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Topic: DVD player in Entertainment Center in '06 Inspire (Read 716 times) previous topic - next topic
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DVD player in Entertainment Center in '06 Inspire

Yahoo Message Number: 23940
I recently took delivery of a new '06 Inspire DaVinci. In general I love the coach but they made several major design foopahs in the entertainment center (at least in my humble opinion). First, they faced the electronics toward the driver side of the coach - making it impossible to use the IR remote controls without getting up and walking up to the general area of the drivers seat. I fixed this by velcro'ing a MyExtender RF receiver/IR converter to the side of the overhead storage compartment above the driver. I put a MyExtender RF transmitter in the kitchen area and another in the bedroom. Now I can control the satellite, VCR, and DVD player from anywhere in the coach (including the bedroom). Second, the DVD player will ONLY play on the main TV in the front of the coach - not on the bedroom TV. To fix this, I had to do a little rewiring in the entertainment center (but did not have to pull any wires through the coach). Now I can watch DVD movies in the bedroom as well as the main living area. If anyone else has this problem and would like to fix it, let me know and I will write up a description of what I did.

Re: DVD player in Entertainment Center in '06 Inspire

Reply #1 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23965
I agree with your assessment of needed entertainment upgrades. I would be interested in knowing more about your fixes.

Re: DVD player in Entertainment Center in '06 Inspire

Reply #2 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23968
Yes! We woul dbe interested in your solution so please do post or send the steps you took to make this work correctly.

Ours is a 2005 Inspire but the same issues happen to us as you describe. Tried talking with Holland and CCI butnever really could get anywhere.

Appreciate your help with this!
Kary

05 Inspire 36'
#51499

Quote from: John Walton

Re: DVD player in Entertainment Center in '06 Inspire

Reply #3 –
Yahoo Message Number: 23991
All in all it is fairly simple (however, I am an electrical engineer and my wife still calls me at work to ask how to get something to play - I can pipe our satellite receiver signal, cable signal, or VCR/DVD output to any of 5 different TVs at our house and control them via the remote from any room) -- so I may not be a good judge of what is simple.

Take the plexiglass cover off of the entertainment center. This will let you have access to slide the different components out for access to the wires in the back. If you pull out the DVD player, you will see that there is a left and right audio output that is not used (should be 2 RCA jacks - one red and one white)- if you are unsure, the hook-up instructions in your manual will tell you what is what.
On the DVD player the analog video output should have a yellow RCA plug inserted in it - this goes to the main TV - unplug it and just let it hang loose. If you have a left over cable from a previous TV or VCR installation (should have three wires - one with red plugs, one with white plugs, and one with yellow plugs), you can use it - if not, you should be able to get a set at Target, Wal-Mart, etc. Plug one end of each of the three new wires into the corresponding jacks on the DVD player (white to white, red to red, and yellow to yellow).
Feed the other end of the wires up into the cavity where the VCR is located. If you pull the VCR out, you should have a set of three jacks that are Line 1 inputs and should not have anything plugged into them. Plug the new wires from the DVD player into the corresponding jacks on the VCR (white to white, red to red, and yellow to yellow). Believe it or not - you are now through except for putting the DVD player and VCR back in the cabinet and putting the faceplate back on the entertainment center.

Now, instead of using the TV control and setting the TV to use the line input to watch the DVD, leave the TV set on channel 3 and:
1. Turn on the VCR
2. Set the selector switch on the multi source switch in the entertainment center to VCR for either (or both) TV.
3. Using the VCR remote, select Line 1 as the source for the VCR.
4. Turn on the DVD. It should now play on whichever TV has VCR
selected as the source on your switchbox. The main TV will still play the audio through the surround sound system (ceiling speakers) but the bedroom TV will play the sound through its normal speakers.
If you want to watch a DVD in the bedroom but watch something else on TV in the living room, you will have to turn down the sound on the DVD player (and set the TV1 source selector switch to something other than VCR).

All in all it is fairly simple (however, I am an electrical engineer and my wife still calls me at work to ask how to get something to play - I can pipe our satellite receiver signal or VCR output to any of 5 different TVs at our house).

If this winds up being clear as mud, contact me off-line with your phone number and I will give you a call to help clear it up

Quote from: kary993

Re: DVD player in Entertainment Center in '06 Inspire

Reply #4 –
Yahoo Message Number: 24011
One note of caution in making the change to output the DVD player to the VCR (that I forgot about until just now). The copy protection on some commercial DVDs will affect the picture. I make copies of my DVDs that I put in our coach so that if they get scratched carting them around the countryside, I still have a pristine master at home.
I did not have any problems watching the 2 DVD copies that I tested my changeover on.

However, here is an alternate way to make the hook-up. I have not tried this on my system but know of no reason it should not work.
Purchase an RF Modulator Video Component Adapter (catalog number 15- 2526) from Radio Shack (it is available for $19.95 from their on-line catalog - I have not checked yet to see if it is available in their stores) along with a 3-Ft. Gold Series A/V Cable with S-Video connector for $9.95 (available in the stores only). Connect the S- Video cable from the S-Video output on the DVD player to the S-Video input on the RF Modulator Video Component Adapter and connect the Red/White audio outputs on the DVD player to the RF Modulator Video Component Adapter Red/White audio inputs with the RCA jack cables that are part of the cable set. Connect the RF output of the RF Modulator Video Component Adapter to the AUX input (which on mine is unused) of the selector switch using a standard TV coax cable. Do not unplug the yellow coax from the DVD player.

Using this setup, You can watch DVDs on the main TV using the same selector process that you have always used. You can watch the DVD in the bedroom by selecting AUX for TV2. The best thing about this setup is that you can watch a DVD in the bedroom and a VCR tape in the living room at the same time. Since finding the RF Modulator Video Component Adapter, I am going to go back and redo my setup as I have described here. There 'should' not be any problem with watching protected DVD's with this setup since it is advertised as being the solution to hooking up a 'line output' DVD player to an older TV that does not have the line inputs (RF only).
If anyone tries this before I do and has problems, please contact me and I will do my best to help you. Hope I didn't cause anyone any problems with my previous set of instructions.