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Three keys to a successful familiy road trip
With the family summer vacation fast approaching, I had a plan — the IVA-D300 was to be my secret weapon. Being on vacation was not the problem. The five-hour road trip to get to the beach (and back) was. I devised my plan with a three-pronged approach:
 Three-source capability allowed us to use navigation and XM up front while the kids enjoyed a movie on the back-seat monitor. |
#1. DVD video for the kids
Knowing that I couldn't display video on the in-dash screen while driving, I attached a Farenheit 7" LCD monitor with a built-in infrared sensor (for remote control) to the posts of my headrests. As all input/output connections for the IVA-D300 are on the hideaway box (installed under the driver's seat), making the audio/video connections for the monitor was all too easy.
As my backseat passengers are still fairly young, I prefer having the DVD player accessible only to those in the front seat. This helps prevents squabbles, or the temptation for them to unbuckle their seatbelt to press play or switch out a disc.
It's obvious that Alpine put a lot of thought into the real-world application of this A/V receiver. One unique feature is the ability to access DVD menus directly from the touch-screen. On most DVD/monitor head units I've come across, accessing the DVD menu requires the use of a "cross hair" up/down/left/right control. Want to access the third menu item? You'll have to press the "down" control three times to highlight the selection, and then press enter. Not so on the IVA-D300. Alpine has mapped out the touch-screen to allow direct access to DVD menu controls. In other words, if you want the third menu item, just point to it, and touch the screen to select — very cool! I'm not sure if this feature is totally exclusive to Alpine, but I don't recall seeing it on any other touch-screen monitor.
