Customer Reviews

iLuv i1255 Slim Desktop DVD Player and Dock for iPod (Black)

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

 

 

I've had my iLuv i1255for about a month now and I'm very pleased with it. I purchased it primarily to watch movies from my iPod (30 gig video)on my TV, and play DVDs, which it does just as advertised.It was super simple to set up and there have never been any problems integrating it with the iPod. I've had no problem navigating through the iPod using the unit's remote and the video quality when playing iPod movies is good. The unit is also very good as a simple DVD player, and I've had no trouble doing slide shows on the TV from my Kodak digital camera photos after dumping them to a CD. Music was not my main reason for buying the unit, but I've played just about every album and playlist on the iPod through the TV and have been pleased. I'm very satisfied with my purchase and believe it was money well spent.

This device is a convenient and reasonably priced product for iPod owners who do not own a high definition television but nevertheless want to view video from their iPods on their televisions. The player also contains a regular DVD player and is very easy to use. Buyers should be aware, however, that the iLuv remote control does not work with the iPod Touch. I was a little disappointed to learn this only after I purchased the iLuv but because I own other iPods (a Classic and a Nano), I was able to simply dock and use those ones instead.

The iluv i1255 is full of bugs , it would freeze half the time just browsing the ipod , it would not let you "play all" the songs from a genre, artist, or play list. Does not skip forward video nor song, the DVD function are decent. I used a Ipod classic 80gb for this review

Overall - barely adequate. Bought unit about 9 months ago, mostly for DVD play but also to play music through iPod. Frustrating bugs in software require re-setting to home screen while trying to navigate to music on iPod. DVD player now mostly inoperative, despite care and cleaning of DVDs. Appears to be product quickly and cheaply made to flow into the river of iPod-related products. Poorly manufactured components and weak software make this a "purchase with caution" despite cheap price.

I received this unit via my company's Service Award program in September 2009, because I needed a DVD player and this was the only option. As a DVD player, it is useless.

First, on my unit, the sound is virtually inaudible even with the TV turned up full, when using the FL and FR (component sound) outputs. The component video is also unusable, because the Pr composite output channel is not driven at all. Composite and S-Video outputs worked, but are of disappointing low quality. I tested with two different composite cables, three different audio cables, and two different TVs. I continuity-tested all cables with an ohmmeter. The player is definitely the problem.

Customer support responded promptly and offered to check the unit, but only if I paid shipping back to their offices in New York. Since the software on the unit is so bad (see below), it wasn't even worth that cost to me, but I appreciated their willingness to help.

One software problem is that the unit always powers up in iPod mode, even though we don't own an iPod. It should remember the previously selected mode, especially since getting to DVD mode is so challenging; the button works sometimes, it fails sometimes. I found myself mentally steeling my patience before trying to watch a movie, not exactly a relaxing diversion.

The software is also incompatible with some mainstream DVDs, which astounded me given the maturity of DVD standards. For example, "The Santa Clause" DVD's Options menu is blank, although you can still navigate and select the (blank) options. We struggled to turn off sub-titles (on by default on this device only, for some bizarre reason) by picking blank options at random, and ended up stuck with German (I think?) voice-overs before giving up and restarting the player. After finally getting back to DVD mode, we settled for watching with sub-titles on, but that annoyance was the final straw.

I replaced the unit this morning with a Magnavox Blu-ray player, using exactly the same cables as wired, and tested "The Santa Clause" DVD. Everything worked perfectly, leaving this ill-designed unit as the sole culprit and a decidedly uncherished gift.

The software may work well as an iPod player - again, I don't own an iPod and so couldn't test that function - but the poor sound quality, problematic video, and general software flakiness makes this product worthless as a DVD player. If you need an iPod player, I'd suggest you get a dedicated unit. This combo is much, much less than the sum of its parts.

I've got this product and I love it, I've gotten rid of my DVD player and my iPod audio dock in lieu of this one, small product. It works perfectly for me, I had no problems at all. I've got an ipod nano 4th generation and even though it doesn't list as being compatible it is, all the features worked including charging.

1st off great player and concept. The ease of use is decent but not easy. Many features able to play my ipod classic movies on tv screen as well as dvd movies. It's as portable as a standard slim dvd player. Viewing and sound are good as well as any standard slim dvd player.

I bought this DVD player because I rent/buy a lot of tv shows and movies from itunes. The first one that I got died on me within a week. I thought maybe it was just a bad one and exchanged it for a new one. I've had the new one for about 5 months. At about month 3 the DVD player wouldn't recognize DVD's anymore. Still, I could use it for my ipod touch(even though it would reset itself about 3 or 4 times before it would recognize my ipod). Now today at 5 months, it refuses to play my tv shows. This DVD player is more of a pain than it is worth! It's a great idea, but iLuv should have fixed the bugs before they started selling.

Please save your money and purchase another brand of DVD/Ipod dock. Upon first purchasing this item, I was very pleased. The price was a little expensive (I think I paid $149), but was willing to pay so I could view my downloaded TV shows from my IPod. The set up was easy, sound quality was great, was used on a daily basis. About six months after purchasing, the DVD player just stopped working. The DVD player would no longer recognize a DVD although the IPod portion still functioned properly. I cleaned the player, did all sort of trouble shooting, and just chalked it up to being a lemon since it worked so well for the first couple of months. I ran out and purchased another. Again, it was wonderful for the first five months, and experienced the same malfunction. At this point, I have two IPod players and no DVD player. Anything can happen once, twice is a pattern. Product lacks much to be desired in the reliability department.

I'd been looking for a small player for the spare room for awhile now. I already have a multi-speaker, "surround" type and just wanted to add dvd capability. When I found the iLuv i255 it seemed especially convenient that I could also dock and play my ipod. Now, since I don't use the ipod for video I can't comment on it's features - but it does seem a waste that I have to turn the tv on just to see what I'm doing when the ipod is docked and I'm using the iLuv remote.

The dvd side is where this thing really failed. The player itself is noisy when it spins up. If you pause it for any amount of time it won't resume playing. Basically, it needs to be shut off, or switched to ipod mode and back again to reset the dvd control, and then you lose the spot where you paused it. Maybe firmware could fix it, but there doesn't seem to be any offers from iLuv for updates, and I'm not sure that it's externally programmable.

Hopefully, somebody else will come out with this same idea (JVC, Panasonic, Sony - are you listening?), and do a better job, if they haven't already. I think I've stopped buying iLuv products.