Hey All,

I work for a Parks and Rec Dept and we are looking at holding some movies in the park. We are trying to get an idea of what will make a good projector. I have seen the reviews for all of the popular projectors, but are wondering which one will be able to project something in the size of 20'? (with a decent picture)

Ideally we would like a pretty large screen. I have seen those 12' inflatable screens for $300, but we don't think it will accomodate 500 people. We were thinking about having a sail maker sew together some white fabric to make a screen we can hang from a backstop. Then it can be any size we want. Fairly inexpensive also.


Any ideas of good projectors with decent light output? We are thinking of a price range around $1000 for the projector. (Let me know if I am way off on my expectations and it will be more) It doesn't have to be movie theater quality, just able to see it and a good picture.

Thank you for your help!

Well Luke, honestly, I doubt you're going to find a projector with enough lumens to do what you want for 1k, but you never know. You might be better suited asking the same question in this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&f=159) forum since its dedicated to Outdoor Theaters.

~Good luck

Dohh, thinks for pointing me in the right direction.

I think an Mitsubishi HD1000 will be fine at max lumen setting. You won't have the best picture possible, but it will look good. I've seen infocus x1s do huge screens

I've heard the Panny AX100U is a light cannon. My first response would be to try that or the HD1000. The other option is more of a business projector (or something like the H70 with a white segment). You could maximize the lumens (at the expense of PQ -- but noboby ever seems to mind PQ issues at outdoor movies).

<insert requisite warning about being sure you have a license to display publicly>

<insert requisite warning about being sure you have a license to display publicly>

Is that a joke or are you really serious? If you are serious, would that include back yard movies? I cant imagine having to pay the city/county to watch a movie in MY yard! :(

Is that a joke or are you really serious? If you are serious, would that include back yard movies? I cant imagine having to pay the city/county to watch a movie in MY yard! :(


The OP said it was for the town City and Parks department and was going to have upwards of 500 people. He would absolutly need studio permission and probably share most/all of the proceeds with the studio. They can keep what they make in concessions. Even if they show the movie for free, the studio is going to charge for a liscense to show to so many people, and in this case I agree they should, and trust me, I am no fan of the MPAA.


Also, the OP want a 20' or 240" screen, there is no way the MITS can handle that, especially since there is most likely going to be some ambient light, unless he lives in the boondocks where there are no city lights at all.

I really don't think you are going to find anything close to $1000 that will display a 240" picture.

Also, what would you do about sound? Little bookshevles aren't going to cut it.

Is that a joke or are you really serious? If you are serious, would that include back yard movies? I cant imagine having to pay the city/county to watch a movie in MY yard! :(

As davdev mentioned, I was thinnking in terms of a parks & Rec dept. showing movies in public. My guess is if they are free, they've probably got something set up or can get stuff set up. I'm a youth group sponsor at our church, and we've got a list of which studios' movies we can show at the church. I know this because unfortunately New Line isn't on our list. I'd wanted to do a LOTR series, but we couldn't do that.

We already have the license we need. (Thanks for pointing it out though)

I'll have to look into what other groups are already using and see how satisfied they are with them.

Ill check the panny unit mentioned above.

I highly doubt you'll find a little projector that will fill a 20' screen. For that size you will need one of the bigger light-cannon near-commercial projectors designed for large conference rooms....

The question isn't weather or not a Panasonic AX100 will fill the screen or not, its weather or not it will fill the screen after 100 or 200 hours on the bulb....as the lumen output starts to drop off.

Maybe consider these, with ultra high lumen outputs, which you'll need to fill a huge screen:
http://www.projectorcentral.com/conference-video-projectors.htm