One evening a few weeks ago, I was relaxing at home, minding my own business, when my wife entered the room. The hair on the back of my neck stood up — a sure sign of danger. She sat down next to me and said, "You know, it's about time we got out of town for a while, don't you think?"

And there it was, the reason for my instinctive fear reaction: summer vacation. Carefree fun and frolic, getting away from it all, long "never look back" road trips. With two young kids. Forcibly restrained in car seats for hours on end. My sons are well-mannered and reasonably well-behaved, but at ages 2 and 4, even their good natures are quickly put to the test after about 30 minutes on the highway.

I very much agreed that we were overdue for a vacation, but I also understood that, from a survival standpoint, I needed a secret weapon. Immediately the Pioneer RSE-SYS500DVH mobile video package came to mind — well, not the model number, but the image of that cool headrest mounting bracket and LCD monitor. That image gave me the courage and serenity to return my wife's loving gaze and actually mean it when I said, "Yes dear, you're completely right."

Apparently the stars were right for vacation-success. A few days later, I suggested a Crutchfield review of the Pioneer mobile video system and soon found myself on the way to mobile video bliss!

Getting there...half the fun?
Before the fun of a family road trip could be actualized, I needed to install the system. The installation proved to be time-consuming, but relatively simple. Luckily, I already had an aftermarket receiver in my 97 Nissan Quest. The good thing about that was that I didn't have to run a wiring harness to the rear of the van to bypass the factory stereo's amplifier — I had that pleasure last time around.

The monitor mounts conveniently to the front seat headrest.

This time all I had to do was tap into the wires of the bypass harness. It was no more difficult than a normal receiver installation. It took about 3 hours to complete the entire installation, which is rather long for installing a receiver, but I did a few things to make it easier to re-install my receiver when the "Pioneer vacation" ends and I have to give it back.

I knew that the monitor would be pretty easy to install; that's one reason I chose this video system. I connected three wires (constant power, switched power, and ground) and a set of audio/video cables. I ran the bundle of wiring out from under the bottom of the center console, under the driver's side floor mat to a hideaway box under the driver's seat. Had this been a permanent installation, I would have chosen a different path for the wires, but this route was fine for my needs.

The monitor's swing arm can be maneuvered to accommodate nearly any viewing angle.

From the hideaway box, Pioneer wisely designed a single-cable connection to the monitor. I ran this cable up the back of the seat, underneath a seat cover to the base of the headrest, where the cable then attaches to the monitor. Mounting the monitor only took about ten minutes: remove the headrest, slide the mounting bracket over the headrest posts, replace the headrest. Next, I slid the monitor onto the mounting plate on the end of the bracket's swing arm and connected the cable. The mounting arm allows the monitor to be adjusted for an optimal viewing angle just about anywhere in the vehicle. The quick-release mounting plate makes it easy to detach the monitor for secure storage or removal from the vehicle.

Wireless headphones, like this system from Clarion, double your entertainment options.

Dual zone audio — because two zones are better than one
One of the most useful features of a good mobile video system is dual zone capability. The system lets you create two listening zones so that you can, for example, play a DVD and listen to the radio (or other source) at the same time.

For this system, Pioneer suggests using a wireless headphone system to optimize the dual-zone capabilities of the RSE-SYS500DVH system. Clarion makes a wireless headphone system that sells for $120 and consists of an RF transmitter and two pairs of headphones — a perfect solution. Connect the headphone system to the audio outputs on the Pioneer hideaway box, and rear seat passengers can enjoy their movie while front seat passengers can listen to the radio or (if equipped) a CD changer or satellite radio.

Straight out of the box, the dual-zone feature isn't very functional. The dual-zone set up is achieved by using the monitor's built-in speaker for the audio from the DVD, and the vehicle's speakers for the other source (faded to the front).

Since the monitor's speaker is on the rear side of the monitor, and the monitor is mounted on one of the front headrests, the speaker is pointed at the people in the front seats. It is difficult for those in the rear seats to hear it, especially in our case where the rear seat was about 3 feet away. But I could hear the speaker just fine from the driver's seat, which is exactly what we didn't want.

Whenever my sons watched a DVD, I faded the receiver's audio output to the rear speakers. This helped contain the sound in the rear of the van so that my wife and I didn't have to try to talk over it. I would definitely add the wireless headphones if I were keeping the system.

336,960 pixels don't lie
As for the picture, the 6 1/2" LCD active matrix display looked great. I could see the picture just fine from anywhere in the rear of the van. The screen's low-reflection coating helped minimize glare from the sun. Image washout was minimal, even when viewed off-axis. Even though the picture looked great when I turned it on for the first time, the monitor has wide ranging adjustments for brightness, color, hue, and contrast.

Controls for adjusting the picture are right on the monitor.

The monitor has five "Wide Mode" settings. "Normal" gives you a 4:3 aspect ratio, with black bars on the left and right sides of the screen. I preferred "Justified" (stretches the image horizontally, but only at the edges of the screen) or "Cinema" (minor zoom-in and minor stretching) when watching Matrix and Big Trouble in Little China. (Hey, the kids aren't the only ones having fun here!)

But how does it sound?
There's a reason Pioneer is one of the top-selling car stereo brands year after year. The receiver sounds great and it's easy to use. I turned it on and inserted a Metallica CD so I could put the legendary MOSFET50 amp chip to the test.

At first I was surprisingly unimpressed, until I realized why. There was so much power that my speakers were distorting sooner (at a lower volume) than I thought they should, at least compared to my previous stereo. It sounded strong, with a lot of detail in the music, but I had to do something about the distorted bass.

Taming the sonic beast
I quickly dove into the sound controls and turned on the high-pass crossover, setting it at 80 Hz to block all the low bass that my 6x8 speakers obviously couldn't handle. Immediately, things were better. There were two other frequency settings to choose from, but 50 Hz wasn't enough and 125 Hz seemed a bit too much, since I didn't have a subwoofer in my system.

The receiver controls are laid out in a clean design, free of button-crowding and the display is bright and colorful, without being distracting.

Next, I decided to play with the Easy EQ (EEQ). I found that for most of my rock music, I preferred a custom curve, which the receiver stored as one of the EQ presets. When I listened to a Steve Earle disc, the "Vocal" curve sounded better. It helped emphasize his vocal melodies, making them more distinct relative to the often-rowdy music.

Another sound feature that I found handy was the EQ-EX. When active, EQ-EX enhances the current EEQ setting, adding more detail and volume while preserving the overall equalization curve. The best use I found for this feature was when driving around with the windows down. In my van, it was the perfect adjustment to preserve the overall sound with the addition of wind noise. I think they should have called it "windows down enhancement," but I guess "EQ-EX" has a better ring.

I should point out that all of these adjustments were made without resorting to the manual. Everything was organized intuitively and the simple button layout on the faceplate made it easy to make changes on the fly. I only pulled out the manual a few days later to see if I had missed any interesting features, and to figure out how to set the clock.

Sound adjustments made, the system now sounded incredible.

It's all about the experience
This was my first experience with mobile video and I loved it. My wife and I have always enjoyed spontaneous road trips, but my sons have never before sat quietly in their car seats for a solid hour. When we hit the road equipped with this Pioneer video system, they sat mesmerized by Blues Clues while my wife and I enjoyed the rare pleasure of an adult conversation.

The real value of the package: an end to road trip boredom for these hot shots.

For only $1,000 (which is not a lot of money when you're talking about a mobile video system), the Pioneer RSE-SYS500DVH gives you a DVD mobile video system that is very easy to install and use, and sounds terrific. Adding a wireless headphone system is a must in order to take advantage of the dual-zone capability. That way, the receiver can pull double duty by entertaining the people in the front AND rear seats.