Satellite TV for the Kids in the Car

I guess I have not been really paying much attention to satellite radio lately. The other day I was browsing through one of my favorite car audio catalogs and came across the Directed Electronics SCV1 Sirius Backseat Video Tuner. Basically this is a Sirius radio receiver that lets you get three channels of kids TV via satellite that you can feed into your rear video displays. So two things here, you need to purchase a subscription from Sirius and need to have the video displays to connect to (they are not included with the receiver).

Product description:
The SCV1 is built for use in a car’s backseat and revolves around a breakout display controller safe enough for children that lets them pick from Sirius’ traditional radio stations as well as TV from the Cartoon Network, Disney, and Nickelodeon. Listeners in the front are also free to tune their own radio via an FM transmitter that broadcasts a separate audio signal to the main system.

Designed to work in any car with an FM radio and a rear seat video monitor, the SCV1 includes a wired controller to operate the audio and video functions. The SCV1 comes packaged with the main audio and video tuner, wired display Controller (DCU), audio and video remote controls, dual magnetic vehicle antennas, remote control eye, audio video cables and FM antenna interface (FMDA). For more advanced applications, the SCV1 is also designed to interface with Sirius-Ready headunits with optional special adapters.

I thought this was kind of cool because I know how annoying it can get to have to listen to the same DVDs in the car over and over again. The system retails for $299, but can be found for less online. A subscription to the service is $6.99 per month which is not too expensive. This is probably something that you will want to have professionally installed. It is also available on some Chrysler minivans and Jeeps as a factory installed option.

I could not find a lot of reviews of this item on the web, so I am not sure how the reception is. I found one review that said it worked well even in the rain. It is definitely something to check out if you are buying a new minivan or are putting in some video screens in the car for the kids.