[phil47]

I just ordered this setup for my 2001 EX. It consists of a 7" 16x9 flipdown video screen (IR receiver, TV tuner and picture adjustment) and a DVD player (mounted under the passenger seat). I also ordered 2 RF headphones. The cost was around $1300 USD.

I had been looking for something like this for a LONG time, and this just came out and seems like the perfect solution for me. You can find it my going to www.audiovox.com and searching for VOH702 (video unit) and mvdvd1 (dvd player). They are so new that you must do the search to find them. I'll post back on this system when it's installed.

 

[phil47]

What? Me?! Unfortunately I'm not that handy with electronics, and 2 kids under 4 years old leaves me little spare time. A local retailer figures the install time at around 7 hours. This will likely cost me a couple hundred bucks. They've done hundreds of these kinds of systems, and they are responsible for any damage or problems...I like that!

I still haven't seen the dimensions on the DVD player. It looks pretty small. I hope I don't have to remove the passenger underseat tray to install it (like you would with a VCP).

 

[phil47]

Oh...good point. I'll "test" the location with the installer before leaving. Thanks for the tip!

 

[phil47]

Well, it's installed. I'm very happy with the results. You can see the photos here:

www.photos.yahoo.com/phil99_5

This screen is amazing. Bright, high resolution, no glare and EXTREMELY good off-axis viewing(and I mean way off axis). The install was awesome (under passenger seat, seat tray was removed) and includes an inverter for a PS2, etc. The only "weakness" I would say is the RF headphones which require you to tune the frequency manually. This is fine as long as nobody touches the tuning, in which case it must be fine-tuned again. Why not just a switch Audiovox??

[This message has been edited by phil47 (edited 02-27-2002).]

[This message has been edited by phil47 (edited 02-27-2002).]

 

[phil47]

They ended up taking 12 hours, but only charged me for 10 (so it cost me around $500 CAD or $350 USD). The extra time was a result of having to drop the headliner completely rather than partially which was the case with the Alpine systems they normally install.

 

[phil47]

I thought hard about getting a portable unit. I likeded the fact that I could use it in both vehicles and that it was cheaper to buy and install. However, I decided against it because only one person could really view it properly and it would have to sit on their lap (as opposed to 5 people with the built-in system). Also, the screen sizes were too small on the portables I looked at. As it turned out, another great feature of a built in system is that you can play it (through the FM modulator) throughout the van on the stock stereo system, or privately through the headphones. This worked great when we put kiddy music or audio book CDs in the system, put the RF headphones on the kids, and listened to our own music on the stock system (or vice versa).

 

[phil47]

Thought I'd give a quick update on how this setup has held up over the last 8 months.

So far...no significant problems at all. It has performed flawlessly, even over rough roads, very cold and very hot temps, and sometimes running 3 movies back to back. The screen is very visible in both daylight and at night, and from all angles in the van.

The only complaint I have is with the headphones. They require you to "tune" to the right frequency, so if you bump the dial, you have to re-tune (not difficult, but irritating). The headphones are also finicky if placed on the head of anyone less than around 5 years old. They have a switch built into the earpad which turns them on if place on someones head, however very small heads sometimes fail to trigger the switch.

Other than that, we have been VERY pleased with this setup. Hope this helps anybody else looking at this option.

 

[phil47]

Miss Ody:

That's good news on the headphones. Would you please get me the model number of those headphones, I'd like to order a pair. I'm assuming they are RF type (not IR).

mclarke:

I've been seriously looking at doing the same thing (VCD's). What's the quickest way to get up to speed on this?

Thanks.

[This message has been edited by phil47 (edited 02-27-2002).]

 

[phil47]

mclarke:

Thanks for the info. I'll use those links to get started. I have most of the required equipment, its just a matter of getting up the learning curve.

Miss Ody:

Thanks for the reply. You're right, it's probably not worth the hassle to switch, but thanks for the reply. In my case, I prefer the RF headphones as they prevent "line of sight" problems if my toddler is in the third seat while some gorilla is in the middle seat. Of course, this is more of an issue when they are just listening to music or "books on CD" where seeing the monitor is less important.