You'd be forgiven for thinking that something branded 'Moviecentre for iPod' is a multimedia management suite for your Apple MP3 player, but in this case you'd be wrong. Xitel has produced an A/V docking station with a universal connection compatible with video iPods, iPod nano, iPod colour, iPod mini, iPod with dock connector and iPod photo. You're pretty much covered whichever edition you've got, then, but the functionality of the device could be wasted unless your player supports video content.

It's fairly simple to set up: the docking station includes composite video-out, S-video and audio-out which you can wire straight into the auxiliary ports on your TV or through a SCART adapter, which you'll have to pick up separately. Of course you could also wire the audio to a stereo system or similar speaker-based setup, so there is a practical purpose for non-video content. Provided you know a little about wiring accessories up to a TV or stereo the setup is fairly straightforward, though video iPod users should remember they need to enable the video-out option from the settings menu otherwise you won't get a picture through to the TV.

You're supplied with a remote control so you can browse content from a distance, but we found this rather unresponsive and it's not particularly obvious what each of the keys on the remote actually do, so a bit of trial and error is needed to work out how to browse around effectively. What would have been really nice is if Xitel modelled the remote on the iPod control interface to make it easier to use.

You'll also notice that you don't see the iPod's interface on the TV when it's plugged in, which is a real shame since you're unlikely to be able to see the iPod's screen to navigate around properly if you're sitting back in your chair. This is a bit of an oversight in our opinion but perhaps Xitel was restricted by the capabilities of the iPod itself. You'll only see an image appear on screen if you're playing video, as music playback simply ports tunes through your TV's speakers without showing any kind of visualization or album information on screen.

Video playback works fairly well, though, whether you're watching podcasts, movies or clips you've stored on your player. While some people may be dubious of the quality of a relatively low-resolution iPod video on a large screen, we found it perfectly watchable. We were also impressed by the audio quality when rigged up to a sound system; it's certainly capable of getting the most from your music.

At around £50 this is a reasonably priced product, to the extent that even despite the drawbacks we think most users would still get good value for money from it, particularly if you'll also use it to play your music through a decent audio setup.

It's a shame the remote is so unresponsive and rather strangely designed, but the lack of an interface display on the TV renders it somewhat redundant anyway. Despite these drawbacks the Moviecentre is reasonably priced, and if you think you'll get enough use out of it for playing back audio through a sound system as well as enjoying videos, we'd consider it value for money.