In Car DVD Player

I don't have a comment, but would like anyone who has had the in-headrest installed to also add if they thought it was worth the money verses the portable ones. We are looking at Ford Edges and I can see we can get it installed, but it doesn't come standard.

We have 2 dvd players in the headrests...they can be showing the same movie or we can put different ones in. If I put one in the drivers side, it can show on both screens, or I can put a different movie in each one and then show 2 movies. I love having it in the headrests because it doesn't block my view when trying to back up or look in the rearview mirror. I have driven cars with both and headrests is by far the better choice! Some of the best money we have ever spent and my children are only 3 and 2.

We have a regular dvd player but our dvd carrier has speakers built in and the straps are made to go over the front two headrests, so that it rests in the middle. We like it alot.

Ours saddle over the backrest of the front seats. There are two monitors, one for each seat. As well, there is a remote so the passenger can hit stop once they have fallen asleep. Because it is removable, we can use them in either car and we can take them into the hotel and entertain while we are getting ready or resting...

Whenever we go on a road trip I take the kids to the library beforehand. We borrow a ton of movies (on 3 library cards) and fill up our soft sided dvd file holder. The rule is whoever listens the best right before we leave gets to pick the 1st movie. If the "other" kid doesn't want to watch that movie they don't have to, they can color, read listen to their MP3 player or play a car game.

We have a Honda Odyssey with the single ceiling drop down DVD player. The nice thing is that it comes with wireless headphones they can use. So that's what we use.

We also have a small portable one, which we have used too. But USUALLY, we save that one for the adults. Again, there's just too much fighting over it with the kids and we didn't want it dropped.

I HIGHLY suggest car bingo cards if you can find them. My kids LOVE closing the little windows as we find different pictures. We found them in a retro-game store and I bought four different kinds - they're great.

We had a van with the screen that dropped down and while the wireless headphones are nice, I'd have to say that I'd have been far happier with a small SUV and the DVD players that strap to the back of the seats. Each child gets to watch what they want and they're removable so they can watch something while the boring adults are visiting or if they get up early in the a.m. while you're in a hotel room.

Have a fun summer!

Luckily when my daughter was 3 and used the little DVD player that sits on her lap, her brother was just being born. Now she is 6 and I have two sons, 3 and 1 years. We bought a ford freestyle right after my second child was born and it had the DVD player that comes down from the top already in it. It is nice because everyone can see it well and we keep a variety of DVDs in the car and take turns. It is on most of the time. It is a life saver on road trips, but when driving around town, I wish that they would be more satisfied with listening to music and looking out the window. I would love to listen to some radiotalk or some of my music sometime. When the DVD player is closed, the two boys are pointing and screaming and my daughter complains until I give in... I guess this is another topic all together...
I am going to try to start looking around for some good kids music CDs that everyone could be happy with. Ours is all princess music and just a variety of disney songs.

We have a 2 monitor DVD player in our car. It works for us because we can have 1 in the middle and 1 in the back of the minivan. The DVD player is in one of the monitors so no one can fight over who gets to hold the player and 2 monitors is nice because one can be turned off if one of the kids fall asleep. I also like not having it mounted because then it can be taken out of the car. I usually only have ours in if we are traveling over and hour one way.
This is the one we have.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Philips+-+9%22+Widescreen+Por...

I spent an extra $15 on a carrying case. I have had it for about a year with no problems.

I have a dual DVD system in my van. They can play either independently, or simultaneously. I got them for about 200 at Wal Mart. I bought the 2 yr warranty for an extra 20 dollars (I think it was 20).

Overall, I like them. A few times the DVD has frozen up. I am not sure if that is the fact my DVDs are a bit old, but it does not happen that often.

I drive 500 miles a week. About half of that with my kids, and the DVD players make it a lot quieter. My kids are 6 and 9, and both autistic.

Although they have these players, sometimes they do act out, but that is my children being just that, children.

I have heard that ceiling mounts can be a pain in the neck to have serviced, which is why I opted for these, they tie via strong velcro on the headrests of the front driver's seat and front passenger. My van has 3 rows of seats, if that helps.

Another thing about my DVD players, not only do they plug into the cigarette lighter, so if you have one of those type outlets other than up front (some vehicles have them in the back of the middle console, and some vans have them in the back of the van). They have an adapter that you can plug them into a regular wall outlet in the home.

In my personal opinion, an intergrated DVD (or a pair of them) into the ceiling of your vehicle, can be a pain to service if needed, but more out of the way than the tie ons, but the tie ons are more portable, maybe more cost effective (I don't know what intergrated ones go for), and frankly, I just like the idea of being able to take them with us into the house if the kids want to watch something in their room, or if you want to take them into a room with no tv.

I hope that helps.

I wasn't aware that you can purchase one that can be mounted on the ceiling-- I thought you had to buy the vehicle with it already installed like that. Anyway...we have a DVD player that came with the van-- the kind that is mounted on the ceiling. Love it! We can listen to it all together through the stereo or the kids can use wireless headsets. Just have them take turns picking which movie to watch

E.,
I bought the dual set that attaches to the back of the head rest of the front seats. I did not want anything that was "permanent" so that I don't get the question EVERY TIME we get in the car to watch a movie. The set I got can be used together to watch the same movie or they can work independent of each other so the kids can watch two different things. I think mine are Audiovox...I have had them since 2006 - and they are great. They install quickly. The only thing I wish I had was the remote control for the set (it has one, and if I REALLY wanted it I could get it, but obviously it hasn't been that important to me yet.)

Good luck and safe travels!
T.

We have a portable DVD player that we use at home, and when we take it on a trip, we just take that along. The kids (almost always the older one) just held it in their laps, but then we found a thing that straps to the back of a headrest to hold it, and that works better -- DVD players can get hot on little legs!