With a large shelving unit in my weekend, I partnered with the cavernous Grand Caravan. The middle seats had been removed for a photo shoot, but the nifty center table was still installed. Removing the table is not hard, once you figure out the push-button release for the pole. The table top comes off its perch easily enough once you sort the under-edge release, and then the two pieces stay together with velcro straps and get stashed in the under-floor storage unit behind the driver's seat.
Getting the table top and pole into the floor was easy enough with the center seats removed, but might be a little more fun with the middle seat still in place. If you've never done it before, you might think the table swap is a pain (it's not exactly elegant in its deployment), but it's one of those things that if you've done it once, there's no drama.
With my recently tweaked back protesting at the in-van contortions, I camped onto the rear bench and fired up the Siruis Backseat TV, flipping between the three channels (Cartoon, Nickelodeon and Disney). The picture comes up almost instantly, and for the size of the screen, the picture is fine. A neighborhood kid wandered by on his skateboard as I was channel surfing and stuck his head into the sliding door opening.
"You watching the Super Bowl?" he asked.
"No," I answered, trying to briefly explain that the system only got three channels, but not live broadcast TV.
"Oh," he answered, completely unimpressed. Obviously disappointed that I wasn't watching the big game in the car, he cruised off.
FLO TV might cure his apathy. Anyone else beyond our own Doug Newcomb think live in-car TV is the next BIG THING?
Paul Seredynski, Executive Editor @ 25,265 miles
compliance says:
12:24 PM, 02/ 3/09
they should install a tuner so you can get OTA tv. There's no reason not to. I'm sure they can fit the cost of a tuner into whatever ridiculous price they charge for that thing.
estreka says:
02:42 PM, 02/ 3/09
If a viable internet setup gets concocted, folks can just head over to justin.tv and watch whatever they want. I haven't paid for cable or a movie ticket in years.
milt721 says:
08:13 AM, 02/ 4/09
Since Chrysler already offers in-vehicle mobile internet, maybe something can be rigged?
compliance says:
08:42 AM, 02/ 4/09
It has AV inputs right? You should buy a digital tuner box and mount it under the dash. You can even splice into the antenna. That'd only cost about $50 I think.