Hi All,

Hi All,

I've been wanting to do this for a few years now but have been busy with our indoor cinema. When I was on vacation and found the screen at a Wal-Mart I decided that I would wait until I got home to get started. I found out from a posting from backyardtheater.com of someone local to me that found it at Wal-Mart about 35min from me. After already checking with other Wal-Marts closer to me and getting that crazy look of "What is it you're looking for" I headed to the store where I knew it was to be had. Brought it home and unboxed it. Took about 25 min to set it up. (Just Me) This thing stood tall. (I'm 6'6") But standing back from it I kinda felt like it might not be big enough for my taste. The fan noise was something I wanted to pay attention to as that could be the deal breaker for me. The fans do put out some noise up close, but I found that once the movie started they fell back behind the volume. It also wasn't too bad with the volume low.

System:

Using an Ampro 150 LCD projector (Free with new lamp)
Xbox with XBMC and connected to my network for total movie access. $50
Bose321 system just to get the sound going.
$175
Gammy 149" Screen $199




Spending time watching a couple of movies that night it was fun. The wife came home and found me in the back yard watching and she said it's a good size screen lets keep it and we can make it portable for trips and at her parents house for the superbowl party. So I guess I'll be keeping this and just finetune the wires and make a projector stand that it easy to level with the screen. Also make a starter DVD to finish this out.

So if you want a simple screen setup and take down go for this one. It's a nice screen. ;)


Have fun,

Chris

http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/508/IMG_2806.jpg

I use the same screen. It is real easy set up and easy take down. Makes outdoor movie nites fun! :)

Nice setup, Chris. I too have a Gemmy. With my Optoma DV10 projector and Acoustic Research wireless speakers, setup is a snap. Ready to roll in 10 minutes.

nice

According to the Walmart website it is 12'7" wide, 8'11" tall and 149" diagonal. What are the actual width and height of the screen surface?

16:9 = 16/9 = 1.77 aspect ratio
4:3 = 4/3 = 1.33 aspect ratio

The overall dimensions for this are
12'7":8'11" = 151"/107" = 1.41

I know the overall dimensions aren't really indicative of the aspect ratio, just wanted to make sure this is a 16:9 screen before I buy one.

Thanks,
Jim

It is 16x9 screen. BTW: We got several threads already running on this screen for those interested in more information

Nice setup.

Hi All,

Thank you for the nice comments about the setup. We moved the Outback theater to the Outlaws house for the Thanksgiving Holiday. That was a lot of fun. But got a little cold for us Floridians. So we bundled up and headed on outback.

A couple of cool changes we made and added were a plus for our little setup.
We changed out the projector from an AmPro 800x600 LCD (about 8 years old but still new as we never used it until we started this) to a Panasonic AX100u LCD. WOW :D This was night and day plus night again difference. Other great added changes were the tri-pods we now have for the Bose speakers up front by the screen. As you saw at the top of the thread we used cardboard boxes to get things started. But a little trip to Wal-Mart and found some tri-pods and adapted the camera mount to the Bose and away we went.
Another change was the tote we also picked out to store everything in except the screen which sits on top of the tote when storing them. This works great to keep it nice and orginized.
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/Tote_2.JPG
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/OutBack_Moved_1.JPG
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/Outback_Moved_3.JPG
http://gallery.avsforum.com/data/501/Outback_Moved_2.JPG

One other thing we added was a Preshow DVD. I sat down and compiled a group of videos along with trivia questions and music which take about 15min to get through and then we start the movie. I'll be putting up a web page of our pictures and preshow for viewing. I'll let you know when it's up.


Have Fun
Chris
www.theoutbacktheater.com
www.theoutbacktheatre.com

Im amsumming you made this preshow DVD like on your own with a video editing program? did you use like movie trailers or anything? b/c ive been thinking about making one. Im pretty decent at video editing and stuff on Sony Vegas so i figured id give it a try....nice set up though and nice upgrade i just bought that projector to :D

Hi dseeburg,

Wow I didn't realize I'd not been back here sense the New Year. My apologies.
As for the DVD pre-show I put it together in a program by Magix (www.magix.com) I think. When I get how today I'll get the correct .coom site if thats not it. There is a demo versoin that I've put on the website so check it out @
Outback Pre-Show (http://www.theoutbacktheatre.com/Outback%20Preshow%20Widescreen.mp4)

Have Fun,
Chris

Hi All,
I too have a gemmy inflatable and think it's great. no problems yet, We will only bring it out at certain times so it should last for years or untill the next generation of portables comes along.
kendallizm

Thanks Chris awesome job!

I'm now selling my Gemmy 149" screen. It has only been used once... PM me if you are interested... :)

SOLD! To mason...

You can get these screen even at places like Walmart these days. Must be getting at least a bit more popular.

In what department did you find the screen at Wal-Mart, the few people with even fewer teeth that I asked don't have a clue........about anything. :rolleyes:

Shoot I just found out that Wal-mart discontinued:mad: the 149" inflatable screen and may not be getting them back in. I was lucky however to find the last one in my county for the Police Athletic League in my area and they love it but it's making a big impression to the people involved with that organization that several other people want to buy one for themselves.
Good luck on your search,

C

Why not just order online from walmart.com? Thats what i did.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5044023

Why not just order online from walmart.com? Thats what i did.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5044023

Yeah I ordered mine online and did Site-to-Store free shipping to avoid the $20 shipping fee. Came out to about $196 with tax. Be warned, the cardboard box in comes in has a very weak plastic handle, mine broke off in the middle of the store :D

Had my second outdoor movie night using the Gremmy! It was a blast. I had some technical difficulties with my projector/source, but the screen itself was perfect. It's still super-wrinkly, but it didn't really bother me. I only noticed it at especially bright scenes, and even then I was so focused on the movie that I didn't care too much. I love that you can pack everything into the included duffel bag at the end of the movie.

Cars and Finding Nemo are definitely two that you will want to at least demo for your family and friends. The intro scene at the "school" with the stingray teacher has some really amazing colors. Cars is good all-around, especially if you have some nice speakers. The beginning race sounds great with the music and engine sounds.

Since I won't have a backyard until next year, I've been having movie nights at my friend's homes. Here's my packing list:

1. Duffel bag for Projector Screen (screen, inflatable frame, tethers, ground screws)
2. Case for Projector (TuffBox case from ebay, projector, power cable)
3. Card Table to put Equipment on (mine was $25 from Home Depot and came with 2 benches and a table)
4. Plastic Bin for Equipment (large plastic bin, xbox with power cable, an xbox remote/receiver, an xbox controller/receiver, xbox a/v adapter with audio/video cables, soft towel for padding/protection, boombox, extension cord, power splitter)

I'm slowly building up my outdoor equipment set, here are some pics to start off with:

http://www.orionmods.com/blog/?p=9

If you are going to be toting this stuff around, I would definitely recommend getting boxes or bins with appropriate padding. That way you don't have to worry about things getting damaged while you're driving or moving them back and forth from your home and movie location. I would also recommend a simple surge protector so that you can split up the power to the components and two extension cables, one from the power outlet to the equipment's surge protector, then another from the surge protector to the inflatable screen.

I would also suggest bringing a spare video source if you're away from home. I had some technical difficulties with my modded Xbox (which has never happened before) and didn't have a spare DVD player or anything. DVD players with Component Video and Optical Digital Audio output can be had for under $30 on Amazon, so it's not going to cost you an arm and a leg to have one around (I think it's the Cyberlink brand that's the small one). Our video got messed up halfway through and we had to switch to watching a different movie on my Xbox's hard drive rather than the DVD. Pretty lame!

One thing you may want to try is using Christmas lights (white lights are good if you can find them) to light the way to the house or to place around wiring so that people don't trip on them. I wish I had set them up tonight; we had a couple times where people tripped over cords and nearly sent the equipment flying and made the screen collapse (due to lack of power). Also if you have a spare UPS battery backup you may want to toss that on the screen; it can deflate pretty quickly if someone unplugs it.

As far as speakers go, my winter project is to build a pair of garage speakers so that I can have some "big" sound outside. Right now I'm using an MP3 Boombox, the Griffin Technology Amplifi. It's basically a boombox that you can plug an iPod or other MP3 device into (has a minijack input) and has a small built-in subwoofer. It's VERY portable and it's great for a few people (I'd say 10 or less), not to mention it's simple to setup (no speaker wires or anything required). It served 6 people last night more than adequately. If you are putting it on a plastic surface (I put mine on my plastic picnic table bench), put a towel or something soft underneath since the subwoofer will make it rattle. You can find it for $110 or so online:

http://griffintechnology.com/products/amplifi

Griffin Technology also makes the Evolve, another iPod speaker system, only this time with wireless speakers. It's getting pretty good reviews so far; Best Buy is selling them for $299. Much more expensive than your typical "boombox", but if you need portability and also want wireless, these may be your ticket:

http://griffintechnology.com/products/evolve

FYI to all, Gemmy is now selling a new "deluxe" version of their screen, found here:

http://www.gemmy.com/product.cfm?productId=39127-32&subCatId=333&parent=121

Happy Hunting!

This new Gemmy is a major winner....

I owned the older one and was very happy until the motors went and I couldn't find replacements....

The new screen is elevated (bottom of screen is about 4 to 4 1/2 feet of the ground) and give a much better viewing angle...

Best 200 bucks spent....

Dugger

Does the new one use the exact same size screen as the old one? If so, at least you got two screens now!