Customer Reviews

Power Acoustik HDVD-9BG 8.8-Inch Pre-Loaded Universal Headrest Monitors with Twin DVD Combo and Headphones (Beige)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Let me first start out saying that I have owned this product for over a month now and it has exceeded my expectations. I chose headrest monitors instead of the drop down roof mounted ones because I did not want to obstruct rear view vision and allow independent viewing / game play while on long road trip. These cd /dvd players mounted in the headrest eliminate the extra wiring to a dvd console.

My only hesitation from purchasing these earlier was from not knowing if there was any noise coming from the fan / dvd that would drive me bonkers, but I was very pleased to learn this was not the case. These units were quiet - the only thing I can hear from the rear were giggles from the Monty Python movie my son was watching while we were on a three hour trip. Simply Awesome.

I installed these myself since there was power under the seat (for power seats), but had to call support to find out which post carried the power and which were a/v. Tech guy was helpful - power cable is on DVD side(FYI). The size of the screen was perfect - it looks alot bigger than I imagined and I am glad I did not go for the bigger screen that would have been problematic. The brightness and quality of the picture was superb. comes with two remotes and good to use since touch screen is great if you don't have the remote handy, but you will have to put up with finger smudges.

We purchased these in mid-May for our 2007 Sienna, and really like them. We installed them ourselves, and there are a couple of things you should know up front:

1. The cables run through the headrest prongs. You have to have access through the seat to grab them and run them to a power source. The Sienna has a plastic skidpad on the back of each front seat, so I was able to reach through the side and grab the cables. If you don't have that, getting the cables may be tricky.

2. The provided cables have power and ground, but they are "pigtails" (exposed wires at the end of the cables) and no 12V adapter is provided with the set. We found a "Banana Jack" 12V adapter through which they could be threaded at RadioShack for $10 each, which we could easily plug into our 12V outlets in the van.

Installation was simple, aside from those minor caveats. The picture quality is good, and we really liked the wireless headphones provided (I wasn't sure they were wireless from the product description listed). Note that the touch screen does not allow you to select DVD menu items in what you are watching, but instead give you the players' function menus, such as setting up the FM output channel and whatnot. The remote also needs to be pointed at the headrest for it to work, which isn't ideal, but isn't a big problem either.

For the money, these players were everything we really wanted. No potential projectiles in the event of a crash, and easy to remove when we're not on a long trip. Also easy enough to install for two non-electricians or car audio/video experts.

I have owned this product for two weeks. Installation was very easy. All you do is run two cords down through the seat. I connected to the 12V power through my console which had a 12V plug.

The product works as advertised. Having two separate DVD players is wonderful. The FM transmitter allows the DVD to play over your car stereo and there are 5 stations to pick from. The headsets provided were good quality and worked fine. Each monitor has a video/audio out and in.

We just got back from a trip to Disney. We drove from Dallas to Disney World so they were use A LOT. I hooked up the Wii and that worked out really well. The screens had great color and were plenty bright during the day. Touch screen controls kept us from needing to worry about remotes.

Highly recommend!

2008 Honda Oddyssey

I have had this product installed for several weeks now and it works great. I like the quality of the product (leather/player/screen/wires),the picture and sound are great and it has a lot of features. The touchscreen is fun. Two independent units is great for us now and when the kids are older.

For those posts that talk about it "not working" or being a terrible product, it probably has more to do with their poor installation, misunderstanding of eletronic systems or requirements, or incompetence. It was probably not an actual defective product. The person who mentioned that they had to lean the seat back to put in a DVD must not have planned the install. You put the DVD slots facing in, not out towards the door.

===Requirements===
1. Check your headrest post hole width
2. Check your headrest post hole diameter
3. Check to see if you have access into the seat to grasp the wires
4. Determine how you will supply power (a) tap into the car's power system - which i do NOT recommend or (b) Power from the 12v accessory outlet or cigarette lighter. This way you dont mess with the car's power system and it is all completely and easily removable. You need to check the fuse for the outlet you plan to use to ensure the amps will be ok. In most cases you will be fine as these units together will use 1 amp (18 watts together or 9 watts each). Drop by RadioShack and buy a Y plug for your 12V accessory plug, then buy a 12V accessory plug with bare wire ends along with some crush tubes for joining wires.
5. Determine if/how you will link them together to share video/audio. TO link them you will need to buy a male to male RCA stereo audio/video cable (3 prong)
6. Determine if/how you will get audio to the car audio system (a)wireless transmitter or (b)a auxillary accessory jack (RCA male stero to 8mm headphone type plug in my case)
7. Determine how you will hide the wires. I had rubber matts and the went rught under them out of sight.

===Notes===
1. Its not that big a deal, but the leather color and texture most likely wont match exactly. Its still good quality.
2. Depending on your car, both posts of the headrest may not lock into place, only one may. This will cause them to be a little loose. I got some rubber washers from Home Depot to help hold them in place and be level, The helped a lot and i was able to control the position of the unit a lot better.
3. Be prepared to teach your kid how to use it or, master the remote control from behind your head, or turn it on before you leave. It wont be easy to do it after you are driving if they are not old enough to do it.
4. Ran for 9 hours without any discernable heat coming from beneath the unit or from the side fan.
5. The DVD drive is very quiet. I can't hear it at all except the intial spin up of the DVD when it starts
6. Headphones are good quality
7. The headrest may feel further back than your normal ones and it probably is. See NOte #2.

Wow, great construction and stitching on these headrests. These really match my new 2010 Highlander perfectly. USB and SD Cards feature is useless, it it only to display photos. Very large, clear screens but this does make to overall headrest very large as well. Packed with way more features the player offered by dealerships. Responsive touch screen, strong and clear RF transmitters with no hanging antenna , dual DVDs can play separate movie or share on movie, comfortable headphones. Also has an extra input to add a video game system down the road.

Best Buy original price was [...] higher than SEARS and [...] higher than Amazon. New price at Best Buy.com makes this a easy decision. Installed at Best Buy for [...]. Only flaw, Post are smaller than my OEM posts which makes the headrest rattle some and does not allow for height adjustments.

Great value

Don't make the same mistake like I did. We have used it for 4 months and now one of the screen is broken. THe brightness level is very low and I cannot turn it up. I tried to call them today and this one lady kept on transfering me to their technical department but no one picked up. It went to the voice mail and sadly I couldnt leave a message because the voice mailbox was full. I assume this company doesnt care about their customer at all. I've called several times and not a single person was able to help. Also beware their warranty claims that it will only cover 1 year if you installed their system with an authorized dealer. Their product does work somewhat but not good enough for the price that I paid. Their headphones are horrible when both are on at the same time due to inteferences. THe touchscreen sounds like a cool feature but actually it's useless. The headrest itself its unconfortable compared to the original. Lastly, it doesnt come with headrest covers which was another disappointment.

Bought this for an 2006 Lexus RX400 with tan interior. The color matched perfectly. Installation was simple and took me 1 hour total. I did not have to take the back of the seats off as I was planning. Just pulled the wires through the headrest and was able to push them in on the sides of the back-panel to tuck them out of site. I just bought a 3 in 1 12V receptacle and two male ends from radio shack and plugged both DVD players into the outlet in the front-center console area of the car where there is an outlet on the floor level. The alternative wold be to connect the power under the seat and 100% out of site but I did not feel like cutting into the Lexus wiring. The players work to show same video on both or each can watch separately. The passengers like the touch screen. The picture quality is very good. The FM transmitter works decent to play the sound through the car but the wireless headphones do a really nice job. I have had them in for a month and am very satisfied.

I bought these in April after doing a lot of comparison shopping. Paid $150 to have them installed and both appeared to work just fine right after installation. One month later, we took our first road trip since installing the monitors and only the driver's side monitor would work. Thinking a cord had come loose or a fuse had blown, I took the vehicle back in and had the installer look at the system. Everything was hooked up and it was getting power, meaning no fuse had blown. Checked the driver's side monitor again and it was still working. Went on a road trip again last weekend and now the driver's side doesn't work either. The installation people think the switch is broken internally. Either way, I'm stuck with an expensive and broken product because of Amazon's return policy. I'm going to have to pay someone money to un-install the system and then pay to ship it back to Amazon, only to receive a maximum of 50% of my money back.

I purchased a pair of these for my 2002 Toyota Sequoia Limited a few months ago. I should have done it years ago! We absolutely love them. I researched and researched (thats what electrical engineers do best, right?) before buying, and you can't go wrong with these. The headrests are an almost perfect match to the interior color of my Sequoia. The leather on the headrests is of the same high quality as my original interior. You would not know that these did not come with the car. The screens are a very nice size. The headphones have a clear sound quality. They were easy to hook up, just tied into the back of the 12 volt cigarette lighter that is already in the center console. Cables are also provide to connect the two screens together. Both kids can watch their own movie, or watch the same movie. We have friends with the same Sequoia and they paid over $1600 to have Vizualogic headrest DVDs installed. The screens they have are smaller and both kids always must agree on the same movie (good luck). They do not look any nicer than these power acoustik ones either. They would be easy to take back out later when you sell the car, but I would bet they add $500 of value anyway so you might as well sell them with the car.

Update: Nov. 2011. After a year and a half both DVD players are still working with no problems at all. Headphones work great also. We take lots of road trips and these are worth their weight in gold. I highly recommend these DVD headrests.

I have had these for about a year and have had no trouble with them. They are just like the ones you get from the dealer aftermarket, except they are a bit of a different design headrest, and the ones you get from a dealer are the same shape as your factory headrest. If you have a common color interior (black, tan, gray) this is a great purchase. After people have seen them in my vehicle, they have ordered them for themselves.