Replacing a Furrion AM/FM Radio
My Furrion radio died on my last outing and I want to replace it with an identical model, if possible. The radio does not have easy access from the top, bottom, back, or sides. I assume the front fa...
Forum Discussion
RickLight wrote:
Mine died recently too! The front pulls off easily.
Since I need DVD to a TV, car units don't work. Maybe an assemblage of components could work but the price would be extreme.
Replacement with any quality will be tricky. Jensen is a major competitor, but no better and doesn't do HDMI. I found iRV Technology that is sort of a private label importer but has better features and a lower price than Furrion. A few other brands are out there but none impressed me enough to try one. My iRV31 should arrive today.
There are car units which do have DVD players, not as popular but still available. The downside to most car DVD indash units is the video output is Analog Composite (single RCA jack for video) which matches SD video (standard definition) of 480i. Unfortunately, newer TVs no longer include SD Composite video inputs (single RCA), or even analog 720 capable Component (three RCA jack video) but only digital HDMI inputs..
This means to get analog 480i into a TV with HDMI input, you will need to add a "scaler/converter" which converts Analog SD 480i to digital HDMI (note, it doesn't improve the Analog 480i video quality). Scaler/converters are not expensive now days, $20-$30 and typically they use the HDMI port on the TV for power but may be able to use optional 5V powersupply like a USB charging port.
Personally, CDs, DVDs and even Blue Rays are pretty much obsolete just like 8tracks, Reel to reels, cassettes, vinyl records (although these are making a comeback), 8 mm film, 35 mm film, reel to reel video, Beta, VHS, 8mm video, Hi8 video, digital SD video tapes.
PVRs, DVRs and streaming audio/video have unfortunately replaced physical media.
You can also get car units which are able to stream audio/video and/or use digital files from USB flash drives.
CDs and most DVDs are easily ripped and converted to digital media files and you can store them on USB flash drives or external hard drives. Lots of free ripping software out there to choose from.
BlueRays due to copy protections embeded in the data can be problematic to rip.
You can also buy digital media players that plug right into your TVs HDMI port and will play most of the current recognized audio and video media file formats from USB flash drives or external hard drives as long as the files are not copy protected.. $30 can get you those players and they work very well.
