LCD's in head rests.
 

I would like to put..oh say a 7'' LCD displat in the headrests of my MCS. I have panther black leather seats and would like a nice clean look. I had planned on putting a small DVD player under the passenger seat. :eek:

How would I go about accomplishing this task? What are all the things I need, and how would I mount the LCDs in the headrests? :confused:

As much as I hate CUTTING into my panther leather, :impatient I would do it if there was a LCD in there with a clean look. :grin:

Thanks for all the help,
w :thumbsup:

there is another thread on here of a guy who put screen in his headrest
also you could go buy some ecxtra headrest that arent panther leather i think as long as you get the same color the material should match close enough at least for goverment work.

Johnny at Johnny's Auto Clinic has mounted a pair in his show car. Maby you could give him a call for some tips . His webb site is www.johnnysautoclinic.com

Randy
m7 Tuning

http://www.johnnysautoclinic.com/05C...s/DSC01509.JPG

I did find this link,

but I was looking for someone that had dont it completley by themselves.

The only thing that I am worried about is mounting the headrests, and what I need for the DVD player to display on the screens.

I've known several people that did this sort of install- the trick seems to be getting a good LCD screen with an external bezel, one that snaps down onto the screen (or so I've heard). When you cut the leather, unless you have access to a leatherworker (who can stitch the seams surrounding the cuts) you WILL have a jagged edge, so the bezel will conceal that.

The guys I know ran all the wires down through the seats and mounted the DVD player in the center console, but that was in larger vehicles/SUVs.

As for a DVD player, we actually have like FOUR of these in my house, under a variety of name brands.
http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0...ZZZ_SS260_.jpg
The benefits are small size (should fit under the seat), extremely low cost (only about $30-$40), and the fact that they have an excellent "memory" system- when you shut off the DVD player and then come back later on, or even take out the DVD and re-insert it later, it resumes playback from the last point you viewed. this is a GREAT feature for kids, or for any time that you're doing frequent stops. It does have a tray load sysstem though, so that might be a pain. I'd avid multi-disc systems because even inside the home, the loading system tends to fail much sooner than the rest of the unit, and in the heat/cold of a car I bet it would explode almost immediately.


Good luck!

Thanks Imagox. I will probably use that DVD player, and mount it under the seat. I just have to figure out how to get the wires down there! Any Ideas?

I think you'd snake them down throgh the seat, using an unfolded coat hanger or electrician's fish tape- you attach the wire to one end of the wite/tape, thread it down and then pull it through. I'd unbolt the entire seat while you do all this, to facilitate the pulling. Good luck!

I think I'll try that. I'm off to bestbuy to get some of the AV things that I need for the DVD player to display the picture on the screens.

Thanks for all the help and if anyone else has any idea, they are most welcome!!!

Once again, thanks chikmagnet, maxmini, and ImagoX.

You might want to think about mounting the DVD player in the trunk. There's not much room under our seats, and you could make it look really slick back there by mounting it right. :thumbsup:

I cant believe that I didnt even think about that!!!!! :impatient:impatient:impatient

Thanks:thumbsup:

Yeah, I thought about that too... the only drawback I can see would be that you'd have to get out of the car (most likely) to change discs...

For the size and ease of use why not mount a slim ps2? That way you can do video and play games:grin:

Thats why i went with the slim ps2, it fits in the glove box easy and can play games too. You can also get a super small dvd player (basically the size of the extinct discman). Either way, there is no way to fit a 7in lcd in the mini headrest without some major protrusion (which looks really ugly). 5in fits nice and is plenty big since your only 2 ft from it. I get asked if it was a factory option all the time.

Once again, I can't believe I didnt think about that either! :lol:

Thought about that, its just a DVD player is cheaper :razz:

Sounds good. I called my dealer, and the cloth headrests are 150 a POP! :eek2: I though he was kidding! Anyways, I'll go with the 5'' LCD's and a small DVD player.

If I want, I can throw in an xbox or a PS2 later. :razz:

Check with Classic MINI, thats where i got my extra headsets from. $125 shipped for both.

Not that this helps any but back in 2003 you could buy MINI headrests with LCD's in them. I think it was on the UK website. Good luck.

If you have a laptop with a DVD drive, they're usually a better DVD player/display than anyhting you can afford to hard-wire in. I've taken several trips where I just plugged in my trusty laptop via one of those DC -> AC adapters you can get for like $20 at Sam's Club, then put the PC between the front seats. Of course, if you want to get really fancy, you could make a shelf of some kind that would clip to the center arm rest or something... Bottom line- the LCD on a laptop is usually far superior to anyhitng you'd buy on the low end in the "mobile AV" section of Circuit City, and you might already have one in your possession. Just something else to consider...

Been there, done that. All that you just said is true. For me, the laptop is always shifting, getting hot, and just in the way. I like the clean OEM look. :razz:

Now I have to think about how I'd make a laptop shelf that would clip to my center armrest... Ideally, it would set back towards the back seat about 6" or so, so as to not interfere with my or the passenger's arms. Hmmmmm.....

Be sure to make something to hold it down! You dont want that think sliding all over the place! If you come up with something, you might be able to make a few and sell 'em here on NAM!

Ok, bottom line, I'm gonna put the LCD's in the headrests myself. But how? I know that I have to cut a hole, duh, but how do I get them to stay in?

I would expectthat you would have to make a small wooden frame around them. That way you could screw the LCD's into the wood and then staple the fabric to the wooden frame?!?!?! :confused:

http://www.audioinmotion.com/documen...stallation.doc If you look at mine, you will see that the outer housing is not visible because it is behind the headrest cover. This makes for a cleaner look but is done with the same method. Basically the monitor pinchs the leather/cloth and the tension of the fabric keeps everything in place.