Next Base In-Car DVD review

Keeping the kids happy on a long journey in the car can make the difference between a good start to the holiday or a stressful nightmare.  Things have a changed a great deal since we were kids.  A game of pub cricket or eye-spy was probably enough to keep us occupied on a long journey.  When I think about it though, we probably didn't do the kind of travelling that families regularly undertake these days as the cars probably wouldn't have made it!

Entertaining young children in a car can be difficult, but with the advent of in-car DVD players, the kids can be kept amused with their favourite films, or play their latest music collection.  We were looking at a solution for in-car entertainment for a journey from the North of Scotland to Devon and started to warm to the idea of in-car DVD players.  Lets just say that our decision to invest in a pair of Next Base In-Car DVD players was an extremely good decision.

Having surveyed the available options, I wanted a system that was easy to fit and remove, could be independently operated and didn't involve a wiring nightmare.  There are some cheaper portable DVD players available that have one central player that feeds two screens.  If you have an age difference between the kids, playing the same film or music for both is not an option so I chose the Next Base system that had a pair of screens with individual DVD players.  This saves a lot of arguments.  The DVD or CDs load from the front of the machine and the system is reasonably robust for smaller less adept hands.  There is an option to join the two players with a lead so that the same DVD can be watched on both players.

We opted for the wireless infra-red headphone option as well.  This seemed a little extravagant at the time but it does cut down on the amount of wire floating around the back of the car which is good for safety and neatness.  The headphones can be switched to diffrerent channels to prevent mutual interference. The players themselves slide onto a mounting that you utilises velcro straps to attach to the headrests.  This is a little fiddly at first but provides a nice secure mount for the players.  Both players come with remote controls, battery packs, mains chargers and s-video leads etc.  In the car they are powered from a normal 12v socket via a splitter lead to feed both players.

I was very impressed with the picture quality from the 7" screens and my eldest son uses the DVD player as a standalone player in the caravan as well.  The battery pack hinges to provide the DVD player with its own stand.

When we first considered purchasing the in-car DVD players we thought they might be an unneccessary luxury but after a few long towing journeys they really have paid for themselves in terms of peace and tranquility for the driver and adult passenger.  I purchased from the online supplier in-cardvd  and received excellent mail order service.