[kirantp]

Friends,

I am happy to share the information on my ANHC UT beauty that I finally got it ICEd after a long detailed research on ICE front.

The Hunt:
Started the hunt for a good HU and found lot of posts on CASKA HU so did not think twice and went straight ahead with CASKA HU last month along with the OEM speaker upgrade with Alpine speakers as well.

Now, I was looking out for a decent headrest monitors that would integrate well with my CASKA HU and started the hunt 2 weeks ago. I vistited couple of car accessories in Bangalore to checkout the models and also called upon lot of accessory dealers to get the model# along with the website (if they had one) so that I can do more research on them before finalysing.

I finally narrowed down my list to the following brands:
1) Xenos
2) RD
3) S-Drive
4) Carbon
5) Worldtech

Xenos: Called up Xenos technologies and received the model info from them to do further research.
Findings: Has only one model for ANHC and that did not have features such as USB, SD, gaming ports. So I had to put this on the back burner to revisit if needed after evaluating other products.
Cost- 12K for 2 Units including installation

RD - This is an Indian brand manufactured and marketed by Rajatdeep (www.rdoverseas.com). It has 3 models (DVD combo model, USB & SD ports model and a simple monitor without any features)
I visited Carnation, automobile accessory nearby my house who deals with RD and enquired on the cost for all these models.
Cost of 3 models:
DVD Combo - 12K for 1 Unit
USB and SD Ports - Rs 7990 per Unit
Just headrest monitor - Rs 4K per unit

Findings: After doing enough research on reviews on the web (found none) decided to put this too at the back for a later revisit.

At this point, I had done lot of calling and discussions over the phone with many dealers and finally decided to visit Konark Car Accessories at Koramangala, Bangalore to have a look at the remaining 3 brands.

S-Drive:
Model - In-built DVD, SD, USB, Gaming slots
Cost - 19K for 2 units
Findings - The finishing was okay and the beige color of headrests did not match the color of leather seats of my ANHC that I had got it done from Kaarlson. So had to drop it.

Carbon:
Model - Just headrest monitor
Cost - 8K for 2 units
Findings - Crude finishing and Beige color did not match the color of leather seats, dropped it.

Worldtech-
Model - In-built DVD, SD, USB, Gaming slots
Cost - 10.5K for 2 units
Findings - The look & feel and finishing was perfect with additional zip cover for the monitors that caught my attention. Above all, the beige color of headrests were a perfect match to the color of leather seats. I asked them to connect one of the monitors (the one having DVD) to check the clarity and reception. The technicians got it connected in no time and demoed in front of me. I had taken a good DVD to test the same and apart from DVD, the USB also plays all types of music and DivX movies. I was fully satisfied with the brand and decided to go ahead with it

Thus my hunt for a good Headrest monitor came to an end.

The technician did a very good job in neatly removing the Caska HU to integrate it with the new headrest monitors. His name is Siddu and he has good experience in doing this job on Civic, ANHC, Verna, Vento and lot of other cars.

I ensured that I got all combinationa going while integrating them with the HU and eventually when everything was done, I was on top of the world.
Combinations:
1) DVD played in Caska HU coming up on both monitors at the back. Audio on car speakers.
2) DVD played in Headrest monitor coming on CASKA HU with audio on car speakers.
3) 1 DVD playing in CASKA HU, the other DVD playing in headrest monitor:
a) Swapping of movies in each headrest monitor so that each can run different movies. Audio - Movie played from CASKA HU coming in car speakers and the movie played in the headrest can he listened with the help of headphones connected to the monitor.
b) 2 Movies playing (one in CASKA and the other on monitor) along with Navigation system activated on CASKA: Can run navigation on CASKA and also watch both movies in the 2 monitors at the rear without any interruption.
c) Gaming also works absolutely wonderful.

Overall - Great clarity and VFM with total ICE. Had a solid experience at the shop and during installation.

Total time taken for installation: 1Hr
Cables used for connecting the HU with monitors - Pioneer RC splitters and cables
Total Cost: 13K (10.5K + 2.5K for the cables and splitters used to integrate with CASKA HU)

Hope this thread would be of help to the anybody who is intersted in going for Headrest monitors and who would like to know about some headsup on various brands and their features mentioned here before deciding on one.

Comments and feedback welcome folks.

Here are some pics of the Worldtech monitors captured with all the combinations mentioned above along with the technician

Technician Siddu on the job


Headrest Monitors with zipper covers blending well with the color of the seats:


Monitor panels


DVD slot for the LH monitor with Dark Knight DVD movie being loaded


Initial DVD screen on the mointors


Both LH and RH monitors playing Dark Knight and CASKA HU playing Spiderman3 in background


LH monitor playing Dark Night, RH monitor Playing Spiderman 3 and CASKA HU playing Spiderman 3 as well.


CASKA HU on Navigation with LH monitor playing Dark Night, RH monitor Playing Spiderman3 .

[libranof1987]

Dude! That is one helluva ICE setup. NAICE!

Where has the wiring for the headrest monitors gone from btw?

Each of the 2 headrests have individual DVD players? And the HU has it's own source (USB I presume)?

It will suck a lotta power I bet; best you avoid playing it without the engine running.

That is a really good setup.

So, when are you taking us for a drive?

[999]

Brilliant. Looks great. How does the cabling go from the headrest to the HU? Is it wireless? I think you shoyld clean up the logo on the headrest and make it look OE. Also what are those innumerable silver buttons below the screen.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Dude! That is one helluva ICE setup. NAICE!
Thanks dude
Where has the wiring for the headrest monitors gone from btw?
The wirings start from within the headrest pipes and runs all the way thru the central duct connecting with HU keeping everything concealed.

Each of the 2 headrests have individual DVD players? And the HU has it's own source (USB I presume)?
Only one monitor comes with DVD player and the other one is a dummy. HU has a DVD player by its own and it is connected witht he headrest monitors thru its AV jack.
It will suck a lotta power I bet; best you avoid playing it without the engine running.

That is a really good setup.
Thanks again
So, when are you taking us for a drive?
Anytime mate

Dude, please find my comments in bold.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by 999

Brilliant. Looks great. How does the cabling go from the headrest to the HU? Is it wireless? I think you shoyld clean up the logo on the headrest and make it look OE. Also what are those innumerable silver buttons below the screen.

Thanks friend. Cabling runs thru the headrest pipes all the way to HU via the central duct and nothing is visible outside.

Those buttons are different controls for the monitors such as usual DVD controls, monitor visibility settings, AV1/AV2 button to switch b/w monitor movie and HU movie, Power on/off etc etc

[bejoy]

@kirantp, That's a pretty neat installation and looks great. Are the headrests also replaced with new one? If the monitors are fixed on original headrests, how the units are fixed. The monitors looks flush mounted. The flap covers are neat and is a nice feature!

[charthom]

Kiran,

Great installation-now your car is a home theatre! Don't be distracted and drive safe.

How are the monitors attached to the head rests? When 2 movies play at the same time,how will you manage the sound?

Very enjoyable post indeed. Will consider after 6 months

Enjoy the movies.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by charthom

Kiran,
Great installation-now your car is a home theatre! Don't be distracted and drive safe.
Sure mate.

How are the monitors attached to the head rests? When 2 movies play at the same time,how will you manage the sound?
The monitors come with headrests in 3 colors (Beige, black and grey) with all the wiring going thru the headrest pipes.
We can hear the sound of one movie thru car speakers or via headphone of the monitor and the other movie via the headphone of the other monitor.

Very enjoyable post indeed. Will consider after 6 months
Enjoy the movies.
Thanks dude. But this is for the kids who can watch movies or play games during long drives. I am totally against watching anything while I am on the wheels except for audio.

Originally Posted by bejoy

@kirantp, That's a pretty neat installation and looks great. Are the headrests also replaced with new one? If the monitors are fixed on original headrests, how the units are fixed. The monitors looks flush mounted. The flap covers are neat and is a nice feature!
Thanks bejoy. The monitos come with new headrests in 3 colors mentioned in my reply to Charthom above.

Friends, my comments highlighted.

[bejoy]

Thanks Kiran for the reply. Are these 7" displays? How bright are they on a sunny day? Do they have any warranty?

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by bejoy

Thanks Kiran for the reply. Are these 7" displays? How bright are they on a sunny day? Do they have any warranty?

Yes Bejoy, they are 7" LCD displays.
They are pretty decent and the color, brightness, sharpness and contrast can be adjusted as per the prevailing light inside the car. With tinted glasses around, the light coming from outside does not matter any more.

These products do not come with warranty.

The only brand that comes with 1yr warranty as heard from the car accessory dealer is S-Drive and we have to shell out 9K more for the bill and warranty.

[ghodlur]

Kiran,

Great setup, looks fantastic. I think this is the ideal set up for my pesky kid sitting at the rear, it will quiten him for atleast couple of hours at the back during my long drives.

BTW how much did the Caska HU cost you? With this present set up does it any way null the warranty by Honda.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Kiran,

Great setup, looks fantastic. I think this is the ideal set up for my pesky kid sitting at the rear, it will quiten him for atleast couple of hours at the back during my long drives.

BTW how much did the Caska HU cost you? With this present set up does it any way null the warranty by Honda.

Thanks friend. Thats the only reason I went ahead with the headrest monitors. Otherwise, every time we stepped out for long drives, 20% of our time used to go in trying to keep them quiet and to ensure that they do not fight with each other . Now that I have got this done, they can play video games or watch movies so that they sit quietly thru the drive.

The CASKA HU cost me 55K including MMI navigation and reverse camera with sensor. I got it installed from my Honda dealer. However, while I was hunting for the headrests, one of the accessory dealers mentioned that he would have given me the CASKA for just 45K with bill and warranty which I thought would have saved 10k had I known this before. I do not think that there will be any issue with the warranty as they have not meddled with any of the OE circuits or fittings. All they did was connect the cables to CASKA HU from the headrest monitors. Infact the honda dealer offered to get the headrest monitors done for 20K and that too for Xenos monitors which cost only 12K if we get it done outside. So I feel there should not be any issues with warranty.

[suneet_ag]

Super setup !!

I am in Koramangala and my office is in Domlur. Can I audition your car?? PM me if this can work out.

[kirantp]

Originally Posted by suneet_ag

Super setup !!

I am in Koramangala and my office is in Domlur. Can I audition your car?? PM me if this can work out.

@suneet_ag: I have PMed you. Let me know if your are okay with this.

Cheers,
Kiran

[NoMind]

Great setup Man ! Would love to do this to my to-be-delivered Linea.. Do you know about the compatibility of these head rest monitors with other 2 DIN HU's ?