DIY - Headrest DVD Players Installation (Sony/eBay ones)

[TheKingSim0n]

First off, I would like to thank franc x5 for pointing out these dvd headrests to the community. I purchased them myself and with the same color as my interior I decided to create my first ever D.I.Y. for the community that has helped me so much in the past.

So lets get started: I have a 2001 X5 4.4i with Gray interior.

NOTE: Please, do not comment negative due to the seat covers I have installed while showing this DIY. I am sorry but i find it very annoying to remove them

Q & A
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Q: Where can I purchase this item?
A: eBay: Click here

Q: How much does it cost?
A: Around $218 USD.

Q: How many hours is it to install?
A: With all honestly, if you have the correct tools necessary for this job, no more then an hour.
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Step 1: Remove the 2 Clips on the bottom right and left side of the seat



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Step 2: Remove the back seat cover off the seat



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Step 3: Remove plastic off from the newly ordered headrest



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Step 4: Add the 2 extended [Wide] bars so they can properly fit in our Xs

NOTE: Yes, It does come included.



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Step 5: Remove center console 6 CD holder thingy? :P

NOTE: If you cant figure out how to remove this, please feel free to PM me and I will be more then happy to explain! It is very simply, you simply pull it up/out.

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

Picture 3:

Picture 4:

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Step 6: Open the side carpet wall using a screw driver. [You have no idea how happy I was to find out that the side walls of the center console was held up by clips

NOTE: Please dont comment about the dirty, I keep my X VERY clean inside and body wise, I honestly NEVER noticed how much dirt i had next to that seat

Picture 1:

Picture 2:

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Step 7: Now we start to run the wires from the seat through the center console.



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Step 8: Now we put the seat cover back in its place. MAKE SURE at this point to fit all the wires into the seat.


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Step 9: Now run the wires through the center console




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Step 10: Now comes the power part. What I simply did was used a knife to cut the insulation of the 2 wires that are already going to the cigarette lighter in the center console. There are 2 wires that you need to cut off the insulation off of. The RED and BLACK is the power & the BROWN is ground.

Picture 1: - Take the open insulation from the headrest (The ran wire) & attach it to the power source. (Red & Black wire)


Picture 2: - Connect the two open insulation cables to one another. Try and make them as tight as you can, as if your connecting speaker wire. Attach both the power wire (RED & BLACK) and the ground wire (BROWN).


Picture 3: - At this point it helps to check if you have someone in the back seats to tell you if both headrests are working. Once they are you may start using black tape to tape it all up.


Picture 4: - At this point you can put back the ventilation cardboard. It is a bit tricky to do but believe me when you click it in right, you know you did it right. (Can get annoying though)


Step 11: - Just about done! Now all you need to do is connect the CD Holder thing back into its place. (Simply push it into place). Just make sure you do not have any wires running underneath the CD holder thing because it will cause it not to fall in place properly.



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Final Result:





For those of you whom want to see the differents in size and the way it looks, i took a few pictures early on before I installed it to comapre the OEM headrest and the DVD Headrest. Here are the results.





(Right side in the picture [Drivers side] Has the dvd headrest)



Left side OEM, Right side DVD Headrest.



Good luck everyone!

[sfcl]

Thanks for that. To be honest, I'm wondering about the square and cheap design of these headrests, at least on the pictures. Do they look good in reality and does the grey colour matches well with the OEM seat colour?

[TheKingSim0n]

Originally Posted by sfcl

Thanks for that. To be honest, I'm wondering about the square and cheap design of these headrests, at least on the pictures. Do they look good in reality and does the grey colour matches well with the OEM seat colour?

They match the OEM very well IMO. The picture quality is very good and the movies play in great motion (No skipping or CD scratching during rough drives).

[cobra94563]

Nice write up!

[m5james]

I've had motorized in-dash monitors in my M5 and F350 and loved it for long roadtrips (I know, I shouldn't be watching TV on 8hr long straight away, yada yada yada). I did a flipdown in the rear of the F350...never again. It blocked all the rearview behind me so I couldn't see cars unless I used only the side mirrors. One cool thing about the flipdown is that it came w/ a pair of wireless headphones. Does your kit have wireless or just plug-in only for regular headphones?

I wanna put dual headrests in the X5, and I've got a set in the 7 now, but I want something w/ intergrated DVD players so each kid can watch their own movie this time.

Are the DVD players intergrated into the headrests themselves, and if not, what are you using to feed them signal? I used a PS2 slim in my last 3 cars, but then the kids were forced to watch the same movie, hence why I want something w/ intergrated DVD. I kinda like but don't like the little flap that your headrests have. It's nice to have the option to hide them, but what fun is that

[m5james]

Originally Posted by TheKingSim0n

They match the OEM very well IMO. The picture quality is very good and the movies play in great motion (No skipping or CD scratching during rough drives).

I'm under the firm belief that all these screens and deck internals are just generic units made in China, then just shipped to their respective builder (Pioneer, Alpine, Invision, etc) then just wrapped in their own fancy packaging w/ proprietary software so each unit GUI is unique to each builder. I'm in the middle of replacing the screen in one of my laptops and I can't believe the price ranges for replacement screens from "generic" sellers to contacting HP directly.

I highly doubt there are multiples of companies out there w/ the technology to produce quality LCD screens, hence why I think there are just a few selling them to everyone w/ varying levels of quality (pixel count, backlighting brightness, etc). Just my .02.

[m5james]

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-monitors.html

Just got all my answers from this thread. Great find, seems like they're good quality. I love the option of dual DVD and wireless headphones.

Am I reading this right...it comes w/ games and PS type controllers, or was this an extra option?

Have you played the games or are they stupid?

They're asking $248 now, so how did you get them for $218 then? EDIT - clicked your link and see them for $218 plus $10 shipping. For that price we can all get hater vision and install a set in the rear seats also

I like how they can use SD cards also...I have software to cram 4-5 movies on one 8gb SD card. I'm gonna have to get these beasts. Now if I could only get my damn stereo to accept aux, then I can at least hear the movie of my choice while the kids are watching something. Anyone have an 02 or up cd player they wanna trade

[TheKingSim0n]

Originally Posted by m5james

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-monitors.html

Just got all my answers from this thread. Great find, seems like they're good quality. I love the option of dual DVD and wireless headphones.

Am I reading this right...it comes w/ games and PS type controllers, or was this an extra option?

Have you played the games or are they stupid?

They're asking $248 now, so how did you get them for $218 then? EDIT - clicked your link and see them for $218 plus $10 shipping. For that price we can all get hater vision and install a set in the rear seats also

I like how they can use SD cards also...I have software to cram 4-5 movies on one 8gb SD card. I'm gonna have to get these beasts. Now if I could only get my damn stereo to accept aux, then I can at least hear the movie of my choice while the kids are watching something. Anyone have an 02 or up cd player they wanna trade

They are pretty good bro. They have a lot of nice features that the OEM ones do not have. It does come included with 4 remote controlls (All wireless). 2 game controllers and 2 normalish remote controllers. The games are okay! Some of them can be entertaining and some can be a bit of a bore. but overall I really enjoy them. I have had them installed & used them for a while now and so far the only downside i have with the is that you can move the headrests UP or down facing the passenger in the rear seats. So for the driver who loves to lean his chair WAYYY back, the passenger would not be able to see the screen.

PS: If you do not like those zipper covers, you can select the ones without them!

[m5james]

Do the screens not operate flipped open, or is that only for loading the DVD players? Based on the pics, they still have an image on them even w/ the screen flipped open. Is there a little disk on the underside of the screen that sandwiches the DVD so it won't come off, other than the wheel where the DVD snaps onto to would hold it in place. I would hope the DVD wouldn't pop off while playing.

I'm 6'4", so I like sitting back nice and comfortably. If not, I guess I could tilt forward the upper half of my seat or maybe see if I can bend the headrest rods a little. I assume the rods are long enough that you can still use the motorized up and down feature?

[NYCSterling]

Originally Posted by TheKingSim0n

the only downside i have with the is that you can move the headrests UP or down facing the passenger in the rear seats.

Can you clarify this please?
Can these new headrest tilt forward? or are they stuck in the one position?