Do you need the remote with the dock?

Question

Hi,
i'm thinking of buying the Apple Dock, i don't want or need the apple remote, i'm just getting the dock to charge/dock and to TV, when the iPod is pluged in the dock, can i use the the buttons on the the iPod to control the functions like i normally would, or when i put it in the dock does that take over and need the remote? any help much appreciated.
- Mike

Answer 1

Jeff,
You are correct... I was over simplifying some what on the whole DPI vs pixels, etc. I still haven't decided whether I like the 480 x 480 MPEG4 or the 320 x 240 H.264.
My main point was that the signal is not digital comming out of the iPod, whether using the A/V cables directly or using through the dock. Secondly, that even though the standard definition TV at 480 lines, and using a 480 x 480 pixel video from the iPod, it is still not nearly as crisp on a large screen as on the iPod. The small screen just makes it look finer. Still, there should be no distortion, which would indicate a problem with teh A/V cable he was using.
As a side, I have my iPod connected to a HDTV. Whether I use 1080i or 720p, the TV must upscale the output from the iPod to fill the the remaining pixels on the TV screen, which ovwerall makes it look worse that on a standard definition TV... even then, there is no distrotion that Mike was having problems with.
..and yes, I am a proponent of using the S-Video cable versus composite A/V. As I said, S-Video should provide a better quality picture. However, my own personal experince is that it is only a marginally nocitable improvement, despite what all of the videophile techies procliam.