iLive 5.1-Channel Home Theater Speaker Bar with iPod Dock (Black) Review

I bought this a couple weeks ago and I really wished there were some reviews to help my decision. So, here's one to help yours. Ok, first of all on paper this thing is really cool. All in one surround sound system that plays DVDs, upscales to 1080i, and has a dock for your ipod so you can watch the ipod content on your TV and listen to the music on the speakers.

In theory this means I could get rid of my DVD player, my old speakers and receiver, and have way less clutter and cables to connect everything. Just one speaker bar, and a TV and you're done.

It does all that and that is all really cool. For me, in a small house, having a nice all in one device that I can connect my TV to is great. It also has several other audio inputs that work great for my record player. The sound is really good (though of course, not as good as a true surround sound system with speakers all of your room). For my small living room its more then loud enough and a VAST improvement over my TV's speakers. The iPod dock does what it says and extends out and charges and plays your iPods contents. Pretty sweet right?

Ok, there are several downsides to this product that haven't quite pushed me to returning it, but have gotten me close. Number one the remote is insane! There are so many oddly labeled buttons and so many features it is terribly confusing. This is for sure the kind of product your friend staying at your house will not be able to figure out how to use. Especially the iPod features. A lot of the bottoms simply do not do what they say they will do either. For instance, the "VIDEO" botton is supposed to show what resolution you are using (480i/ 1080i ect) but it doesn't. Or, actually if you press the bottom there is a flash during resolution change and for a half a mili second the label pops up in a blaze of static then disappears. Setting all that up was extremely confusing, but I finally figured out setting my TV to full screen and setting the player to 16:9 with the VIDEO button repeatedly pressed until it looked right was the way to go. Seriously, the remote is insane. SO hard to use.

Ipod playback is real good but unfortunately you have to connect the unit via component or S-video cables to work for the iPOD. I have the DVD Player connected via HDMI so its kind of a shame to complicate such a simple all in one unit by having to use 2 video out cables on it. Video playback was terrible until I figured out that the DVD player mounted on the far right of the machine was being vibrated by the bass and therefor glitching out. Once i mounted the bar to the wall everything was cool. It does come with both a stand and wall mounts. You will find HDMI cables very difficult to use on the unit if you use it on the stand because the cable comes straight out of the bottom and mine wouldn't bend enough to not be lifting the unit off the table on one end.

The mounts utilize a set of spacers that are made of some kind of really dense foam. They smell terrible! I'm serious, if you get one, you will see. They must be made of old burned down house because thats what they smell like. I washed the spacers and wall mounts carefully with soap and water, and anytime I go near my TV the smell is still overwhelming.

So overall, this is a really cool all in one product. No speaker wires to run, minimal cables to run to your TV and pretty much everything you need for an entertainment center minus a TV. The design is cool, the manufacturing is questionable (one of my speaker ports fell out (but was easily snapped into place and the ipod dock feels like it will break off), and the controls and printed manual are awful and not very helpful. If you can deal with the awkwardness of the unit's controls it really is a great and inexpensive all in one unit.

Buy it here now!