DVD Question

[Travi]

Hey guys!

Brand new Expedition owner here. Looking for overhead dvd recommendations from anyone who's had any experience installing one. We opted to not get headrest monitors since most of the time on longer trips 2 kids will be in the 3rd row and won't be able to see headrests very easily.

I installed an overhead in our last van and ran a stereo cable through the headliner to an aux jack the van had but I don't see any aux inputs on the Expedition so I'm not sure how I'd run the audio through the headunit (the fm transmitter sucks, IMO).

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[TheDoug]

I am not sure how easy that will be in the Expedition because the stock entertainment system is in the headrests of front seats. There may not be anything there to attach it to. Probably be cheaper to get the kids some cheap amazon fire tablets.

 

[AAOO]

Sounds like you cheaped out lol. The headrest screens are visible from the third row and you can mirror them to a tablet or two. It’s a pretty slick system minus the clunky UI. I have a Roku plugged into mine and can stream pretty much anything. VPN to the house and I get all my TV channels too.

 

[Travi]

Sounds like you cheaped out lol. The headrest screens are visible from the third row and you can mirror them to a tablet or two. It’s a pretty slick system minus the clunky UI. I have a Roku plugged into mine and can stream pretty much anything. VPN to the house and I get all my TV channels too.

Yeah, $60K is definitely cheaping out...

Our 4 year old has a hard time seeing those small 5 or 6" screens in the headrests which is why I put a 14" flip down in our last vehicle. Much easier to see from all rows.

They do have iPads but my wife would rather control what they're watching, playing with. Plus when they fall asleep they tend to drop them on the floor. Then when they wake up, it's hard for them to reach them. We have small children, not teens.

 

[aporthole]

Out of curiosity, why do you have the kids ride in the 3rd row instead of the 2nd row on long trips?

 

[aporthole]

Also, what kind of car seats are the kids in?

Many forward-facing car seats don’t install properly in the 3rd row due to interference from the non-removable head restraints in the 3rd row outboard seats.

 

[AAOO]

Yeah, $60K is definitely cheaping out...

Our 4 year old has a hard time seeing those small 5 or 6" screens in the headrests which is why I put a 14" flip down in our last vehicle. Much easier to see from all rows.

They do have iPads but my wife would rather control what they're watching, playing with. Plus when they fall asleep they tend to drop them on the floor. Then when they wake up, it's hard for them to reach them. We have small children, not teens.

My Platinum has cup holders in the back 3rd row where you can use a cup holder mount for a tablet. USB power back there too. You can also use one of those mounts that attach to the headrest bars on the 2nd row for the tablets. No drops. As for controlling the content that might take a little more work but can be done via the ford play app on each device. I wish they would have put screens in all the headrests. For $86K you'd think that would be an option.

 

[rodney waltman]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/RCA-9-Mobile-Dual-Screen-DVD-Player-DRC79982/21806608

I have had a set of these for four years with no problems.

 

[Travi]

Out of curiosity, why do you have the kids ride in the 3rd row instead of the 2nd row on long trips?

Some long trips we take another adult like the MIL so we put the adult and our infant in the 2nd row and the other 2 kids in the 3rd row.

 

[Travi]

Also, what kind of car seats are the kids in?

Many forward-facing car seats don’t install properly in the 3rd row due to interference from the non-removable head restraints in the 3rd row outboard seats.

Ours seem to work fine. Booster for the 7 year old and a Britax for the 4 year old. I think prior to '18 they didn't have latches in the 3rd row, but ours does.