Back yard theater

Nice! Wish I lived in a bit warmer climate. Our season here in Northern VA is pretty short. It's either too cold or too hot & humid. We get maybe a 6 week window in the spring and another in the fall. Provided it's not raining.

Nice setup. I love the idea of being able to watch something outside like this.

Nice!
Do projectors have the ability to show reversed picture if you had the projector at the back of the screen?

Thanks

yes most do.

Did you make that screen yourself? It looks much bigger than the ones I've seen for sale online.

I'm thinking of putting together an outdoor setup myself. Although, being that I'm in Chicago, I won't be able to use it as much as if I were in SoCal.

It LOOKS like a DIY screen to me. If you are thinking of making one, try going to backyardtheater.com. There are tons screen build threads and great advice. VERY friendly, too.

Hi Patd. I am in the research stage of creating a backyard theater. After many many hours of reading threads on Backyardtheater.com, I have decided on a Carl's 16x9 screen. Ive also researched projectors and am considering an Epson 8350. The one thing that is holding me back is that I am not sure if it will be bright enough to fill the 16x9 screen. When I use the "throw distance calculator" on projectorcentral, and i put in the vertical screen size of 192 inches, it calculates my throw distance of 29 feet but with only 4 foot lamberts of brightness. Even if i move the "throw range" to 21'9" (which i think adjusts the zoom on the pj), the foot lamberts only increases to 6. It says the foot lamberts should be 12 to 22 for a good picture. So, now Im not sure that this 8350 is bright enough for a 16x9 screen.

While researching this, I discovered that you also have a 16x9 screen and the 8350 for a backyard theater:) Could you shed some light on this for me? Is the picture bright enough on the big screen? What mode do you use the pj in (dynamic, etc)? Any other details or thoughts you can share to help out would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

the 8350 is a native 1080p projector. means you'll have a great hd picture.

i've attempted to put in the "192" vertical screen size" you mention but that is bit too huge! thats 16 feet tall! if you're really considering getting a 16' tall screen, that means you'll be getting a 28' wide screen (if you want a 16:9 ratio). for that i would suggest looking for a higher lumen ratng. the 2000 lumens the 8350 puts out is great for more "modest" sizes. a general ballpark size is 9' vertical x 16' horizontal. in that case the 2000 lumens is great.

in reality i think you did mean a 16x9 screen so i would say that would be good enough.

Ohh crap. Thanks for pointing out my typo. I meant to type the horizontal screen size was 192 inches. So, you believe that the Epson 8350 at 2000 lumens will be bright enough? Im still a bit concerned since the calculator only says it will be 6 or 7 fl bright. Am i getting to caught up in this calculator or is this a legit concern? Thanks so much for your reply! Im anxious to start purchasing but dont want to make a $1,000 error by purchasing a projector that wont light up the 16x9 screen.

So my neighborhood does a "flicks in the sticks' event and use an 8350 w/ a 20 foot diagonal. It looks amazing for the application (I'm more critical of my 8350 in my HT, but that's different). Here's a shot ... For the money, its not a bad choice.

Thanks for the feedback. Im edging closer to pulling the trigger.

I'm running a Epson 8350 in dynamic mode, shooting on a 9'x16' carlo BOC emt frame with a 5.1 sound.
Projector is sitting 23' away from screen and we are seated 25'-35' from screen.
Bluray is your best pq. On bright scenes you can see that the grass wasn't cut.
Last saturday was the film Cowboys/Aliens 2:35. Sorry no pictures, but this weekend will either be The Avengers or Unstoppable. I
will take some pictures.

I've been using an Epson 6500UB for the last few years with my outdoor 10x20 screen and it has held up well. Never had any complaints even though it is just a 1600 lumens unit. I am looking to upgrade to a higher lumens unit and am considering a few options such as the newer Epson 5010, Panasonic PT-AR100U or even a high lumens unit such as the Optima TH1060P .Does anyone have any experience with these projectors outdoors?


Edited by Molson1042 - 8/15/12 at 8:54am

Looks pretty awesome to me.