Customer Reviews

Alpine PKG-RSE2 DVD Rear Seat Entertainment Package

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

We bought the Alpine PKG-RSE2 DVD player for our 1997 Chevy Astro AWD, specifically for a family road trip from Wisconsin to Florida in February 2009.

Before buying the player we did a lot of research online and in stores. At one point we actually purchased a different model (not from Alpine) at a local store. I'd commented to the salesperson while we were purchasing it that I was concerned the screen was too small and the picture wasn't incredibly good (but the price was about $100 less than the Alpine). His actual response: "Well, what do you expect? It's not an Alpine." Ugh.

That night, after purchasing the lesser model I kept thinking over what the salesguy said. In the morning I decided it was ridiculous to get such a low-end model just to save a relatively small amount of money. We returned the DVD player that day, and bought a new Alpine online from one of the sellers through Amazon. The seller we bought it from was selling it new for $499 (January 09). I see the price from current sellers has shot up again (June 09) but I suspect if you shop around/wait a bit you can find a similar price.


INSTALLATION
The instructions that come with the player aren't very clear which made installation fairly frustrating. My husband is extremely handy with cars and electronics, and it still took him about 6 hours to install the player, so keep that in mind if you're installing it yourself. It's likely you can find a local electronic store or car shop to install it for you if you don't want to tackle it on your own.


PICTURE & SOUND
Once my husband installed it he and I hopped in the back seats and put in a movie. The picture is excellent and the screen is huge. The sound - through the car speakers and/or through the wireless headphones is terrific.

It came with one set of wireless headphones. We purchased 3 extra sets of headphones, so all 4 of our kids had a set. They range in age from 6-11, and none had problems handling the headphones, keeping them on their heads or manipulating the volume control. The only time the headphones didn't work well was when I tried one from the front seat. Apparently you need to be facing the front of the player (meaning, sitting in any of the back seats) for them to work well. I bought the 3 extra sets of headphones on another website as I couldn't find them currently for sale on Amazon. If you buy headphones make sure they work with the player. As far as I can tell, the only ones that work with the PKG-RSE2 are the headphones called Alpine SHS-N103.

You can easily view the picture from the middle bucket seats and the back bench seat. We were concerned the kids wouldn't be able to see the picture from the far back because well, they're kids and kind of short, but it turned out they could view movies with no problems.

We set up the DVD player so the sound comes through on FM station 88.1, and set that station as one of the defaults in the van. We've heard no static at all when using the radio as speakers for a movie. You can have sound coming through the speakers or through the headphones, or through both the speakers and headphones at the same time. You can also have the headphones on and have the radio playing other stations.


SCREEN
A button on the player pop-unlocks the screen. Once it's unlocked you can pull it down for viewing. I'd advise anyone with this player to make sure the screen is closed before anyone in the back gets out...we've had a couple kids conk their heads on the screen when exiting the van. The screen appears to be well-made and strong, and the few head-conks it's gotten haven't affected it. (Sorry about your heads, kids!)

The screen can be pulled down to about a 95- or 100-degree angle for viewing. It can't be pivoted to the left or right, but this has caused no issues. We've had no complaints of kids not being able to see the screen, even in bright sunlight.


CONTROLS
DVDs load in a slot that faces the back of the van. There is a fairly large On/Off button and Eject button on either side of the slot, a dome light switch, and an Open button that when pressed, unlocks the screen so you can pull it down. Once you figure out where each of these buttons is you can press them from the front with little problem, so you can handle most of the major controls without needing the kids' help. There's also a Menu/Select button underneath the DVD slot. This one works fine but you can really only use it if you're sitting in a seat facing the player.

There are dome lights on either side of the player. They are fairly bright. We don't use them, however, as the van has a lot of other overhead lights. If you 'lose' some lights when installing the player the ones on the player should suit you well.

The DVD player also comes with a remote which works pretty well from the front seats -- you just have to point it towards the player. We rarely use this but when we have it works fine.

The awesome button is the 'Mommy Button' (I've also read this called the 'Mum Button') on the other side of the DVD player -- the side facing the front of the vehicle. The Mommy Button is a Play/Pause button there which is great when you want to stop the movie and get the kids' attention. There's also an FM button facing the front seats that allows you to toggle whether the movie sound comes through the speakers or not. If you're ever driving and FM radio stations are suddenly coming through staticky, chances are you need to press the FM button. If you're trying to hear a movie through your speakers, you're sure you have the right radio station on (and you're sure the player is hooked up correctly) chances are you need to press the FM button.

When we turn off the van, whatever video is playing stops. As soon as the ignition is turned back on the movie starts up again exactly where it left off. My husband said there is way to wire the DVD player so movies can keep playing off the car battery when the car isn't on, but he didn't hook it up that way -- personally I'm glad about that because I could see us accidentally draining the battery if we were able to watch movies when the van wasn't running.


OBSTRUCTION IN THE REAR VIEW MIRROR
The screen is 10.2"...amazingly big for a vehicle. Because of this we were expecting to be mostly using our side mirrors when DVDs were playing. The DVD player is mounted high, and it turned out that the driver can easily see out of the rear view mirror with little problem. There is some obstruction -- when the screen is down it blocks 1/3-1/2 of the center of the rear view mirror, but it hasn't caused any real difficulties seeing.

One of the pieces of mounting hardware -- the only piece we didn't use -- would have made the DVD player sit lower. Not using this extra piece may not be optional when you install the DVD player, so more of your rear view may be blocked. If you're not already, become friends with your side mirrors.


SKIPPING
The kids watched numerous videos down and back from Florida, and have watched many since. Of all the movies, of all the literal bumps in the roads we've driven on, we've had maybe 4 or 5 times where a movie has 'skipped' for a second. I say 'skip', although the movie doesn't actually skip. What happens is the screen goes blue for a moment, then the picture and sound come back on in the same spot it left off. I don't think one 'skip' has occurred from driving conditions...I'm not sure if it's because there was a scratch on the DVD, if the player loses the signal for a second occasionally or what. Frankly, we're not worried about it. Occurrences haven't increased over time, and it probably happens once out of every 6 or so hours of viewing. It hasn't bothered the kids because they know the show will be back on in a few seconds.


WORTH THE MONEY?
The DVD player was an absolute godsend for our road trip, which included at least 50 hours of driving in an one-and-a-half week time frame. I don't think we heard one "Are we there yet?" during the trip. The great kid movies kept the kids in really good moods, and also helped by giving them 'breaks' from one another during the drive. Sometimes we'd tell them all to use the headphones so we could listen to the radio, and all we'd hear out of them for an hour and a half is occasional laughs during a movie. Amazing! The kids remarked at 'how fast' we got down to (and back from) Florida.

If you're going to go through the expense and trouble of having a third-party DVD player installed, it seems to make sense to get one that's going to work well and make everyone happy. If it's in your budget, the Alpine PKG-RSE2 is a great player to get.

Bigger screen with better resolution at half the price of the dealer installed unit. Nuff said.

Update: The unit failed almost exactly one year from my purchase. After examining it, I found that it didn't work when mounted, but did work when I had it down and in my hands. Pretty good indication of a broken solder joint. I contacted Alpine and they confirmed that was somewhat common on a batch of these units. They repaired it under warantee. Even if your unit is out of warantee, this is a super easy fix for someone who is electronically inclined, or a cheap fix for you to pay for at an electronics store. Anyway, I STILL give the unit 5-stars... I just wanted to put this out there in case anyone else had a similar problem.

I buy this item for my 2007 Kia Sedona, and the image in the 3er row is exelent. My kids love it. The sound quality in the headphone is poor, bud the Fm modulator is great and the sound quality by the wired Fm modulator is aceptable. I recomended to install by a professional.

Yo compré este producto para instalarlo en una Kia Sedona 2007, y la imagen en la tercera fila de asientos se ve perfecta y nítida. La calidad del sonido por medio de los audífonos es pobre, pero conectado por medio del modulador de FM (que es wired)es bastante buena. La instalación no es sencilla, por lo que recomiendo buscar ayuda de un profesional.

I got it for my 2008 4Runner, and my 4 year old has been really happy since we installed it. The video quality is very good, and audio from both the headphones and the FM transmitter works really good. The controls are pretty straightforward and the setup is simple and fast. The screen is very bright, but you can adjust that setting from the menu.

In the 4runner the display does not gets in the way to block the rearview mirror, but I imagine that it would do so in a smaller car.

I had the good fortune to have a friend that is a wizard with card install it, and would really recommend a professional installation.

The only downside that I can think of is that on this day and age, it does not support Divx discs :-(

I purchased this as an aftermarket DVD player instead of the factory DVD player that Ford was selling for $1200 in my new 2008 Ford Expedition EL. The screen is bigger than your typical mobile DVD screen and has a great picture. The screen is big enough so that the picture is actually better from the third row seat than the second row seat. The kids can easily operate it and the wireless headphones are great so the front passengers are not forced to listen to the movie playing. Only one headphone comes with the unit so I had to buy 3 additional headphones so each of my 4 kids could have one.

The Alpine PKG-RSE2 DVD is an excellent auto overhead dvd player..The picture is fantastic and screen is very large. The dvd player comes with only one set of wireless headphones so be sure to order a second pair of headphones if necessary.It is a very large overhead system , so be sure to measure before ordering. It just fit into my Jeep Commander with very minimal space left. Although it already has a Fm modulator , I did need to get adapters before the installation, but sound on system is fantastic and works through both the cars speakers and headphones..With the fm modulator , you are able to shut off movies volume from auto speakers and listen to radio while movie is also being viewed..I highly recommend this system especially at Amazons price you can save a ton.

I have a 2008 Scion xB and we got this installed for our daughter to watch movies when we are out and about. I love it! The picture is great and I love that it has a button to play the movie, pause, etc that is in the back of the unit (the part closer to the driver and the front of the car); she is only 15 months, so I have to push play, and it makes it easier with the button within easy reach! I also LOVE the headphones...I am going to have to wait a bit to let my little one use them, but it is a great added feature!!

There's a lot to like about this unit - as proven by its rave reviews - but there are also a few problems raised by a few users which deserve mentioning:

First and foremost, the sound output is quite low and is non-adjustable. Therefore, you have to crank up the volume just to get some semblance of intelligibility. The volume is the same whether one uses the FM transmitter (which is surprisingly of good quality) or the AUX input. I added an amplifier to get more volume, and it is still sorely limited by the player.

Secondly, the headphones is hissy. Sound is not bad for kids, but audiophiles stay clear.

The Alpine PKG flip down DVD player is the best investment I have ever made. Not to mention that it was the cheapest on Amazon.com. The product has worked very well in my 2009 Chevy Tahoe. The 10 inch monitor does not obscure the rear view window as much as I thought it would. The included wireless headphones are a great addition. You can listen to your own cd's or radio up front. The unit comes with an FM modulator for this reason. You can also purchase extra sets of headphones for very reasonable prices. The LCD screen offers a very clear and sharp image. Almost blu-ray quality. My 6 y.o. son is able to quietly watch his favorite DVD's.

I would not recommend self installation unless you are very good at this type of installation. It requires drilling holes into the headliner. I took it to MobileOne Audio in Houston and had it professianlly installed for $150. I would highly recommend this name brand product. Alpine is a leader in car audio.

Installation on our Honda Pilot went well with a little research on wiring/panel removal. The unit continues playback where it left off when the ignition is turned off and back on. The sound is superb as well as the video quality. I recommend soldering all connections, had a solder-less connector fail on my ground wire. I connected the ACC and Battery connections into the main connector behind the radio. They don't provide screws to mount the plate to the ceiling braces, so make sure you get the proper machine screws. I had no problems with the sound through the factory radio or wireless headphones. Volume was very good, so not sure why the previous reviewer had issues. Suggest cutting a small slit in ceiling panel to help find the ceiling brace to mount to. I've done custom car audio installations before, which was helpful.