with the great digital sound coming through your surround speakers, is the song title, and artist streaming across your receiver display. There are various options you can choose from the menu, such as playlists, new purchases, and so on, the ones that are on your iPod. All of the menu options, volume, etc. can be controlled from you Pioneer remote. The cost is high for what it does! It's a nice addition, and the sound is GREAT, coming through the speakers, but is priced to high for not being able to use Apple's latest, and greatest. You might be able to get around not being able to use the video, by purchasing an Apple dock, and either using it along with the Pioneer, or getting the video started with the Apple dock, and then jumping to the Pioneer dock. I haven't tried it, and I don't even know if it is possible to do it that way. Someone out there maybe has already gotton around the problem, and would like to share the info. I'm just going to enjoy the great sound from my iPod Touch, and let it go at that. By the way; Apple, not Pioneer is responsible for the latest, and greatest not being compatible with the IDK-80 dock.

item works fine I think pioneer charges 3 times too much for this. Other makers are a third the price. I love my cs27 receiver so this is the price I have to pay to listen to my ipod through it.

Steve Dorman

Works flawlwssly.. I own Pioneer Elite equipment so this is a natural for the AVR
I put the Bono ( red and black ) in it, 30 gig iPod ... works like a charm