DVD player in the car

Children get bored in the car - especially during long, long trips on vacation. However, there are ways to tame even the most unruly kids: TV sets, DVDs and TV games.

Are you afraid that the nice passengers in the back row of seats will again make a lot of noise and tear the car to shreds during the holiday trip? You can prepare for it. What can hypnotize children for a very long time is ... a screen.

Where to put?

There are several ways to solve the issue of placing the screen on the back of the vehicle. Of course, the easiest way is to hold the monitor or tablet in your hands . But this solution is dangerous both for the child and for the device itself. A sharp braking action is enough for the screen to fall out of the hands or for the child to hit it with its face.

The second solution is to attach the screen to the headrests with a special holder or belt. This is a good solution as it allows you to mount screens that were not designed for use in a car. So you can buy, for example, a cheap tablet, a separate holder and attach such a self-made set to the headrest. There are also ready-made kits designed specifically for the car. It will be particularly stable when the screen is mounted on the guides between the headrest and the seat.

The third way is with a headrest that already has a DVD player installed . Such a headrest should be installed in place of the standard one. There are sets consisting of two headrests, so that two passengers can have a picture from one player in front of them.

What to look for?

When buying a portable DVD, it is worth paying attention to the technical parameters. First of all, it is important what discs such a player accepts. Ideally, in addition to the DVD format , VCD, CD, CD-R, CD-RW, XviD, MPEG and DivX formats were available. The best players can even handle Blu-Ray discs.

The second, no less important issue is the power supply . The car player should be powered by 12V from the cigarette lighter socket in the car. If this is not the case, the device will need to be charged at home, which is enough for approx. 3 hours of travel.

The size and resolution of the screen are a bit less important. Of course, the larger the screen (the current standard is 7-9 inches), the less eye strain is, and this is of great importance in the health of our children. Similarly with resolution , higher resolution means less strain on the eyes. So if you have the choice of buying a player with a monitor with a resolution of 480x234 or 800x480 pixels, you will do better by choosing the second model.

In addition, it is worth choosing models that have USB and headphone outputs. Anyway, the more different inputs, the better.

Or maybe games or TV?

Some DVD players already have games pre-installed and come with pads that let you control your characters. If the player does not have such an option, it is possible to buy a car mini-game console.

Those who would like to have a TV in their car should be interested in a DVB-T car tuner that plays programs in the current MPG4 standard in Poland. The tuner kit usually includes an antenna and outputs for connecting two monitors. There are also DVD sets with a tuner.

The cheapest car tuners and DVD players are available at prices of about PLN 300-400 . Often in such a range you can buy equipment with decent parameters.