rear entertainment dvd player

[hmr graphics]

whats up peeps... i have a little daughter on the way. i would like to install a rear dvd entertainment sys. to keep her quite on long trips : . i'm looking into having tvs on headrests or just one on the headlinner. i have a sunroof and i am not sure which one to get and what brand to get. does anyone have any sugestions, preference, and/or pics. thanks for all the help.

 

[J.A.]

Very satisfied with These

 

[tarheeltp17]

Here is my 2 cents on both...

Pros

headrests
1. If you have multiple kids, you can get headrests with DVD players built into both that way each can watch their own movie or both can watch the same thing.
2. Can be removed and put back to factory when you sell/trade the vehicle, and you can order blank headrests for your new vehicle.
3. Doesn't block rear view mirror

Overhead
1. Bigger screen
2. Pretty cheap to do

Cons

Headrests
1. For brands like Vizualogic (who are damn near close to a factory match for cloth/leather), they are expensive unless you get them through an unauthorized source

Overhead
1. Blocks rear view mirror
2. You can remove it when you trade in/sale the vehicle but you'll have a big hole in your roof


Personally I would go for the headrests hands down, BUT at my shop I do twice as many overheads as headrests.

 

[s-one]

Well I just recently installed headrest monitors with the help of JA's write-up. Thank you again JA! (See pictures here ) But I bought a cheaper unit made by Power Acoustik ($565.00 minus tax and $5.00 shipping). Anyhow, I had less wires to wire up, just ACC and ground. The total time it took me was roughly 1.5 hours. If were I to do it all over again I could do it in 30 minutes tops. The headrests come with each their own dvd players and a couple of other things such as av in's, usb, sd card reader, both onscreen touch display and actual buttons around the bezel. These units are 8.8" diagonal and come with two wireless headphones and two remotes. You can connect them so they can watch each others movie also. I really like the headrest as oppose to a roof mounted dvd player because once the screen is down it would block my rear view mirror. (tarheel mentioned this also) I also noticed that since I have a sunroof the angle of the screen would point to where my kids would have to constantly hold their head at an angle to watch.

Hope that helps.

 

[JAC]

Headrests hands down..... more pros than cons vs the overhead. I am Also looking around and saw a Sony brand with very good features at a pretty good price $400 .... looking forward to get them soon....

 

[hmr graphics]

thanks guys, for all your help. you have helped me make my mind. i will get the headrest dvd. reasons is the headlinner mounted system will block my rear view mirror and it will have a bad viewing angle for my daughter. Now it seems like common sense, but i wasn't thinking about those reasons.

one more question for s-one, how were the aftermarket headrest compare to the original headrest, i have grey leather interior and i would like it to match as best as possible. ja mentioned Vizualogic and they state that they are pretty close to original.

 

[s-one]

one more question for s-one, how were the aftermarket headrest compare to the original headrest, i have gray leather interior and i would like it to match as best as possible. ja mentioned Vizualogic and they state that they are pretty close to original.

Well I can honestly say the Power Acoustik's are tad bit off. You probably can barely tell from the picture below but in normal sunlight you will see a slight difference. But I also think if I had not pointed it out to anyone they would have not noticed the difference. I actually have Vizualogic's in my wife's van and JA is right, they match very well to the interior.

I should also note that the two poles on the PA headrest's that slide into the seat are slightly smaller in diameter to the original headrest. What this means is that you can't use the height adjustment because they won't click into the notches. It's actually not a big deal because as you can see from the picture the headrest are quite tall. I guess that also depends on how tall you are.

Congrats to you and your wife!

 

[JAC]

Hey S-one these are the ones I have my eyes on....

tell me what you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-Headrest-9...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1205|293:1|294:50

 

[s-one]

Hey S-one these are the ones I have my eyes on....

tell me what you think?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pair-Headrest-9...trkparms=65:12|66:2|39:1|72:1205|293:1|294:50

Wow that is a pretty sweet deal. From his reviews he's been selling them like hotcakes and getting good buyer feedbacks. These are not made by sony but do use sony players. I think there is only a small handful of manufacturers out there in China who produce these things and different vendors tweakem/rebadge them. What's interesting about this one is the ability to flip it up and rotate it. I can't say we would ever have a need for it because once you are sitting in front of one then that's it... no need to rotate. Oh unless you had to share with the middle passenger but really they aren't off angle too much. Otherwise it seems like it's a great deal.

I've had problems with my wife's Vizualogic and contacted Viz for support. They were helpful at first and even offer to sell me a new receiver box (I was out of warranty) and through in a free remote (the one included stop working). But after replacing the new receiver box it didn't fix the problem and they stopped emailing me. That's why when I went looking for a system for my truck I decided Viz was way too expensive compared to these < $600 systems. Oh by the way, one good thing about Viz besides the color matching is the wireless headphones do have a auto shut-off feature for when the kids forget to turn them off. I'm not sure if the ones you pointed has that but PA's don't have that. Just a nice little feature if it comes with it.

 

[rzldzlman]

Here is my 2 cents on both...

Pros

headrests
1. If you have multiple kids, you can get headrests with DVD players built into both that way each can watch their own movie or both can watch the same thing.
2. Can be removed and put back to factory when you sell/trade the vehicle, and you can order blank headrests for your new vehicle.
3. Doesn't block rear view mirror

Overhead
1. Bigger screen
2. Pretty cheap to do

Cons

Headrests
1. For brands like Vizualogic (who are damn near close to a factory match for cloth/leather), they are expensive unless you get them through an unauthorized source

Overhead
1. Blocks rear view mirror
2. You can remove it when you trade in/sale the vehicle but you'll have a big hole in your roof


Personally I would go for the headrests hands down, BUT at my shop I do twice as many overheads as headrests.

I am hopefully purchasing a 2010 4runner shortly and am also interested in adding a DVD system for the kids. The 2010 4runners offer 3rd row seating as an option. I wonder whether anyone has experience with whether the 3rd row passengers (kids) can see the screens if they're placed in the headrests of the 2nd row. When I look through the rear of the 4runner, it seems like the headrests are quite visible. I also wonder whether an overhead screen is better because they can be made larger? It seems as if headrest screens might be too small. The other problem seems to me that on the new 4runners there is very little space to place a ceiling mounted screen between the dome light and the sunroof? I would only have one professionally installed so maybe the experts can work around existing dome lights.

 

[Ducman]

Dvd

I would have went with headrest ones but my truck came with some no-name overhead model already installed in it.

It works fine but can be annoying in traffic as it blocks my rear view to some degree. The wireless headphones are nice although I cant seem to find any that actually stay in my kids head. Every pair Ive seen are too big. Most of the time I just use the radio transmission and run the movie audio over the rear speakers.

My overhead DVD player has built in dome lights so you may want to look for one that has that feature if you go that route.

 

[tarheeltp17]

I don't think the viewing of a headrest monitor will be very good for someone in the row behind them. Like you mentioned, the screens are small (normally 7") but you can get bigger it just makes your headrest look awkward.

As far as the headphones are concerned, I've found that some people extend them around the back of the childs headrest or seat to where they are acting as speakers and aren't having to wear the headphones. I've also done a few installs where I take the audio output of the monitors video control box and create a jack on the back of the console or similar where they can plug in a set of iPod style ear buds.

 

[rzldzlman]

I don't think the viewing of a headrest monitor will be very good for someone in the row behind them. Like you mentioned, the screens are small (normally 7") but you can get bigger it just makes your headrest look awkward.

As far as the headphones are concerned, I've found that some people extend them around the back of the childs headrest or seat to where they are acting as speakers and aren't having to wear the headphones. I've also done a few installs where I take the audio output of the monitors video control box and create a jack on the back of the console or similar where they can plug in a set of iPod style ear buds.

Thanks for your input. Sounds like you've installed these yourself. I'm just waiting delivery of my 2010. I went ahead and ordered a Blizzard Pearl Limited. If I go with the headrest versions, I'll just have to wait and see if I can get the right color match.