In Dash DVD...

Purple RS · Post by **Purple RS** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 4:21 pm

I've been toying with the idea of replacing the head unit in my system with something that plays DVD. Currently, I have a Panasonic CQ-HX1083U, which has, and still is, serving me well. It does almost everything I need, some others are taken care of by other units (i.e. hands free phone).

I am limited to 1 1/2 DIN without any modifications to the dash, so a flip out screen would be the ticket. I have 3rd gen F-body with a 5-speed, so gearhift clearance may be an issue. Navigation and HD Radio would be a plus, but not necessary. Satellite ready and bluetooth capable are a must. I am old school as far as what the receiver looks like when closed up, I don't care for the fancy screens with jumping dolphins and whatnot, just simple information display about the selected input and what's playing (or even just a clock).

Since I've been very satisfied with what I have so far, I haven't been shopping for quite some time, also not sure when I'll do this. I need some ideas as to what is good and has what I'm looking for, thanks for any input....

My current head unit...

Audiophile · Post by **Audiophile** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:43 pm

Is that one of Panasonic's Old School touchscreen units?? If so, those things are cool as hell!!

Purple RS · Post by **Purple RS** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 7:46 pm

It is, and if it comes out, it's going into my second F-body.

Audiophile · Post by **Audiophile** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:00 pm

Haha, wasn't trying to gank it from ya bro. Was just stating they were nice units :)

Forgot to say earlier:
Look into the Alpine IVA-D105 or 305 :) They're amazing

Purple RS · Post by **Purple RS** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:12 pm

Audiophile wrote:Haha, wasn't trying to gank it from ya bro. Was just stating they were nice units :)
Forgot to say earlier:
Look into the Alpine IVA-D105 or 305 :) They're amazing

No worries there :) , It still does most everything I want and looks and performs well.

That Alpine looks great and should cosmetically integrate into my system. Thanks for the info, I'll have to have a look at it and others like it.

Audiophile · Post by **Audiophile** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:44 pm

Glad I could help! Another cool one to consider is (no flames!) The panasonic...the model number escapes me right now, but I like it ALOT!

One of the biggest reasons I like Alpine's touch screen's is the PulseTouch feedback--when you "click" a button on-screen, it feels like you're depressing a moving button--VERYYYY cool!

Purple RS · Post by **Purple RS** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 8:58 pm

Audiophile wrote:Glad I could help! Another cool one to consider is (no flames!) The panasonic...the model number escapes me right now, but I like it ALOT!

Depending on when I use it, I might find some of the nicer products in Panasonic's on-line employee store (I am a Panasonic employee for Panasonic Avionics Corp). Looked earlier today and there were no in-dash units, just the double DIN stand alone screen and flip down overhead screens. The employee store is where I bought the unit I have.

Audiophile wrote:One of the biggest reasons I like Alpine's touch screen's is the PulseTouch feedback--when you "click" a button on-screen, it feels like you're depressing a moving button--VERYYYY cool!

Oooh, nice feature :happy055:

Audiophile · Post by **Audiophile** » Sat Oct 20, 2007 9:01 pm

Hmmm, I'll see if I can't find the model number of the one that I played with tomorrow.

For tonight, I'm off to bed! Gotta be at work in 11 hours...blah. Nice chattin bro!

Purple RS · Post by **Purple RS** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:06 pm

Shopped a little today. Best Buy didn't have a whole lot on display, nor did anyone come to assist me. Circuit City was pretty much the same, but they had some nice looking Jensen units on display, but again, no help. Salesman at Car Toys wanted to steer me away from Alpine in favor of Jensen because "they have been going downhill since about 2001." But he did show me a nice Pioneer piece (AVHP5900D) that looked like it would do all I need. For all those reasons. I like my small shop I do business with, but I can only see them on Saturday.

I didn't appreciate the salesman giving me that pitch, especially when I hear so many good things about a product in more than just a couple of places.

Audiophile · Post by **Audiophile** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 3:02 pm

Sounds about right. That's why I hated working at circuit city. My circuit was very very good about being customer satisfaction driven, not numbers driven. 2 things suck:
1.) 99% of the other circuit city's BLOW.
2.) They've now moved to an "open floor" setup. Every associate is expected to know the whole store. With Car being the slowest department, there's never anyone in it.

The pioneer is a very nice unit as well, I had actually forgotten about that one. I agree that Alpine's quality has degraded a slight bit over the past few years, but they're still a cut above most other manufacturers in my book.