2021 Denali - Playing Rear Entertainment Audio through Speakers?

[Pdagger]

I bought my wife a 2021 Denali XL a few weeks ago and have been trying to get it set up for the kids to be able to watch movies, netflix, etc. through the rear entertainment system. So far I've been able to get the Roku hooked up and working, and set up an M.2 hard drive enclosure to load movies, videos, audio books, etc.

However, there's one thing I find really annoying and that's that there doesn't seem to be a way to play audio from movies or videos through the car's speakers. It only works through connected headphones. Audio books, or any mp3 files will play through the speakers, but when I browse to the M.2 hard drive on the center console touch screen, only mp3 or other audio files show up. No video files show up.

So far the only thing I've gotten to work is a bluetooth speaker that I can connect to the rear entertainment system so that everyone in the car can hear the audio without wearing headphones. That just seems stupid to me.

I have a USB bluetooth receiver on order and am going to try and see if plugging that into the car will allow me to feed the audio signal into the speaker system that way, but not sure that will work. It also seems stupid that you would have to do it that way.

Is there any way to play the audio through the speakers?

 

[Gibby13]

It can be done, you go to audio screen, then source, then you can select RSE.

 

[Pdagger]

There is no option for RSE in the source screen. It lists AM, FM, SiriusXM, Media, and Bluetooth.

If I select the media source I can browse to the hard drive I have plugged into the USB port, but only audio files show up on the center touch screen. Video files don’t show up at all. However, video files show up on the rear screens and I can play a movie on the rear screens, but audio is only through the connected headphones.

 

[Gibby13]

There is no option for RSE in the source screen. It lists AM, FM, SiriusXM, Media, and Bluetooth.

If I select the media source I can browse to the hard drive I have plugged into the USB port, but only audio files show up on the center touch screen. Video files don’t show up at all. However, video files show up on the rear screens and I can play a movie on the rear screens, but audio is only through the connected headphones.

I'm already in bed but I will check tomorrow, I do know it wasn't as intuitive as prior model years but I did figure it out.

 

[reagle]

If you go to Rear Seat Entertainment on the front screen, go to screen 1 or 2 (whichever is playing) and tap "Listen" this will play audio over all the cars speakers.
Does that answer your question? It wasnt clear whether that was your issue or you had a hard drive issue.

 

[Dpm7471]

Like reagle indicated, go to your Home Screen in the center console and tap rear entertainment. Select which one is playing the movie, and there should be an icon to press that is labeled as “listen”. Mine worked fine when I did this. Yes, not real easy to find, but once you know where it is, its not too bad. Good luck.

 

[Gibby13]

I remembered that this morning, was going to go out and verify but the other 2 got it

 

[Pdagger]

Is this the screen you are referring to?

So, the media is playing on screen 2. I don't see a "Listen" button on that page. The only thing that looks close is the little speaker icon, but that just mutes the audio to the headphones on that screen.

 

[Pdagger]

Ok, finally figured it out, thanks to the tips you guys gave me. I had to select a single screen on the left side and then I get the “listen” button. Seems a bit buried and unintuitive to me, but whatever. At least now I know how to do it.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[MyTahoe91]

I bought my wife a 2021 Denali XL a few weeks ago and have been trying to get it set up for the kids to be able to watch movies, netflix, etc. through the rear entertainment system. So far I've been able to get the Roku hooked up and working, and set up an M.2 hard drive enclosure to load movies, videos, audio books, etc.

However, there's one thing I find really annoying and that's that there doesn't seem to be a way to play audio from movies or videos through the car's speakers. It only works through connected headphones. Audio books, or any mp3 files will play through the speakers, but when I browse to the M.2 hard drive on the center console touch screen, only mp3 or other audio files show up. No video files show up.

So far the only thing I've gotten to work is a bluetooth speaker that I can connect to the rear entertainment system so that everyone in the car can hear the audio without wearing headphones. That just seems stupid to me.

I have a USB bluetooth receiver on order and am going to try and see if plugging that into the car will allow me to feed the audio signal into the speaker system that way, but not sure that will work. It also seems stupid that you would have to do it that way.

Is there any way to play the audio through the speakers?

Hi. How do you set up the M.2 harddrive for offline videos. I got the 2021 tahoe high country.I need to set one up for my little girl. Thanks