TECH SPOTLIGHT : Summer commutes tolerable with iWear visor for video iPod
Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008
Can you believe it’s May already ? Seems like the year is flying by. Summer will be here before you know it.
The good news is, for many that means summer vacations. The bad news is, in order to enjoy summer vacation you have to get there first.
The long journey can be rough, especially if it means long hours on a plane or, even scarier, long hours in the car with the kids. The best solution is to find whatever entertainment you can, but without disturbing others.
Vuzix offers a solution for those with a video-capable iPod or other video-capable device. The iWear AV 920 connects to a variety of products that can transmit video externally, including portable DVD players and game consoles.
The iWear is a black visor connected to a battery pack. The battery is said to get up to five hours of continuous use once fully charged (I averaged a little over four ). The battery is charged through a USB cable that connects to an AC power adapter. All of these are included in the package.
The package also includes three special wires. The first is a straight audio-video (AV ) cable that is made for the iPod. The second cable is split into two AV connections on one end. This is made to fit most portable DVD players, as well other media players such as portable game consoles. The final cable has three ports for RCA-style composite AV cables — those big cables that come out of camcorders, other DVD players and older devices. (You would need an RCA-jack AV cable to go from the player to the Vuzix. )
There is something important to note here. Those with the latest iPods will not be able to use this device. It’s not the iWear’s fault. Apple Inc., which produces the iPod, has crippled the TV-out capability of the newest models so that it works only with Apple’s component cables (about $ 50 retail ), and unfortunately, the iWear cables won’t work. It’s an incredibly frustrating thing, but that’s the way it is for now. In the meantime, only the “video iPods” (fifth generation ) are compatible, because they will work with nearly any cable.
It so happens I got my hands on a fifth-generation iPod for the test. The first thing I had to do was to go into the video settings and turn the TV Out to “on.” Once that was done, the iPod transmitted the video to the iWear without any problems.
At first, the iWear was a bit uncomfortable for me. But I discovered that the nose guards can be pulled out and even flipped upside down. Out of the box, the visor sat too far down for me. By pulling the nose guard out two notches, it sat comfortably.
The speakers also needed adjustment. The arms of the speakers, which look like headphone-style earbuds, can be bent to place the speakers directly over the ears. However, as it states in the iWear manual, these aren’t meant to be true earbuds. They’re meant to sit outside the ear canal, not tucked inside.
There’s one more surprising adjustment that can be made with this device. The front of it tilts, so you can move it up or down to get the picture directly in front of your eyes. I’ve seen similar products, but this is the first one I’ve seen with this tilt adjustment. It’s a very nice touch.
The visor does have a bit of weight to it. It’s fine for a couple of hours, but the ears and bridge of the nose can get a bit sore if continuous use extends too far after that.
The controls on the iWear are fairly simple. A small wheel on the bottom of the visor, which can be pushed like a button as well, turns it on or off, works the menu and adjusts the volume. Pushing the wheel while the visor is in use brings up little symbols across the bottom. Here, the brightness, contrast, backlight brightness and 2 D or 3 D video capabilities can be adjusted.
This is a good thing, because the first time I tested the device the picture was way off. Blacks were gray and the colors were washed out. I was able to improve the picture a bit with brightness and contrast adjustments. The backlight adjustment also helped a bit. However, the picture still wasn’t perfect. There was more pixelation than I liked, and some of the colors were either washed out or heavy, depending on how much contrast I added. It would be nice if they added a color adjustment.
Though the color wasn’t perfect, the device did provide nice sound, and I liked how the picture looked. You would think wearing the visor, the picture would seem to be too close. But the iWear displays the image as if you’re in a small movie theater. They compare it to seeing a 62-inch television from 9 feet away.
My biggest issue with the device is the wires. The wire to the battery pack is pretty long. In a way, it’s good because it means the battery will slide into a jeans pocket and allow the user to continue viewing the visor. However, it sometimes became a pain juggling the battery pack and the iPod and keeping all the wires straight and connected.
The iWear isn’t cheap, but if you do a lot of traveling and want to view videos in private, something like this would be a great solution. The iWear did a decent job, and its many adjustment capabilities mean you have a good chance of making it as comfortable as possible, so you can just sit back and enjoy the movie.
It’s a good solution for those long journeys to that perfect summer destination. Melissa L. Jones can be reached via e-mail at mljones 72 @mac. com.
Where it’s @ The Vuzix iWear AV 920 requires a video-capable device with a TV out feature, an AV port and a DC outlet for charging. The product is not compatible as-is with the newest iPods, but is compatible with the fifth-generation video-capable iPod. The product retails for $ 349. 95. More information is available at www. vuzix. com.
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