WarrenP's Outdoor Theater - Page 2

Hi Guys,

I'm at the NW edge of the city. I'll probably get around to re-sizing some pics in the next week or two. With the group of enthusiasts in the area, I do think this could be a fun evening event. Of course my own schedule doesn't open up until mid July and I'm busy every weekend after Labor Day. Of course you don't need me to have a meet!

While it's been a little slow lately, there is a small Google forum specific to a Chicago Group of enthusiasts: http://groups.google.com/group/chicagoht

I'm out in the northwest burbs. Having an outdoor theater tour sounds great. By the way, did "Flushed Away" last Friday for opening night. Great fun. Had 18 or so.

I'm in the Downers grove area

Looks like great fun, If we did this over in the UK at the moment, everyone would need scuba gear...

Our setup is 6' high x 15' wide, and we used 1.5" PVC pipe. Originally, we just built it and glued the screen-frame all together:

*========T========*




T========+========T


That's an * for every 90 degree fitting, a T for every T, and a + for the four-way X at the bottom center. So the legs (not shown - just 4' long pieces of PVC) were removable. The problem with this gig - storage.

I re-worked it so that all of the vertical pieces are glued solid (legs included), and the horizontal bars are removable (just pressed into place). Broken down it ends up being three 10' vertical legs, plus four 5' horizontal bars - much easier to store. Since we're just using coated celtic cloth, wrapped around and cinched up tight on the backside, that gives horizontal stability to it. The legs and whole thing just slip over three 1" pieces of metal conduit pipe, pounded into the ground.

Pictures here.

What I don't know is how that would work at the bigger scale you're suggesting. I suppose I'd start with using larger PVC, like 2", and maybe increasing the verticals to four or more. Not sure if you'd need another horizontal crossmember, or if the larger PVC would be sufficient to maintain rigidity.

Where did you get the screen material? Is that basically a white tarp? Is is cloth or plastic?

ever heard of a weatherproof LCD TV for outdoors. I have seen it in the past but never heard any reviews...

Audio Dude

We're having an impromptu movie night tonight with "The Ant Bully" which I watched with my kids the other day and was pleasantly surprised that it is pretty good!

(We also watched "Happily Never After", which is simply terrible and boring--do not use this movie for a movie night! Your guests will hate you!)

WarrenP: I just went through your theater build--very clever for your screen. It looks very light and appears to store quite easily.

Right now, my screen is a very heavy canvas stretched between two very heavy steel poles that are attached to my backyard fence, then stretched taut with guide-lines (this picture is actually bit outdated, because I now use bungee balls along the bottom to tighten the screen up even more.



But man is the screen heavy, and very difficult to do by myself.

I am toying with an idea to use 4x8 sheets of foam insulation from Home Depot ($13 a sheet)--it's pretty dense foam with sheeting on each side (one side is silvery, but I think would cause some hotspotting because of its sheen). But anyway, it's pretty stable for foam sheets, and if I could figure out an easy and light way to frame it, I could easily make the screen 4 of these sheets side by side (they could easily be paintable with a primer for the screen material). There would be a seam between the four panel, but I think I could probably minimize that somehow (tape over the seam???)

I have noticed, however, that imperfections in the screen rarely show up on the movie at fully dark. My screen right now is heavily wrinkled and stained and none of this shows up during a movie. I wonder if any seams would...?

One other idea--instead of taping the seams, how about a cloth flap that is adhered to one of the panel and then lies flat against the other panel covering the seam (or use velcro??)

But anyway, WarrenP--since these are 4x8 sheets, I don't think you could use them for 23.5x10...But you could easily do 19x8 (use 5 panels, and even paint a 1 foot black border on the left and right...)

Nice I am in North Auora, and starting to gather the pieces for our first Backyard Theater. I will be using Trapeeze plus material to make a 16x9 foot screen, the frame will be made out of 1 1/2 pvc. The PJ will be an Epson 705 HD. Still working on audio decisions, and we will have a Cineplex 4oz popcorn machine.

warren or anyone with outdoor venues,
any issues with bugs/insects? i live in rural iowa near farmland and a small wooded area. i had considered an outdoor presentation-even if just for the kids/neighbors to gather-- but am really hesitant due to insect issues. not just mosquitos, but other light attracted insects. do they ever land on the projector lens? if on the screen itself, does it "ruin" the image or distract from the movie?

thanks in advance...

We're out in the far northwestern burbs - lots of little ponds, etc. around my area. We do have a problem with mosquitos, but because they bite. Never had a problem with a bug causing a picture quality problem. Every once in a while, a bug's shadow could be seen on the screen, or a big bug would actually land on the screen, but it has never interfered with our enjoyment of the outdoor movies.

wow that looks awesome! clean up will probably be terrible when it rains, though.

A tip I read was have a small desk fan blowing across the lens to prevent the chance of a bug landing and melting on lens.

New to this game, don't mean to hijack the OP's thread. Warren's setup looks great.

I am about to embark on this journey, Da-Lite Fast Fold Deluxe 6' x 9' rear projection screen and Optoma TX615 projector. I plan to put the projector in the garage and project out toward the street, shielding the screen from the crosswind that I seem to always have somewhat by placing it just inside the garage.

Intend to play Wii via Component to VGA, Blu-Ray movies once Vizio releases their new player this spring and connect to DirecTV via HDMI.

Very excited to start playing around with this...

I am a little concerned about ambient light. My hope is that I have a few things working in my favor. The sun rises in the front, but moves up and over the house and sets in the back. I am cautiously optomistic that the house will block the sun and allow for use in the late afternoon/early evening.

I picked a projector with 3400 lumens specifically for that reason.

Because the primary application is "DriveWii," I am not as concerned with picture quality, the Wii tops out at 480p. But, if I can see it as the sun moves up and over, that opens my world up to sports via satellite. I have the parts to run an HDMI cable to the wall and terminate in a keystone jack. Just plug and play. I have an IR repeater already in the garage. The only issue left to resolve is whether there is any delay in the audio between HDMI and the composite output on the sat as I don't intend to run audio through the projector and already have the composite outs run into the a/v amp in the garage. It's complicated, but I have a video distribution system in place.

I am looking at a series of patch cords to make the garage extravaganza work. USB extenders for the Wii microphones for my girls, 50' RCA cables for the audio, spare power brick, spare Wii video cable, Component to VGA breakout cable, coupler, maybe a miniPhono to RCA adapter, Blu-Ray player, couple of HDMI patch cords and a spare Wii sensor bar. The idea is to have everything behind the screen (well not BEHIND it, that would create shadows) so that the driveway is free from obstruction, except for the band instruments in DriveWii mode.

Other than the anticipated harassment from the HOA, I think the neighbors will love it. It's a great use for my old JBL speakers. I might take the Klipsch speakers off the wall in the garage and actually set up surround sound if this takes off. Won't be hard.

Haven't decided if I am going to get the front projection screen material as well or not. That would make backyard theater more realistic. However, sun and wind in my area would require waiting until after dark and a lot more tethering to secure the screen.

Anyone use the Da-Lite fast-fold screens? Tips? Thoughts?