rleggs

Hi guys..just had a question on the rse/dual dvd....i had the factory installed dual screen dvd installed...i think mistake?..headphones are wired?..is there any way to wire a second dvd drive under one of the seats so 2 diff. movies can be played?..

Oh, I 'll know today about my financing.

thanks

Danno4x4

A lot of folks are frustrated with the fact that the RSE uses wired headphones instead of wireless... They ask themselved "why on earth would MZB do this, my Caddy/Lincoln/Lexus/Yukon had wireless headphones?

I was also asking this question... Until I got in the back seat and really started playing with the system.

There are effectively up to 4 different entertainment systems in the vehicle... Meaning that 4 people could be listening to different things all at the same time. I think that if the system had wireless headphones instead of wired, there would not be as many options...

Here is the scenario that we tested on our last road trip...

1.) My daughter was in one of the back seats with her headphones plugged into the monitor on the back of the passenger side seat. She was happily watching Finding Nemo which was playing on the RSE DVD player below her feet.

2.) My son was in the other back seat with his headphones plugged into the monitor on the back of the driver's side seat. He was happily watching Cars which was playing on the Portable DVD player which was plugged into the Aux Input ports on the RSE DVD player below the passenger side 2nd row.

3.) There are two additional headphone jacks and volume attenuators located in the back of the center storage console between the driver and passenger (where the Rear Controls are located for the 3 zone Climate Control) Using the Comand system you can pump either the single CD, the Multi Disk CD, the Satellite Radio, or the AM/FM Radio through these headphone jacks. So in our scenario, my wife, who was sitting in the front passenger seat was listening to her Gwen Stefani CD playing on the single CD player behind the Comand Screen through her headphone plugged into the one of these headphone jacks...

4.) Meanwhile, I was driving and I was listening to my iPod plugged into the iPod Integration kit through the main vehicle speakers... I could have listened to any of the unused sources including the CD changer, the Satellite radio and the AM/FM radio.

All this and there was still one unused headphone jack in the center storage console which could have been used to listen to the Gwen Stefani CD that my wife was listening to...

All of the different sources have separate volume controls....

Now I have never used the Entertainment System in the Caddy/Lincoln/Lexus/Yukon, but something tells me that they are not nearly this versatile.

In my mind, this is advantage Mercedes and I don't mind having the headphones wired. If I really need or want wireless headphones, I can get aftermarket transmitters to plug into the headphone jacks...

Just my .02 cents

benzatty

It looks like MB caved in to the more popular view and changed the headphones from wired to wireless for MY '08. At least that what the current info on the website says for 08. I sent an e-mail to my sales rep. to confirm this. It also says duel screen/source. I asked my rep if this means that you can load 2 DVDs and watch 2 movies at once.

oknish

That's a great and thought out explanation, Dan. Thanks for sharing. Never thought of that before. I guess when my daughter gets old enough to want to watch her stuff, instead of her brother's movies, then I would have figured it out

gordongl450

My wife and I did not like the idea of the DVD player being beneath the rear seat. We also did not like the idea of not being able to play 2 different DVD's at the same time. We also thought is was much more convenient to load the DVD's right at the headrest so you do not have to unbuckle your seatbelt and reach under the rear seat. So in our GL450 we opted for the aftermarket Vizualogic system. It comes in the actual MB Tex. In our case Macadamia, so it is a perfect match! Also used wireless headphones.

http://www.vizualogic.com/active_headrest.html

Dtextransplant

I have the same headrest DVD's as you. They are great and ran about $2400. look perfect, wireless and not controller is not under the seat

Underwhelmed

Count me in as a fan of the Vizualogic system. Superior to the factory and covered under factory warranty if installed at the dealership. Almost 3 months and still happy with it.

abcdef

I am also going to add the vizualogic system to my GL. We did not order the factory DVD system.

I have talked directly to the aftermarket stereo shop that installs this system for the local Mercedes dealership. I think I can get a better deal by not going through the dealership. Will I have the same warranty coverage even if I do not do this through the dealership?

For those who have this system, are you using the FM modulator to get the DVD audio through the vehicle or is it wired up to the aux port on the command system? In my case I already have the factory ipod kit so I may need to add the automatic audio selector switch.

Underwhelmed

I also have the ipod kit so we have to use the fm modulator - really the only drawback to the system thus far. I live in a large enough metropolitan area that finding a free station is not always the easiest thing to do.

Dtxtransplant - what station do you use?

oknish

GL has active head restraints, so in case of a crash/impact, the headrests move forward to reduce/aviod whiplash. Make sure after market installs don't mess with that.

Waiting-4-550

Interesting.. I'm sure there's a lot more I'll learn about this vehicle by hangin around

abcdef

Very good point oknish . . . The vizualogic system is specifically designed to work with the active head restraint system. That is why some local Mercedes dealers recommend it for vehicles that did not come with RSE from the factory.

oknish