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Are dvd players in vans worth the money?


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We're considering having one installed in our van for our upcoming trip. Part of me thinks with the same amount of money I can pick them each up a Nintendo DS and a few cartridges. WWYD?

 

We just play videos in the laptop.

 

I am definitely a fan of videos on long car trips.

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We did not have the system insalled we purchased a portable set for under $200. We purchased ours about 9 years ago. We also purchase the extended warranty at the time and had to use it when one of the screens went out on us. We do not keep it in all the time but when we are traveling we'll bring a few family friendly movies.

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The ones that are installed are a lot of $$$$$. We got one for $120 a couple Christmases ago that's portable (can be taken in and out of the car). It came with 2 screens that strap onto the back of our headrests, so both of my kids have their own screen. It's not top-of-the-line, but for the $$$ it suits its purpose just fine. It's great to have on a long car trip.

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The only thing I think would be much better about installed is the way you have to LISTEN to their movie...because it's on the back of your headrest. If you could run sound through your speakers, it'd be better. The screen on our portable is bigger. Of course, ours also jumps when we hit a bump in the road, and when we stop the car...to come back and start it again is a pain.

Carrie

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The van we bought 3 years ago (Sienna) already had the entertainment center installed. We LOVE it. We just went to Orlando a few weeks ago and to Atlanta a few days ago and it was great. We never have skips or jumps. We can move all the sound to the back for the guys if we don't want to listen. We can also have the sound go to the headphones and then Tony and I can listen to the radio and hear what we want. We almost only use it on "big" trips but it's very worth it.

 

However, if it weren't installed we probably wouldn't spend the extra to have it installed. An individual portable one for each boy with headphones would also be a huge benefit; cheaper too. :)

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We spent $80 on a portable DVD player before our Thanksgiving trip across the country and we love it. It plugs into the lighter in the van and plugs into the wall at home. We can even hook it up with a bigger TV if we want to watch a movie on a bigger screen. It was an Audiovox we bought at Wal-Mart. In the van, we prop it up on a plastic tub where we keep the DVDs.

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I'd go for a portable. Cheaper. Easier to replace if it has problems. And can be put away except for long trips.

 

We've used a portable for a few very long drives, and it's nice for that. But I wouldn't want it right there staring at the kids on every day errands. (Even if they understood that it's reserved for long trips, just having it in front of them would be a frustration.)

 

Also, repairs will be much more expensive on a system that's installed. The portables are cheaper (can even be used in hotel rooms too, in some cases), can be replaced more easily... They just all around make more sense to me.

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Can't field whether or not one is "worth the money" !

 

We have a portable DVD player, chosen for the greater flexibility. We can take the player on road trips, with headphone jacks available for two viewers.

 

The greater advantage for us is that if somebody wants to watch a DVD which is not suitable for a younger family member -- (e.g. "Lord of the Rings", etc.) -- the family member who wants to watch it may "check out" the portable player and watch in his/her room. This leaves the family television available for "all viewer fare".

 

We love this system !

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We buy our cars with the entertainment systems already installed (DVD players and gaming systems.) We make sure we get the screens in the headrests, so two people in the back seat can watch two different movies. Additionally, I find it distracting when the screen flips down from the headliner, as I keep seeing it in my rearview mirror and it bugs me!

 

Is it worth the extra money? Honestly, probably not, but I find that it's worth it to always know exactly where the DVD player and gaming system are. Years ago, we used a portable DVD player, and it was always a last-minute chase around the house to find the stupid thing when we were in a rush to go somewhere.

 

Now we just chase around to find the right games and DVDs... :glare:

 

Cat

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We owned a Nissan van that had a factory installed version. Pros were that the screen was high and out of the way. Negatives included the following: The tilt of the screen determined how well the movie could be watched, if the persons in the middle could see it well, the ones in the back couldn't. The DVD player was under the front seat. If there was no one in the front passenger seat, the driver would have to hit play and all that to make it work because the remote never seemed to work right. I pulled over many times just so I could hit play and not lay over sideways while driving. Not to mention, I would have to pull over to change movies and such.

 

Now we have a different vehicle so I have a personal DVD player for each kid. They can watch their own programs with headphones. Well, the toddler doesn't use headphones yet. We have a duo that can be linked together so the movie will play on 2 screens. It was less than $300 for them both. I bought an adaptor ($25 I think) so I can carry one of the players into the hotels, plug it in so we can watch movies there as well. (hotels and condos we stay at never seem to have a dvd player) My children can change movies by them selves. My children can operate them completely by themselves and I can just drive. My son has a PSP2 and will sometimes run it thru the car DVD player for a new activitiy. I have on occassion moved the player to the front seat while I am a passenger and watched a movie while my dh drives and the kids are asleep. I couldn't do that with the factory installed version. Another positive is that we can move the players to different cars if we change cars for some reason (like grandma's car).

 

The cons we have so far include the strap to hold the player on the headrest has velcro that sticks to my hair if I don't remember to turn it over. Sometimes in rough roads the player will slip down or skip a bit. The toddler can now reach hers with her feet and we have had to teach her not to kick it. They are also easy to steal if your car is broken into (yep, we learned that the hard way).

 

Essentially, while my son thinks he wants us to buy a new car with the movie at the top again, we never plan to do it.

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We have a VCR in our van; it came that way. We would have gotten it anyway, as that was the point of getting the van - the long trips to Michigan every year. However, now that everything is on DVD, we bought a dual-screen DVD player for the girls last year, and that has worked marvelously well. I am not sure what we will do for Isaac - either play something in the VCR or see how well he entertains himself. Dh can also hook up his laptop to play movies through the VCR and he does something with the iPod, too. Maybe the iPod hooks up to the laptop which hooks up to the VCR? Not a clue. He takes care of all that stuff. Anyway, I wouldn't pay to have one installed - try getting a portable. Much cheaper and you can use them for other things if you have rainy days. :)

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I'd go for a portable. Cheaper. Easier to replace if it has problems. And can be put away except for long trips.

 

Yes, yes, yes, and yes. For $100-$150, you could get them each their own (higher-quality ones, even), and they can watch what they want. We only have one at the moment, so I do let one use my laptop if she needs it, but I'm paranoid that it will fly off a lap at a sudden stop or bump in the road. I'd opt for the two portables, personally.

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We're considering having one installed in our van for our upcoming trip. Part of me thinks with the same amount of money I can pick them each up a Nintendo DS and a few cartridges. WWYD?

 

I would do neither, but that's just us. We've driven from to FL, to VA, to MI without any electronics, by our preference.

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We have a portable DVD player. You strap it between two seats, plug in the headphones and you're good to go! We LOVE it for long trips. Love, love, love, LOVE it.

 

I also love that it's not a permanent resident of our van - therefore the temptation to turn it on all the time isn't there. ;) We *only* use it for long (3+ hour) drives, so it's always "new" for the kids. :)

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We have one in our Suburban with two headphones and a remote. It is wonderful for long trips. We go to Long Island a lot. I do not use it for local driving. We only use on trips longer than 2 hours.

 

This is how we got ours: it was part of some extra package you buy on the Suburban. We bargained down the price of the vehicle and we got the guy to give us a Suburban equipped with that package on it for the price we decided on. (We bought new, so we knew what packages we wanted in the Suburban.)

 

I know two others with built-in players and they also bargained it in to the price of whatever new vehicle they bought. The retail price for the player or the package was not an add-on price to the price of the car, if you know what I mean.

 

Louise

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When we bought this vehicle in 2007, one of the requirements was that it HAD to have a DVD entertainment package. In our previous vehicle, we used the portable kind....the one with two screens that hook to the back of the driver/passenger head rests. That was a REALLY BIG PAIN. Seriously. Wires everywhere, kept getting unplugged, skipped sometimes, slid around, etc. And if we did not want it to play aloud (which grates on my nerves while driving) then we had to hook headphones to the screens and the wires from the headphones had to reach the screens. UGH.

 

So an installed DVD was a must with our current vehicle. WE LOVE IT. It has never skipped. It came with 2 wireless headphones. LOVE those things! We've dropped them, had them fall out of the car, stepped on them....they are still going strong two years later. I can control the DVD from the front, or it can be controlled with a remote from the back.

 

Well worth the money, in my opionion.

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I hate to rain on your parade, but watching a DVD in the car makes my ds carsick. If you have a friend who has a portable one that you could borrow to try out first, that might not be a bad idea. We bought one, and used it once! Guess why :tongue_smilie:?

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Each of our kids have their own portable dvd players that strap to the headrest of the van seats. They are life savers on trips! The 2 1/2 year old usually falls asleep 15 minutes into the trip, but the older kids enjoy watching their movies, and it helps the time go by much faster for them. Both older kids each also have game boys that they like to play too.

 

I don't know about the cost of having one installed, but we love the portable ones. :001_smile:

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If you do get one, I have a request for the safety of all drivers out there. PLEASE do not play movies after dark. When you are driving behind someone who has a ceiling mounted video screen in the car, it is the brightest thing in the field of vision and naturally draws the eye. I always have to concentrate very hard on NOT watching the screen so that I can pay attention to driving. It doesn't even have to be something interesting (like this stupid Adam Sandler movie I was stuck behind) to be a huge distraction to other drivers.

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We wanted one too, in our Sequoia (2004 bought new) but we saved about $3K by not getting it. We bought it after market for $1200 and it came with 2 headrest monitors and the dvd player.

 

It is now having some problems. One of the monitors goes in and out, but I honestly think it is a connection problem because when it comes on, it has perfect picture.

 

We also have fried the remote and the %^& DVD player doesn't ff or rewind without it! It is driving us nuts! I don 't know if a universal remote will work or not, but we need to look into that.

 

We got the Audiovox set up with wide screen. I am sure it is quite outdated now as we got it in 2004.

 

Dawn

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We like our portable ones. We got a more expensive one from Target that has 4 screens and the 2 girls can watch something different from the 2 boys. The boys like to plug in their joystick type video games into it as well. The brand is Audiovox. They can plug in their headphones as well. The only thing that's not so great about them is all the cords and wires going everywhere. And when you can't find the remote. We only use it about once a year when we drive cross country and it does help my sanity.

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I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks kids can survive a long car trip without electronic devices, but we are definitely in the minority.

 

I remember long car trips when I was young. We read. We looked out the window and saw our country. We played games. We played I Spy. We played Twenty Questions. We found all the letters of the alphabet on signs. We kept track of all the different states on license plates that we saw. We talked to each other. We told stories. We made up stories. We counted various things (blue cars, stop signs, you name it.) We sang. We sang lots of silly, silly songs. I treasure those memories.

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I really hope I'm not the only person who DOESN'T cherish memories of my childhood car trips! :lol:

 

My memories consist of intense sibling fighting, even more intense boredom, the consumption of mind-boggling quantities of candy, and constantly realizing that I had to pee everytime we passed an exit.

 

We use portable dvd players to survive long car trips, along with audio books, electronic toys, and mind-boggling quantities of candy. 12 hours or more in the car is a really long time, and there are still sufficient hours for playing the alphabet game and singing off-key.

 

I'd love it if I could read, write or daydream in the car, but it's generally a fairly miserable experience for me - - always uncomfortable, frequently carsick - - and it just doesn't happen. My kids are the same, and I'm fine with better living through electronics.

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We have a portable DVD player. You strap it between two seats, plug in the headphones and you're good to go! We LOVE it for long trips. Love, love, love, LOVE it.

 

I also love that it's not a permanent resident of our van - therefore the temptation to turn it on all the time isn't there. ;) We *only* use it for long (3+ hour) drives, so it's always "new" for the kids. :)

 

:iagree:

 

We have been shopping for vans and I don't want them installed for this exact reason. We have a portable one that we use only on trips and that makes it extra special and interesting to my 4 year old.

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Yeah, I do not have fond memories of road trips either. I'm one that was always carsick. It's nice for my kids to be able to have something to make the trip seem shorter. They know that they are not allowed to watch TV just while driving around town. We must be actually going on a trip for them to watch it. Or on a really long drive allllll the way to the other side of town (which is like an hour away).

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Having a dvd player in the car would encourage my children to watch movies in the car. :blink:

 

 

 

Seriously, our kids are 14 and 12 and while we haven't driven across country, we've managed a fair amount of going up and down the east coast without having the benefit of movies to watch. I figure that while we're on vacation, wherever it is we're going, we'll watch more than our share of mind-fry. Might as well try to engage in some other activities while we're cooped up in the car all ready to bite each other's heads off. :lol: So, for us, it's 20 Questions, music, books on cd, personal music and/or cd players, small toys, Travel Bingo, etc. Granted, we take an arsenal of "keep me busy" stuff along, but no dvds.

 

Hope this helps!

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I resisted any kind of DVD player in the car. In fact I was kind of a snob about it. We took a nine hour trip to visit family and I read out loud for much of it. We didn't need a stinkin' idiot box in the car. Can you hear the set up? My MIL, against my express wishes, bought a portable player for the kids and gave it to them for Christmas. :angry: A couple of weeks later, we were caught in an unexpected snowstorm in the Sierras and as we crept down through the mountains, passing wreck after wreck and almost getting involved in several ourselves; I was a white-knuckled mess, but the kids were singing along to Mary Poppins which kept them from distracting the driver. One year later on our way home from Disneyland a big rig accident turned the Grapevine into a parking lot (literally, drivers were getting out of their cars and talking to their neighbors) and our expected seven hour drive home turned into a fifteen hour marathon. I wrote my MIL a note thanking her for the player.

 

We have a cheap-o set up that means everyone in the car has to agree on what they are watching, but it works for us on long trips.

 

Just my .02

 

Amber in SJ

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Having a dvd player in the car would encourage my children to watch movies in the car. :blink:

 

Seriously, our kids are 14 and 12 and while we haven't driven across country, we've managed a fair amount of going up and down the east coast without having the benefit of movies to watch. I figure that while we're on vacation, wherever it is we're going, we'll watch more than our share of mind-fry. Might as well try to engage in some other activities while we're cooped up in the car all ready to bite each other's heads off. :lol: So, for us, it's 20 Questions, music, books on cd, personal music and/or cd players, small toys, Travel Bingo, etc. Granted, we take an arsenal of "keep me busy" stuff along, but no dvds.

 

 

:iagree: But I think we might be alone... :001_huh:

 

We've also driven up and down the east (and west!) coast, and in Germany, in 10+ hour stretches, with kids ranging in age from 2 to 9 (they're older now, but haven't been on one of these road trips since they were 9). Never had a dvd player, never missed one. In fact, they tried to sell us a van with the dvd player "thrown in", and I asked if they could take it out... we did end up buying one that didn't have it to begin with.

 

There are so many things to do in the car. We did lots of Mad Libs, books on tape, books they read themselves, puzzle books, travel size games, other car games. We don't even have personal music players for the kids.

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We've driven to FL twice without any electronics but I think a dvd player would be nice. We do lots of audio books, singing and other out loud games but a movie now and then would be good. If any of my kids are like me they will only have the option of driving or trying to forget about carsickness by listening to the radio.

 

Next time we go to FL to visit my parents we might get a dvd player or borrow one.

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I'm glad to see I'm not the only one that thinks kids can survive a long car trip without electronic devices, but we are definitely in the minority.

 

I remember long car trips when I was young. We read. We looked out the window and saw our country. We played games. We played I Spy. We played Twenty Questions. We found all the letters of the alphabet on signs. We kept track of all the different states on license plates that we saw. We talked to each other. We told stories. We made up stories. We counted various things (blue cars, stop signs, you name it.) We sang. We sang lots of silly, silly songs. I treasure those memories.

 

because of my work, my son (since he was 4, he's now 15) and i have traveled over 300,000 miles together in a car. we listened to a lot of music, audiobooks, npr, and the quiet of the road. we talked a lot. he would color, draw, do puzzles, write poetry. i loved to see him stare out the window watching the world go by - allowing his mind to simply wander and wonder. for the last 3 years of our travels we did have a dvd player; he watched it once though for the last two years he did have a PSP.

 

it would sadden me deeply if he had spent all those miles with his eyes glued to a screen. we would have missed vast amounts of treasure.

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While I agree that the kids don't need that much more screen time, there are simply only so many hours I can play I Spy or whatever. I don't think playing a 1.5 hour movie on an 8 hour drive is too much to ask for some "quiet time". To be honest, since I am with my kids 24/7 and have the pleasure of their running commentary every waking moment, I treasure the time in the car with my DH. It seems like a real treat to have him almost all to myself for conversation. If the kids can quietly watch a movie to pass a little of that time, I'm glad for it.

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we went with a portable unit and three headphones. I was surprised how reasonable they were.

 

We previously drove 28 hours one way without electronics, but they were all toddlers or babies. They only have 1 hour of screen time (computer, tv, Wii) per day, so a "movie thon" will be a rare treat. Our van is not good with road noise, so we normally can't hear the kids very well, dh and I chatter a majority of the trip.

 

Sounds like the perfect choice for you. I, too, have a limit on how creative I can be keeping them from killing each other in the car. I like to talk to my husband or just stare out the window.

 

Weren't you one of the ones considering a new vehicle? Dh actually likes one that has a dvd player at the local Chevy dealer. It's loaded--we've never bought anything like it. (We've also never bought anything that wasn't a Ford.) I hate the idea of a car in the shop for something stupid like dvd player repair though.

 

We have two laptops (so far). I much prefer the idea of a household outlet to built-in dvd players.

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I find some of the best conversations my dh and I have are in the car on our trips to MN or FL. Not sure why except he can't escape me :tongue_smilie:

 

A captive audience is the best audience! :lol:

 

I do the same thing to my poor teenager. :D That's what trips are for!

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Not a chance of it happening in my car.

 

Then everywhere you go locally becomes a whole discussion of how they want to watch a movie.

 

Five years ago we bought a portable dvd player and it is still going strong. In/out of the car, airplanes, hotels, it needs its own frequent flier miles.

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