Advice wanted on roof mount video player

[Ryzz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ryzz]

Looking to install a roof mounted DVD player in the rear of the prado for my son.After some advice from those that have done this before.

My main requirement is that the player either has an internal memory to store/play movies from (ie mp4/avi/mkv format) or worst case has usb/ad card input to play content from.


90% of my movies are already ripped so I don't want to have to dig out the dvd's just for the car.

[talk2tiny Moderated member Find all posts View Profile Close talk2tiny]

Mate, for the price, you're much better off with maybe the headrest mounted ones. You can usually get 2 for the front seats that can either be slaved together or play independently and take cards, usb drives or discs for about $300 for a set. Plus you haven't ruined your roof lining. The reason I say that is because disc readers with moveable parts tend to break down after a couple of years and then if you want to replace it with something simpler like the headrest version, you can't because there's a dirty great hole in the roof lining. I had one in my last car and 2 years in the disc reader was stuffed but nobody made anything to fit the same hole except the OEM one which was $1200 plus from ford.

If your budget will stretch though, I'd recommend an iPad instead. We got one for our boys, 6 and 3, plus an otter box defender case (just about indestructible though now I'd recommend the lifeproof ones which are also water proof), plus a headrest mount for just under $800. Stores about 20 movies but also has the added bonus of having games and music and doesn't have to be used only in the car. Ours gets more use around the house and in the tents camping to keep them quiet than it gets in the car. Next big purchase will be an iPad mini as a second one so they can watch separate movies but also so I can run the hema 4wd maps app on it as well.

[peter_mcc Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peter_mcc]

I'd second the idea of a tablet - though an Android one (they are cheaper and you can use micro-SD cards or often external USB drives with them). If you want it in the middle there are brackets around that hook onto the headrest rods and work well.

[Guest Close Guest]

I would agree with the tablet (in particular android) to play movies in the car for the kids. I have an Acer A501 and it has a USB host port which allows me to plug a 750GB 2.5" HDD and runs the movies off it. It won't play blu-ray mkvs but plays everything else. As I have a sunroof, I used a RAM suction mount to mount the tablet near the roof lining.