Satellite TV in Your Car

There have been many ways to watch satellite television in your automobile for years but the folks at Sirius Satellite Radio have figured out a way to give you live satellite television without needing a huge box or dome on the top of your car.

Sirius has finally released its SCV1 “Backseat TV” receiver to the public and I recently had it installed into my truck.  Installation was just like a standard Sirius radio installation, however the SCV1 has two Sirius antennas instead of the normal one.

The channel selection is slim with only 3 channels those being the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network Mobile (A special version of Cartoon Network which offers 3 to 8 minute shorts which is a blessing on those short trips.)

The system plugs into your existing video system; in my truck I have a 9-inch pop down monitor and a 7-inch touch screen monitor.  The picture quality on both screens is actually very impressive, I expected to see a lot of compression.  I must admit I am very impressed with the quality of the video, I did not expect it to look this good.

The kids in the back are able to listen to the programs through wireless headphones,  I am able to listen to Sirius Satellite Radio service or the audio from the video system over my existing in car stereo system.  The kids in the back have their own remote so that they can change the channels on the TV, however they cannot tune to Sirius Radio channels, which I find disappointing as there have been times the kids have asked me to turn on the Sirius Kids Music Channel for them. While I wouldn’t want them listening to Howard Stern in the backseat I would like for them to be able to listen to some of the radio channels.

Up on the front of the car I have a wired control which features an LCD screen so I can see what’s playing on the radio.  With a press of a button I can also see what’s on the TV services and all channels except for Cartoon Network show you what’s playing and the rating for that show.  You can change the TV channels from the wired remote, which is good just in case your kids misplace the wireless remote in the back, or you want to change the channel.

There are two ways I would improve the SCV1 the first would be to allow the kids to listen to select Sirius Radio services in the backseat on their headphones.  And the second would be to add a least one news channel, so if news breaks you can watch it in your car.

The Sirius SCV1 “Backseat TV” receiver is just starting to arrive at select electronics retailers nationwide.

In the old days kids would ask the question “are we there yet?”  But now with TV in the car you are more likely to hear “no dad please don’t shut off the car because my show isn’t done!”