Home > Learn > Choosing the Right Equipment > Best Headrest Monitors: What To Look For
There are many things to consider when you're looking for a top rated headrest monitor. Take a look at some of the things we consider when looking at headrest monitors.
First off, there are 6 types of monitors you can install in your car. They are:
- Overhead for large vehicles with sufficient headroom space
- Flip Down which is a version of the overhead monitor that can be tucked away
- In-Dash for front seat passengers
- Sun Visor which is 5 inches long
- Mirror are 4-inch LCD monitors placed on the rear-view mirrors
- Headrests are most popular because they can be installed or attached to the original headrest or you can buy one with a replacement headrest
Important Terminology:
- Active Headrest Technology – Also known as Active Headrest Restraint which reduces whiplash injury in the event an accident occurs. If your car is equipped with this technology, it’s best to retain the factory-issued headrest and opt for the attachable monitor
- Dual Channel Infrared (IR) – This feature will allow you to use your wireless headphones with the headrest monitor
- Pass-Through Technology – This feature will allow you to watch the same movie from one source on multiple devices
- Cigarette lighter power cables – Allows for the quick installation of the video equipment
- Video Cables – This is critical to the successful installation of your in-car entertainment system because they are made specifically for car apps and have a higher insulation standard than cables used for the home and office. This added insulation also guarantees to keep radiated noise from affecting video quality
- Resolution – The quality of the picture cannot be overemphasized. The lower the resolution, the most pixilated the image will be so one should opt for at higher resolution with the ideal being 1024 x 768 which is the standard for a 7-inch Apple tablet – to give you a basis for comparison.
- Region-free – Ideally, if you want a headrest monitor with a built-in DVD player, the best car headrest DVD player would be one that is “region-free” which refers to recognition of any DVD regardless of where it was made.
- PAL and NTSC – This refers to commercial TV color encoding systems. PAL is used in Europe and some parts of Asia while NTSC is common with US and Canada systems. The difference between PAL and NTSC is the frame/second wherein PAL delivers 25/625 while NTSC delivers 30/525.
Kameron Scott
In 2010, Kameron founded CarAudioNow as an outlet to write about his opinions on automotive and marine stereo products. Using his first hand experience in the field while owning and operating SC Autosound in Orange County, California, he began assembling lists of products, how to's and more. He tested products in his garage and reviewed them them as he installed them in customer vehicles. The goal was to give people easy access to quality information about car audio and electronics and tech so that you don't have to spend hours researching something like a car speaker.
Between 2015 and 2018 he worked as a Digital Product Manger at Motor Trend, working directly with the key editorial members like Mike Floyd and Ed Loh to build meaningful web experiences tailored to the automotive enthusiast.
Today he's still assembling lists, testing products and writes articles along with the few members of CarAudioNow's experts that he trusts. Apart from being the founder of CarAudioNow, he's the primary editor and contributor as well.
I have a 2015 xts Cadillac I want back seat DVD player. Is there one for my car
Hello, I would recommend reading our article: https://www.caraudionow.com/best-headrest-dvd-players/ to find our recommended headrest DVD players. Or, if you’re not sure about the type of screen you’d like, check out our How To article on watching multimedia/DVD content in your car: https://www.caraudionow.com/watching-videos-in-your-car/