I won't mislead you by saying this is a perfect solution for outputting video wherever you may roam with your 5th generation or later Video iPod, but it does get quite close.

Anyway, I purchased this unit for myself as a birthday gift in December of 2006 (~ $150 from Linens & Things), and I remain as happy with it today as I was then. In fact, my iPod only comes out of it if I need to add new songs or video material.

Now for some facts and then some final comments....

PHYSICAL ASPECTS

This unit is a hefty little package, weighing in at a robust 2.5 lbs. It measures 1.7" in height (when closed), 8.7" wide, and 6.7" deep. When the screen is fully vertical, the height is about 7".

The LCD viewing screen is 8.4" diagonally, and has a 75-degree horizontal viewing angle and 70-degree vertical viewing angle, which means that you don't have to be exactly dead-center in front of it to see anything!

The sturdy plastic case has a smooth, black finish that beautifully complements black iPods. A company logo is dead-center on the top in slightly-raised silver letters that look kinda neat, actually.

On the left side are outputs for S-video, Line Out, and 2 Headphone jacks. On the right-hand side are; DC-in plug, Power Button, Battery/Power status lights, Menu Button, Power On light, Volume Control button.

When we open the unit - tricky sometimes because it has quite strong magnets to keep it closed when not in use - we are confronted with the 8.4" LCD screen (which flips out through about 140 degrees and will stay firmly at whatever position is best for your viewing pleasure).

On the base surface, dead-center, is a recessed area where the iPod will reside. There is a so-called 'universal dock' (although it only works for 5th Gen & later iPods !) and onto this dock you must attach one of the two supplied iPod adaptors/holders/brackets for either 30G iPods or 60G iPods (the newer 80G iPods fit and perform perfectly using the 60G adaptor, by the way). Slide the iPod into the attached adaptor, and onto the dock and then can either stand up almost vertically, or rotate smoothly down to a flush, horizontal position within the recessed area of the unit. All of the controls of the iPod are still accessible (except the 'lock' switch).

To release the iPod from the horizontal position, simply depress the silver button near the front of the base and your iPod will 'flip' up!

VIDEO PERFORMANCE

This is the strength of the unit. If your source material is of sufficient quality, it will look great on the bigger screen of the iflip. Conversely, the iflip will show up any flaws in large detail !! I have music videos from various sources, and some were converted for iPod use via a program called Videora, the iflip will quite dramatically show quality differences. High quality video renderings look crisp and clean on the iflip, while bad transfers or crappy copies will look bad or crappy! (This has changed many of my habits regarding video source material for my iPod - either I find videos of sufficiently high quality in the iPod format, or I re-encode with better quality output those that are in a different format initially.)

The iPod 'TV Out' option, under the 'Video Settings' menu must be set to ether 'on' or 'ask', in order to be able to view through the iflip.

The iflip allows for adjustments through an easy on-screen menu of: Brightness,Contrast,Sharpness,Color, Hue & Screen Mode. There is a selection that restores default settings if you make a mess of things, too!

With a nicely encoded video, the iflip default settings look good. Highlights are quick to blow out, so use of the Brightness and Contrast adjustments WILL be required at some point.

Sharpness, color and hue look good right out of the box, and I have rarely adjusted these settings. The Screen Mode option allows for rendering on the iflip of video in wide screen or normal aspects.

The angle of view is no empty boast as I have had people in a lunch room at different tables enjoying comedy shows on my iflip. Everybody was able to see perfectly what was on the screen, and I have only ever received compliments for the video aspects of the iflip.

AUDIO PERFORMANCE

This is the Achilles Heel of this unit. The audio performance through the built-in 2X 1.2 watt speakers is pretty weak (in general), although, this too may be dependent on your source material. I have some videos that I have to lower the volume and yet others where you can barely hear them. Again, in my lunchroom scenario (above), people within a 10ft range, seated about 5ft apart were able to enjoy both the video AND the sound output from one of my favorite British comedies through the iflip.

The audio takes a major turn for the better when you plug in a set of headphones. Bass suddenly makes an appearance and volume almost HAS to be lowered!

The fidelity through the headphone jacks is truly amazing and would be my recommended way to go for less than stellar videos in the sound department. Being that there are two separate headphone jacks, two people can enjoy this auditory splendour simultaneously!

The only adjustment that can be made to the iflip's sound output is an overall volume adjustment - higher or lower. That's it. No tone controls, ie. no Bass or Treble adjustments. The tiny built-in speakers are not capable of delivering any appreciable level of Bass reproduction, so don't look for that.

Basically, the sound is best through the headphones, and, the better the headphones are, the better that experience will be also.

Through the headphones you get truer sound, with what seems to me like full bass and highs and just overall a richer sonic environment. There is also a better sense of placement within the video. Sounds that should come from the left, do so, and the same for sounds from the right.

Previously mentioned videos with almost inaudible sound through the external speakers, sound just fine through the headphones (after maybe a small volume increase).

There is, depending on the relative volume of your source video, the probability that you will hear the high-pitched tone from the iPods drive activity, both through the speakers or the headphones. It's not always noticeable, and not really very bothersome when you do hear it, but be aware that, at times, you WILL hear this noise in the background.

POWER SUPPLY

A mixed, but mostly favorable bag, here. There are minor shortcomings, but real tangible positives also. The main quibble I and others who review the iflip have, is that there is no DC adaptor supplied for powering the unit while in a vehicle (for a truly portable device, this is a glaring omission by the manufacturer, although probably Radio Shack might have a solution for this on their shelves).

An AC adaptor, and quite lengthy power cord is supplied for indoor use/recharging.

The battery within this unit is said, by the manufacturer, to last for 5 hours off a full charge. I can confirm this to be true. This stands in sharp contrast to the miserable amount of playback time you get on a stand-alone iPod when playing videos on it - about 1 single hour on my 60G iPod.

The iflip , whether it is plugged into a wall outlet, or operating on only battery power, will 'top-up' the charge on your attached iPod. So, when you eventually run down the charge in the iflip, you can take out your still fully-charged iPod and continue to enjoy its use for a while longer!

To recharge the iflip's battery takes between 5-6 hours. If you are using the iflip while plugged into an outlet, it will charge up the battery and your iPod at the same time.

CONCLUSION

The Memorex Mi8000 iflip device is a very capable and mostly successful product that fulfills it's appointed task pretty well. The large LCD screen delivers a quality picture if you have a quality source file. Otherwise, whatever you have quality-wise, is what you will get !

The sound issues would be resolved with some capabilities for tone adjustment, and either more, or just slightly larger built-in speakers. A DC car adaptor should also be included in the box.

I have read that the next version of this device will include a DVD player, so that you don't have to hassle with converting DVD source material to go onto the iPod. That's nice, but the battery life takes a hit. According to what I read, the expected battery life is only about 2.5 hours per full charge, thus negating much of the portability aspect.

Overall, about 2 months later, I continue to be well-pleased with this purchase, and I would recommend it to anyone who is willing to keep in mind some of the caveats that I have attempted to describe herein.

Recommended:
Yes