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Maintenance & Repair DVD/Entertainment Systems
397 messages, Last post on Sep 04, 2009 at 11:50 AM
You are in the Maintenance & Repair Forum. Your Host is mr_shiftright
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OK, maybe initially complex but my goal is simplicity and elegance. I have a 2002 suburban z71. It has an in dash cd player/am/fm "head". In the floor console there is a cassette player. The cassette is controlable via the head unit (just switching to the appropriate source). In the rear there are headphone jacks for rear passenger audio control. The rear passengers can select any source and set their own volume independently. OK, here is what I want to do. Replace the cassette with a DVD player. Add headrest style displays for rear passenger viewing. I want all the audio to be handled by the existing system. What I figure is that this will give me the simplest system with the most integration into existing controls. Seems all I would need would be the displays for the rear (No speakers, tuners or any other fancyness) a DIN DVD player (Play, eject, fast forward, rewind, etc) and some wiring / expertise to hook it all up. One possible problem could be the existing cassette looks smaller than DIN. Any suggestions? TIA!!! |
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Brikp- I just installed exactly what you're looking for. It WAS simple...just open up the checkbook. In our 2001 Suburban we installed an Alpine TME-M750A monitor in each front headrest, a Panasonic in-dash DVD player (CX-DV700U) in the opening where the cassette player was installed, an Alpine VCR under the captain's chair behind the driver and an Alpine wireless headphone system. Audio from the DVD player is available either through the headphones or through the factory AM/FM head unit via an RF modulator (tune the radio to 88.7 and pick up the DVD audio). Audio from the VCR is through headphones only since the installer didn't recommend running two audio sources into the RF modulator. The Alpine headphones and monitors can receive signals from two sources so one person can be watching/listening to DVD while the other watches/listens to the VCR. The driver can even listen to a CD or AM/FM through the factory system at the same time. The Panasonic DVD player was mounted behind the cassette opening, rather than in it since we didn't want to do any cutting of the console. The cassette opening is big enough to allow access to the DVD slot and the eject button. There are no other controls or display on the front of the DVD player. Total price was around $3,600, including tax and installation, with the Alpine monitors being the most expensive part of the system. Only modification to the Suburban was cutting into the headrests to mount the monitors. The transmitter for the wireless headphones was mounted on the left side of the cabin near where the OnStar antenna is mounted. We just returned from a 3,000 mile trip and boy did it make a difference in keeping everyone happy. Let me know if you have any questions. Bob |
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Thanx Bob - One thing I didn't mention was I wasted to use my existing rear seat head phones and audio controls and NOT use an FM modulator. I like what you did with the DVD player mounting, seem like it is the way to go. I was out at CES and I found a company that makes a plug in harness that will replace the proprietary connection from the old cassette to the head unit with one that could then be used to connect the DVD audio. They aren't shipping it yet but I have the contact info and will be following up soon. I still have questions about if it will work or not, I don't want to interfere with the OnStar either. |
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Brikp, If you would, please post the name of the company you mentioned. I'm also interested in a direct connection to the GM head unit. While the FM modulator works OK, I'm sure a direct connection would sound better. Only problem I see is that I'd have to figure out how to switch two external units through the head unit (DVD and VCR). Bob |
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all i have to say is that I love in car movie watching. I took my laptop with a dvd player with me on a 10 hour trip and watched movies the entire time. 10 hours never went by so fast. I definately would recommend an in car dvd player for anyone taking trips with kids. |
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| Dvd-Rom is an entirly different format. It's used for data because of much higher storage capacity so you can put more data on it technically it's close to the same but the read characteristics of a ROM drive and Video drive are completly different. Most DVD-ROM systems will not play DVD Video discs since they are manufactured as cheaply as possible. | |
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| Wouldn't it be easier and cheaper to just buy a $1200 laptop, run your dvd movies through it with headphones for the kids? Yeah, it's not built in, but you could just take your laptop with you. My kids think that's the way to go. Am I missing something. Maybe they just want a laptop, and could give a care about the "in truck movies" portion. | |
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| They have those portable DVD players with the 5.8"-7" screens for a couple of hundred dollors that you and put on the center arm rest for the kiddies to watch. Places like K mart, Target, and WalMart sell them. | |
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just don't do what these 4 guys did...
http://www.thewgalchannel.com/news/1609879/detail.html odie |
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| does anyone else have this installed in their TB? I have the ext TB and with 3 kids I love the dvd player but I do find it very hard to see out of the rear view mirror. The screen folds down and I feel like most of the mirror is blocked by the screen. Does this seem to bother anyone else? just asking . Thanks for the info. | |
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