my hubbys budget video car entertainment tip...

[Cindy B]

We didnt' want to pay for a TV/VCR combo.. so then we thought mabye a screen for the Xbox for the kids to play video games. , then that was more than what my hubby wanted to pay also.

He is very budget minded like myself...

So then he got this idea, and it does work.

First he is using our laptop (we already had it, and was going to use it during the trip to dump digital camera pictures)

Then he got some Spongebob, Bugs Bunny and I think some House of Mouse cartoons and put them on the pc..

Then he made a CD of these cartoons, and it puttign in on the laptop to play via Windows Media Player for the kids to watch !

We don't have a DVD in the laptop either, so its just a regular CDR CD...

He put about 6-7 spongebob cartoons on one CD!


He's so smart I can't stand it!

 

[crazymomof4]

Cindy B~
Read this thread 'cause I saw it was you who posted and you always seem to have good ideas!
This one is great for people who have a laptop, maybe something they would have never thought of or wouldn't know how to do it.

We don't have a laptop but just recently sprang for the TV/VCR ($139 ant Target with the needed cables to use it in the car) I think it will make the trip go faster for the kids thereby making it less stressful for moi! I taped 6 hours of a Sponge Bob marathon and plan on taking a good supply of tapes tapes from home including some that I have from when we used to get the Disney Channel free--I love the old Mickey and Donald shorts!!

Anyway, we tried out the TV in the Suburban parked in front of the house. I had Bambi in there. After about 5 mins. I wanted to get back in the house. I had to drag my 2.5 yo DD out kicking & screaming....she wanted to stay in the car!!

Happy driving!
crazymomof4

 

[Cindy B]

We thought about that $139 combo as well at Target, but my hubby didn't like it. He thought the screen was too tiny! The laptop screen is 17 inches!

He said the laptop is free (yes, he got it for free from work as an asset reduction thing), and the CD's he got FREE from rebate, and all he actually spends is "time " downloadign the cartoons and burning them onto the CD's.

 

[myboysmom]

For those of you who have video rental stores, check to see what they have on sale for previously viewed VHS or DVDs. Friends have done this and says they are fine. I think I will watch the bargin bin at the video store this fall and hide them away for our trip.

Like the idea of burning your own, going to have to try this.

 

[myboysmom]

For those of you who have video rental stores, check to see what they have on sale for previously viewed VHS or DVDs. Friends have done this and says they are fine. I think I will watch the bargin bin at the video store this fall and hide them away for our trip.

Like the idea of burning your own, going to have to try this.

 

[StacyD]

Don't forget about your local library! My husband and I always check out some books on tape (or CDs) when we go on trips. It really makes the travel time fly! If you know your kids favorites (Harry Potter? <grin>) then you should be able to reserve them for your trip time. Our library also has VHS and DVDs for free checkout.

 

[Cindy B]

Originally posted by StacyD
Don't forget about your local library! My husband and I always check out some books on tape (or CDs) when we go on trips. It really makes the travel time fly! If you know your kids favorites (Harry Potter? <grin>) then you should be able to reserve them for your trip time. Our library also has VHS and DVDs for free checkout.

We are 5th on the list for Harry Potter CD.. so it won't be in time. DS has the HP book.

Our library you have to pay $2 for the movies.

 

[Tinkerbellish]

You can rent PS2 and such to connect to you tV in your car so the kids can play.

 

[Cindy B]

We have an Xbox but we didn't want to pay for the screen (about $125 on Ebay, and $179 at Best buy), plus the cost for the cables/adaptors...

this way it is no cost!

 

[Charleneluvsdisney]

For those who fly with kids, the laptop works as well for "inflight" movies. We have done this on numerous airplane trips.

 

[Mskanga]

I got my VCR in a bag last year and boy do I make use of it! When we are anticipating a long trip, I record cartoon network and disney for hours and don't play it until we are travelling, my kids love it and I don't even know I have kids in the back seat.
The cost of the VCR in a bag was worth every penny to me!

 

[NotUrsula]

If you are taking a lot of media, (esp. VCR tapes) along for a car trip during hot weather, invest in a small cooler to store them in.
The cooler's insulation helps protect the media from "closed-vehicle+sun=oven" syndrome.

Hardside tends to be best because you won't accidentally crush fragile media with luggage (or kids' feet) ; the clamshell hinge-top igloo lunch buckets work really well.

When I worked at a rural public library, we used to loan them out along with the tapes; it helped prevent tapes from getting ruined.

 

[crazymomof4]

Thanks for the tip NotUrsula!

ALSO, several people have told me this: cars are sometimes broken into just for the TV/DVD player. If you're going to leave the car in a parking lot or even on the street, cover the equipment or better yet, put it in the trunk. We are renting a house so we will take ours out when we arrive and put it in one of the kid's rooms for an extra TV.

 

[LisaR]

Originally posted by Cindy B
First he is using our laptop (we already had it, and was going to use it during the trip to dump digital camera pictures)

Then he got some Spongebob, Bugs Bunny and I think some House of Mouse cartoons and put them on the pc..

Then he made a CD of these cartoons, and it puttign in on the laptop to play via Windows Media Player for the kids to watch !

We don't have a DVD in the laptop either, so its just a regular CDR CD...

He put about 6-7 spongebob cartoons on one CD!


He's so smart I can't stand it!

Cindy,
Can I get some more info on this? I am not very computer savy so I want to make sure I understand this. How did you "put" the cartoons onto the PC? Were they on a video or DVD already? Are you saying you were able to fit 6 episodes of Spongebob on one CD? It doesn't seem like there would be enough storage space on a CD. Thanks for any info you can provide. It sounds like a great idea if I can just figure out how to do it!

Lisa

 

[propchick]

Tiger Electronics (the same folks behind the "Hit Clips") have just released the COOLEST gadget for traveling.

VideoNow is about the size of an average portable personal CD player, but it's got a b&w video screen on it, slightly larger than the average cell phone screen. It plays PVD's, half-sized video discs that hold up to 25 minutes of goodies -- which means you get a full SpongeBob, RocketPower, Fairly OddParents, Wild Thornberrys, etc., episode on each disc! (They're available individually, or in 3-packs, which are the better value.)

Being a gadget junkie and an animation addict, I've been waiting months for the VideoNow's to come out, and bought mine the very first day. The picture quality will never be mistaken for HDTV, but it's so much better than I thought it would be! It runs on two AA batteries. I had assumed that it would eat right through them, but after 3 weeks of hard use (my boyfriend can't put the thing down, lol), I'm still on the very first pair of batteries I put in -- and I had stolen them out of something else, so they weren't even new!

Any old headphones will work with it, so skip the "special" pair, but do pop for the accessory light. The screen isn't backlit, so the more light, the better the picture.

Right now the VideoNow's are about $49.95 at Target, WalMart, etc., but they should drop in price fairly soon. Toys R Us has already started dropping the price of the PVD's, so the actual players should follow any day now.

LOL -- I love mine so much that I've been trying to think of somewhere to go, just so I could try it out on a plane!

 

[zurgswife]

My DH started doing the Laptop thing about 2 years ago...it works great and we also have our favorite TV shows burned onto CD's and pop them right in..

DH has also designed a holder thing for the laptop so it sits on the floor between our seats so all 4 kids in the van can get a good view....the kids love it and then when we get where every we are going we have a laptop to DIS on....

 

[Bethel]

You might want to check out an adapter you can get at Wal-mart or Radioshack that is a 3-way headphone adapter. You just plug it into the tv, laptop, etc and it has 3 outlets for headphones. That way both of my teenagers can have their own set of headphones and my DH & I can carry on intelligent conversation with out having our eardrums blasted whenever there's an explosion or something (the speakers always seem to be pointing toward us ).

 

[mad4themouse]

Originally posted by Charleneluvsdisney
For those who fly with kids, the laptop works as well for "inflight" movies. We have done this on numerous airplane trips.

We used this idea on our recent trip. The airline had the kids seated 2 rows infront of us and they had the laptop. DS11 and DD13 were watching "Rush Hour 2" during the time the captain allowed portable electronic devices to be used. The lucky man who got to be their seatmate also got to see the movie.

This might also work for long car trips but I've found that there are times that the laptop screen is almost unviewable in strong sunlight.

 

[dcfromva]

Originally posted by Cindy B
We didnt' want to pay for a TV/VCR combo.. so then we thought mabye a screen for the Xbox for the kids to play video games. , then that was more than what my hubby wanted to pay also.

He is very budget minded like myself...

So then he got this idea, and it does work.

First he is using our laptop (we already had it, and was going to use it during the trip to dump digital camera pictures)

Then he got some Spongebob, Bugs Bunny and I think some House of Mouse cartoons and put them on the pc..

Then he made a CD of these cartoons, and it puttign in on the laptop to play via Windows Media Player for the kids to watch !

We don't have a DVD in the laptop either, so its just a regular CDR CD...

He put about 6-7 spongebob cartoons on one CD!


He's so smart I can't stand it!

I wish your DH was available for technical advice! I am just learning about burning movies onto DVD media. The blank DVD media is very expensive--especially when I sometimes don't have a whole 2 hours worth of material to burn! I would love to be able to put short videos on CDs and send them to relatives. (I was wondering what program did he use for burning the CDs and what file compression type? And, what do the kids have to do to make the videos play?)
-DC