Screens in car headrests

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BigMal

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#139482 10-Feb-2014 21:58

Hi,

I have a few long family drives coming up soon and am considering installing some video screens in the car so the little ones don't get too bored.

Most seem to come with DVD which I don't want, Id prefer to play media back off solid state USB or SD card.

Does anyone have any recommendations of systems they've used?

I see you can get some that are built into headrests but how are they controlled? Does the child control them?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

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#983724 10-Feb-2014 22:08

Watching screens in cars can make little ones (and some big ones) puke.
IMO get some good music to listen to, do family singalongs, play i-spy. They grow up fast - why waste an opportunity to get to know your kids "screen free"?

raytaylor

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#983725 10-Feb-2014 22:09

First I would ask if your kids get car sick?
If so, dont install head rest screens. My parents installed them for my 7yo and 9yo brother and sister before xmas. Ended up with alot of vomit because they werent watching the road from their seats or the surrounding terrain.

edit: oops fred beat me to it

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vexxxboy

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#983743 10-Feb-2014 22:21

i have screens in the back of my headrests, a real pain if you like to use car seat covers.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

BigMal

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#983752 10-Feb-2014 22:29

I know my kids very well thanks for asking. We've had Dora and the Lorax sound tracks playing and singing for the last six months.

I was just after screens because we have two particularly long drives coming up and even toddlers get sick of I-spy :-)

They have never shown signs of car sickness but good point, it's something I'll keep in mind.

Coil

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#983753 10-Feb-2014 22:31

BigMal: I know my kids very well thanks for asking. We've had Dora and the Lorax sound tracks playing and singing for the last six months.

I was just after screens because we have two particularly long drives coming up and even toddlers get sick of I-spy :-)

They have never shown signs of car sickness but good point, it's something I'll keep in mind.

I just look down for 2 minutes and thats me done. Sea sick in 5 minutes on flat water. In terms of a screen, Look over seas, Maybe amazon? Or get them tablets and use sticky tape. More than 1 use than just being stuck in the car.

Handle9

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#983759 10-Feb-2014 22:37

We use this for the ipad and it's great

http://www.tradetested.co.nz/ipad-car-headrest-mount.html

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nakedmolerat

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#983765 10-Feb-2014 22:46

Recently I came across Trident. They have excellent products (Arkon) if you want to mount tablets/phones in the car.

Head rest

Cigarette

Cup holder

Fred99

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#983788 10-Feb-2014 23:19

nakedmolerat: Recently I came across Trident. They have excellent products (Arkon) if you want to mount tablets/phones in the car.

Head rest

That looks like an execution device. Can't say I'd be happy to have that sitting just behind my spinal cord when traveling along at 100km/h.

nakedmolerat

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#983789 10-Feb-2014 23:26

Fred99:
nakedmolerat: Recently I came across Trident. They have excellent products (Arkon) if you want to mount tablets/phones in the car.

Head rest

That looks like an execution device. Can't say I'd be happy to have that sitting just behind my spinal cord when traveling along at 100km/h.

right... because most spinal injury in car crash is due to hyperextension

russelo

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#983860 11-Feb-2014 08:29

We're using an iPad with headrest mount.
My 3yo operates the iPad herself.

Archer77

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#983877 11-Feb-2014 09:18

I did have a 12v freeview tuner in our family car (off ebay). The tuner had a usb port for media playback which was the primary use of it (mp3's mainly). The car is a Nissan Stagea with a factory 7" pop up LCD screen in the dash. My idea was to install headrest screens although I never got round to it (and since sold the tv tuner). I also bought and still have a Clarion MSS430 "source commander" AV selector. I would highly recommend a unit like that if you go ahead with your plans. What that does is it has several inputs (ie tv tuner, dvd player etc). It then has 4 outputs - each output has a wired control box with which you can select a source. Each control box also has it's own headphone jack. So Child 1 can be watching and listening to something on USB playback, Child 2 could be playing a video game, and if you have a screen on the dash you can flick over to see what they are watching (to make sure it is running correctly, or whatever), and then you also have the option of running audio through the car stereo too, if it is a family music video type thing. The clarion also did automatic switching to reverse camera to one of the outputs (that went to the screen at the front).

If I bought the screens I would just get them off ebay and get the whole head rest with screen built in (with no source). Then just take out the current head rests, replace with new screen head rests. Then it is simple to restore the car to original in case you want to sell it (or it gets crashed etc), and you're not messing around with ugly screen mounts or customising your original head rests ($$$). The head rests with screens built in can also have zipped up covers and stuff as a theft deterrent.

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TinyTim

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#983919 11-Feb-2014 10:37

Fred99: Watching screens in cars can make little ones (and some big ones) puke.
IMO get some good music to listen to, do family singalongs, play i-spy. They grow up fast - why waste an opportunity to get to know your kids "screen free"?

I know it doesn't answer the question, but our kids listen to stories downloaded from the RNZ website. They get more than enough screen time at home.

ilovemusic

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#983998 11-Feb-2014 12:25

vexxxboy: i have screens in the back of my headrests, a real pain if you like to use car seat covers.

they still make car seat covers ?

lolol

Archer77

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#984001 11-Feb-2014 12:28

I can understand headrest monitors being an issue if you use car seat covers, but then how often are you doing road trips with the grandchildren?

BigMal

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#984128 11-Feb-2014 14:21

Thanks for the replies.

I ended up going with these cheapies form the warehouse here

They come with bags you can clip onto headrests, they play DVD and SD / USB all for only $129.

At that price I can bin them if they turn out to be garbage or the kids get car sick.

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