Aftermarket overhead dvd

[Thesuffering]

So, since we have decided to keep the oem head unit in our 15 Sport, my wife wants to add dvd for the kids. In the past we had in dash aftermarket dvd, so anything else really wasn't needed. I don't want to spend a thousand plus on something that will be used usually only for long trips, but I do want something that looks permanent and professional, so the strap to the headrest players from Walmart are out unless someone can suggest one that keeps wires/cables hidden and no ugly cable stringing between seats. The headrest replacements with built in DVD are ideal, but just way too pricey. That leaves overhead DVD as pretty much the only option. As much as I hate the thought of cutting into a brand new cars headliner, I can't think of another way to make this happen without investing way too much money. I've done a search for others that have installed them in their 9s but results have been limited. Anyone have pics of their installs and any tips/problems to look out for? Also, I don't need some high end brand, are the units from ebay halfway decent?

 

[mammut]

Have you looked at the dvd headrests from onfair? They are < $300.

My buddy has a pair in his CX-9 and he likes them.

http://www.onfair.com/

 

[Thesuffering]

Have you looked at the dvd headrests from onfair? They are < $300.

My buddy has a pair in his CX-9 and he likes them.

http://www.onfair.com/

I have the black fabric seats. Those would look funny with the fabric. If I had a touring with leather it'd probably be passable. If I'm going to do headrests they need to look pretty close to stock so it doesn't stick out and look bad. Headrestvideo.com does them to oem spec but they are over $1200, a bit too much for something that wouldn't be used all the time.

 

[voldsom]

I think it will be tough to have something look OEM without going to something like the custom solution you mentioned above, @Thesuffering. Most of the overhead DVD systems I've seen have been kinda chintzy looking (as they are trying to be as generic as possible) and trim color match will be difficult. I agree though that the "leather" would look quite strange with fabric seats like your Sport has. The search continues, I suppose....

 

[voldsom]

Obviously this is a little self-serving for OnFair, but their explanation for why cloth headrest DVD players might be hard to find:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUqu7cxSZv8

Another thing you might run into is the seats have a cutout in them (at least on the GT leather they do), that the headrest nestles into when it's in the fully down position. Not an issue if you don't run them down there, but aesthetically it's another thing to take away from your OEM look. Maybe throw up some pictures of the seats when you get a chance to help people visualize it more...

 

[Thesuffering]

OEM look isn't 100% required, but I do want it to look nice and not have wires/cables exposed, which is why the Strap on ones are kinda out of the question. Typically they have cigarette lighter adapters (which i could hard wire) but then there is usually a cable linking the two monitors so they show the same thing. If I could hide all wires/cables and have it mount up to the headrest similar to something like this http://www.onfair.com/eonon-l0281-single-9-inch-slim-touch-screen-car-headrest-dvd-player-black/ I wouldn't be totally opposed, but these aren't designed to be permanent so I doubt I'm going to find anything with adequate cable length to allow me to hide everything.

I hear what you are saying that on the overhead units the colors might not be a perfect match, but something close to the grey headliner would probably be ok. I considered black since the rest of the vehicle is black, but that would probably look pretty funny.

 

[Scott91370]

I honestly do not understand the built in DVD stuff. Buy an iPad and convert your DVDs to play on it. Then you have games, music, movies and headphones so nobody else needs to hear it. And it can go into the house or hotel.

 

[mxer]

We bought our 9 used and it came with an overhead Rosen DVD player. It doesn't match as the headliner is gray and the unit is a different gray. To be honest, I forget it's even there because how often do you really look in the back up at the ceiling. My daughter isn't old enough to use it yet but I will have to find some of the wireless headphones because it didn't come with those unfortunately. Unless you really look at it, you wouldn't know it wasn't stock.

 

[mxer]

I honestly do not understand the built in DVD stuff. Buy an iPad and convert your DVDs to play on it. Then you have games, music, movies and headphones so nobody else needs to hear it. And it can go into the house or hotel.

I'm guessing that if you have 2-3 kids, buying each one of them an ipad and then them dropping it all the time would add up quickly.

 

[xxxmonoxidechil]

Plus kids have a bad tendency of forgetting things, especially expensive ones. My oldest has a NaBi, and we just had to buy a 2nd one after his first one he lost up in Michigan.

 

[voldsom]

I honestly do not understand the built in DVD stuff. Buy an iPad and convert your DVDs to play on it. Then you have games, music, movies and headphones so nobody else needs to hear it. And it can go into the house or hotel.

That was actually my first thought for the OP, but then I thought about it some more (I have 0 kids)... In addition to cost of an individual iPad, the overhead gives the ability to lock what the kid can do as well. Also, less to have to worry about charging, dropping, or forgetting as Monoxide put it.

A great (if mythical) overhead option would be something that is like a receiver for AirPlay or ChromeCast (some sort of WiFi solution). Then you could just stream from a device (the phone you're probably carrying anyway) and have way more options than a built in DVD with maybe RCA inputs.

 

[mxer]

Mine has RCA inputs. The newer ones (more expensive) I think have streaming capabilities.

 

[Thesuffering]

That was actually my first thought for the OP, but then I thought about it some more (I have 0 kids)... In addition to cost of an individual iPad, the overhead gives the ability to lock what the kid can do as well. Also, less to have to worry about charging, dropping, or forgetting as Monoxide put it.

A great (if mythical) overhead option would be something that is like a receiver for AirPlay or ChromeCast (some sort of WiFi solution). Then you could just stream from a device (the phone you're probably carrying anyway) and have way more options than a built in DVD with maybe RCA inputs.

I do have an iPad. Having kids, my iPad also currently has a cracked screen :-(.

I did find some overhead options that have hdmi in and under $200 I'm pretty sure im going to go with something like that. http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-10-HD-...832?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35dfe44d38

Ya it's black but has a low profile, and 90% of the interior is black anyway so it shouldn't look too bad. My thought is a could get a raspberry pi connect via hdmi (they are powered off 5v micro USB anyway), load xbmc or nes/snes emulators and have an ultimate back seat device. Heck I might give up driving on long trips and crawl in back.

 

[Scott91370]

Yeah, I can see if you have a few kids it would get expensive, especially compared to a $200-$300 system
We stopped at one, we weren't brave enough to go with any more.