My flip-down DVD install

My kids wanted a TV in my prius since my last car, a VW Jetta, had them in the headresets. I bought a 7" roof mounted DVD player off of E-bay for $130 with shipping. I got it on Friday and installed it. My cell phone takes crappy pics so I posted the best ones.

There are two beams that run on both sides of the roof liner holders that I used to mount the DVD player to the roof.

I ran the audio to my PA-20TOY unit so I can play the DVD audio through the car speakers if I want to.

Not typical for this DVD player, I installed two headphone jacks above the cup holders in the back so my kids can plug in their headphones and I can still listen to the radio. I had to install an amplifier, which I bought from Radio Shack (Boostaroo) and mounted on the inside of my center console so I can switch it on and off. The audio is really clear and loud with the Boostaroo.

The installation took 3 hours from start to finish, which is a little longer than I wanted. I was perplexed by the lack of volume in the headphones, only to realize that the audio output doesn't have an amplifier, which was easily solved with the Boostaroo.

Those beams in the roof are strong. I broke three bits trying to drill into them but eventually got it. I really didn't find the installation very difficult, just tedious.

 

Yeah, sorry. I thought about a step-by-step installation process AFTER I installed it but I'll answer any questions you have.

As for running the wires, I cut a hole in the headliner above the TV. I ran them forward towards the sunglass holder/front interior lights, then over towards the passenger apillar (or whatever they call it), down to the glove box area, through the wire tray on the passenger side (the part you would step on when getting in the passenger side), underneath the passenger seat and right into the console.

That was for the audio only (headset). I used the power wires from the dome light to power the DVD player. There is a slight hum from the speakers when the DVD is playing and I'm going to move the ground to the chassis, which should solve that problem.

 

The beams run side-to-side. If you look at the headliner and see two of those plastic holders, they are pushed right into the beam.

Before I did anything, I cut a 2 inch square right in the middle of the two plastic holders. I marked and drilled the holes (most flip down DVD's have numerous holes for many ways of mounting) and made sure the screws went in with no issues and also *****don't go through the roof with long screws!!!!***** The beams are extremely hard and I broke two drill bits so be careful and get some good bits.

What I did was take all of the hardware out of the front and rear hand grabs, front light fixture, sun visors and also pulled out the a/b-pillars front and middle. I left everything in the back installed. So if you looked at it, from the back to the front the headliner was on a downward slope.

This was my first time so I had to pull it down. You might be able to get away with just cutting the hole and fishing the wire to the front or wherever you want to go with it. In fact, I'd try that before pulling down the headliner because I'm not sure if it was needed. However, be advised that there is soundproofing material on the top of the headliner and it's like a birds nest of crap so whatever you use may get stuck. Also, if you go front to back to fish your wire, it may get caught on the beam so you have to go flush with the headliner.