RE: In Car Videos - the back seat?

["Phil Harris" <phil@xxxxxxx>]

> - Are there any rules about turning screens off is the screen is ONLY
> visible to the passengers in the rear seat?

Nope ... and it's fine to have a front seat passenger facing screen too ...
it must just not be visible to the driver.

> - Which is the most useful:
>
> -- Individual screens in seat backs
> -- Individual flip-down screens in the roof
> -- One larger flip-down screen in the middle of the roof
>
> By "most useful" I mean "gives the best movie-watching
experience",
> not cheapest / easiest to install...

I would usually tend to go for screens in the backs of headrests if
possible
as they are easier for kids to watch ... roof mounted screens are too high
for children and they end up with sore necks from looking up all the time.
Roof mounted screens are also directly in the line of sight for adults
whereas headrest mounted screens are conveniently slightly out of direct
line of sight. It's also easier to run cabling up inside a seat back than
it
is to run cabling up into a roof.

> And... here's the $1,000,000 question. Are the systems REALLY better
> than a laptop on the picnic table, wired into the car's audio system?

Yes because you don't have to faff about with them to get them running ...
you don't have to be able to use a touchpad to get to transport controls or
use 240v invertors to juice up transformers. It's the old
"debate" about why
would you buy a Pronto for £150 when you can use your PDA - or why would
you
buy an iPronto for £1500 when you can buy a tablet PC ... some people don't
mind messing about to get something working and all power to them (hell,
how
much time am I spending trying to get this networked DVD playback sorted)
but for others the ability for it to "just work" is more
important.

Phil