24 feet wide outdoor screen!

[joe12south]

For quite awhile I've been looking for a good excuse to have a movie party. My wife and I decided that the DVD release of Pixar's Monsters Inc. was a good opportunity.
So about a month ago invitations went out. Now, all of our friends know what a A/V freak I am, and many of them had experienced our home theater so the bar was set quite high from the outset ... even if I hadn't bragged about a "giant" screen on the invitation.

Over the next month I had two major projects: construct the screen, and transform our backyard into Monstropolis. (My wife was responsible for the food, goody bags and general hospitality.)

My first test was to see just how big I could project from my Studio Experience 12SF. I honestly didn't have big expectations -- I had made an attempt a few years ago with an early SharpVision LCD projector which couldn't really focus at a size big enough to be impressive. I dragged the PJ and my PowerBook into the backyard and flipped the switch. I was hoping to get maybe 12 feet wide but my first attempt yielded over 30 feet wide, in perfect focus! Even though I was only projecting onto my brown fence and the treeline beyond, the picture was still bright enough to be recognizable! (I got the image to over 50' wide before I ran out of fence.) So, it turns out my limiting factor wasn't the 12SF, but how big I could reasonably construct a screen. Because I wanted to rely on my existing fence to support the structure, and was a bit worried about wind toppling it, I decided that 14' high 2"x4"s would be the tallest I could safely go (nobody likes it when your screen topples over and smooshes their kids.) The screen had to be up off the ground a bit, so 12' high became my final height. Because most types of panel materials come as 4'x8' sheets, my final width was 24'.

Now, I had to pick a material for the screen. My ideal choice would have be melamine ... the stuff countertops are laminated with. It is very thin and light, quite rigid, and slightly rough so as to avoid hotspots. Unfortunately, it was also $30-40 a sheet and I didn't want to spend $360 just on the screen surface. I also didn't want to deal with sewing, and pulling taught cloth (a seamstress I'm not) so I ended up using nine sheets of standard shower-board, which is masonite with a glossy white coating (think "dry erase board.) It is heavier than I would have preferred, but a few nails and quick coat of Kilz primer to cut out the glare and I'd be done.

The actual construction was very simple. I screwed the supporting 2"x4"s into the existing fence's supporting 4"x4"s. I screwed on the bottom two rows of shower-board ahead of time, and the morning of the party (important, I'll tell you why later) I put up the top row, taped the seams and rolled on a coat of Kilz. Total construction time was under 3 hours.

The day of the party was also the first time I drug my speakers and a receiver out onto the lawn and could test what kind of volume I'd be able to get. I didn't want to go through the hassle of unhooking either of my house's two systems because their components are installed in a closet and an attic respectively, so I scrounged an older Yamaha receiver I use in my office. It only offers Dolby Surround (not digital) but it has a great DSP for recreating extra channels, and it offered a full 100 watts to all channels in one package. I didn't think that in an outdoor environment anyone would really miss the true 5.1 surround, and I was right. I did unhook my set of THX certified Klipsch speaker from my main HT and set everything up in the backyard. Once again, I was once again happily surprised to find that the volume level was more than acceptable ... in fact about half way up the dial was neighbor annoying loud! My only guess why is that the fence around my yard contained the sound, otherwise 500 watts just shouldn't have been enough. Go figure. The audio portion took about another 2 hours, including tidying up the cables.

In prior weeks I had made scavenger hunt, movie tickets, popcorn bags and designed and cut-out about 10 monsters from the movie (I used the PJ to project my drawings onto 4'x8' masonite boards.) I needed the day before the party to paint them, but as luck would have it, the effects of hurricane Lily were due to hit Nashville that very day. You should have seen me trying to crowd them all into my basement with my three year old daughter "helping" me paint. What should have been a half day job took two full days! But the storm blew through quickly and the night before the party we were able to string Christmas lights around the yard. The day of the party I erected the Monsters in key locations (including a the door to "Boo's" room, complete with a working red light.) My wife filled the popcorn bags, made "Mike" cookies (round green cookies with one eye each) and a "Sulley" cake as well as a bunch of adult food and beverages. All that was left was to set up the tables and chairs, flip on the lights, turn on a bubble machine, play the movie soundtrack for ambience and wait for the guests.

In the end about 20 kids and 40 or so adults showed up. The party was a huge success ... everyone was completely blown away. It was a tremendous amount of work over a month, but it was worth it to see everyone glued to the movie for an hour and a half. I swear no one blinked. It will probably be another year until we go all out with another "theme" party, but we'll be doing outdoor screenings as long as weather permits (BYOB this time!)

BTW, I really hate having to navigate DVD menus. Couple this with the fact that the two shorts and the outtakes included with Monsters Inc. are on a separate disc, and I decided to rip everything onto my hard-drive and assemble it into one movie file. The results was a perfectly smooth presentation of trailers, shorts and then the feature, just like at the movies.

If you'd like to see a few pictures of the event, including two good ones of the screen, click here:

http://www.12south.com/monsterparty

[Diode1]

Your link does not work.
I would like to see more?
That screen is huge!

[joe12south]

The link should be working now.

[ziggyr]

Impressive!!........all you need to do now is build some walls and a roof.:D

[Diode1]

Fantastic!

[blitzkreig]

WOW is right... Halloween must be fun around your place :)

[I'mListening]

Joe,

First let me say what a Dad you must be. That is something those kids will remember forever! That is cool all the work and effort you put out to please everyone!

Secondly, the theme aspect looked great...I thought all the "figures" looked fabulous! The screen. WOW! I bet most of them kids probably never been to a Drive In theater before...so I am sure the size of the screen blew them away!

Great job man!!!

[pcdoctor]

Gosh!
Man, nice screen!!!
How did you make this?

http://www.12south.com/monsterparty/images/front.jpg

This is better than the standees you see at stores.

[pcdoctor]

Mmm.Umm.
You need to have this screen inside your house in a very dark room.
Talk about not going to the movies anymore!

[tbusquet]

absolutely awesome ! Was the picture actually that bright ? Seems like a fine projector you have there !

[joe12south]

Thanks for all of the praise. It really wasn't that difficult, I think anyone with a PJ and a hammer should give it a try. It was the best received party we've ever thrown. We tried to get an old convertible for a true "drive in" experience, but couldn't find anyone willing to let 20 kids crawl around their restored antique! (Go figure.)

Concerning the Monsters:
I made the monsters (there were 10 in all, I didn't upload all of the photos) by drawing them on my computer, then projecting them onto sheets of masonite. I traced them, then cut-out the outlines with a jig saw (pain in the a**). Then I painted them with latex house paint I had left over from painting my daughter's room. Most were tacked to our fence, but I made supports out of scrap 2"x4"s for the few freestanding Monsters. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but the sum effect of all the decorations really transformed the backyard.

Concerning the shot of the screen:
Anyone who has tried to photograph a projection knows how hard it is. My digital camera happens to have a mode where it does both a flash and a long (un-flashed) exposure in one shot. (many cameras can do this, you just have to dig to find it) What I did was pause the movie so it would stay in focus for the long shot, and the flash would catch the kids and the yard. This worked pretty well, but the screen still looked washed out, so I confess that I tweaked the levels in Photoshop to "restore" the image.

[pcdoctor]

Joe,

I posted your link on another forum.
I think this is great.

[cooltalkingfrog]

That is incredible!
Great work!

I am sure that everybody will remember that for a very long time.

Are you available for Halloween? :-)

Cooltalkingfrog.

[Herman]

WOW! That's awesome. Nice job Joe.

Herm

[joe12south]

Thanks to everyone for all of the comments.

Here is another pic of the screen. To get an idea of scale, the people closest to the screen are about 20 feet away from it, and the fence is 8 feet high.

http://www.12south.com/monsterparty/screen_3.jpg

Because of the success of the Monster party, we've decided to show "Beauty and the Beast" on Friday (I have a 3 year old daughter,) and "So I Married an Axe Murderer" next week, and "The Nightmare Before Christmas" the weekend after that. With a weekly showing from now until it gets too cold, I've decided to rig a rolling cart (if they're not too expensive I'll probably start with a trip to the music store for one of those equipment cases) with handles that can hold my subwoofer, speakers and receiver, all connected. Then all I have to do move the box outside, string out the speakers, and plug-in my pj and laptop. I took down the top row of the screen (I don't want a gust of wind taking down my whole fence) but it's just a few minutes to screw it back on.

If we don't do a bunch of custom decorations, and if we have friends bring the food and drinks, then we really won't have to do much work at all from now on. Because our current house doesn't allow for a dedicated HT (it works great, but it's part of our master suite,) we haven't been able to share our HT and have the kind of group movie viewing that can be so much fun. Now, we have the best of both worlds: nobody mucking up our private "screening room" (except for the kids!) but space to accommodate a couple of hundred guests (weather permitting.)

PS. We had a friend, who is a police officer, at the party. He was sure we violated a bunch of codes! But, in case you decide to do something like this, he said that cops never bother with noise disturbances until 11pm.

[shades57]

What would you estimate the ft lamberts to be? Your screen looks so clear and your projector is only 1000 lumens correct? My local college has a movie night where they project about a 70 ft screen onto the side of one of the buildings but the image is dim and washed out. I remember Jean Michael Jarre did one of his concerts in houston texas where he projected
onto the side of the buldings - like a 50 story high screen http://www.jarreuk.co.uk/houston/houston31.jpg Things really are bigger in texas I guess.

[joe12south]

I'm guessing it was about equal, maybe just a tad dimmer, to that of a typical movie house, maybe in the range of 15 ?

There were christmas lights all around, as well as a few street lights in the vicinity, so it was far from totally dark. Because I was not able to test with the top row on the screen I was a bit worried if the image would be bright enough at full size. It easily was. (The picture looks washed out in my photos, but in person it was fully realized.) A light cannon like the PLV-70 certainly isn't necessary (but would be cool, though!)

[dbroome]

Looks great! I still haven't gotten my last drive-in pictures up yet, but when I do I'll post a link here for you guys. Of course it wasn't anything as nice as this. I did grill burgers and dogs for the 60 people that sowed, so I know your pain (on the wallet) there.

Whereabouts in Nashville are you? I'm south of town in Thompsons Station, but would love an invite sometime :D And of course, I will reciprocate when I do my next one (Spiderman, EPII, or Spirit if the weather holds warm enough, or I can make enough hot cocoa)...

[TWilly]

Nice drive-in! It looks GREAT!!

[TWilly]

BTW, having 5.1 (either DD or DTS) really DOES add a lot, even to a drive-in. I had a neighbor remark that my sound was better than it was the last time she went to the dollar cinema.

[joe12south]

dbroome,
I live in the Belmont-Hilsboro neighborhood. The weather didn't cooperate last weekend, but I'll private message you the next time we have another go ... probably around Halloween.

TWilly,
Ideally I'd like to have a spare 5.1 reciever that I could dedicate to my "drive-in" but since my HT systems are built-in (read, "a giant pain in the a** to move) Yamaha's enhanced Dolby Sourround 2.0 will have to do this season. ;-)

[TWilly]

I took the advice of an AVSforum member, went out to ubid.com, and got a refurb Pioneer with DTS and DD for $100.

[Jeffrey]

Very neat. Aren't you glad it didn't rain?

[Jorus]

joe, as someone who's currently trying to figure out how big to push a DVD signal before it begins to look like crap, I was wondering if you've watched live-action DVDs on that monster of a screen (heck, it's bigger than the screens at my local miniplex! :o). If you have, how did they look? If you could have a dedicated room built to house that screen, would you be willing to live with it permanetly?

I wonder if the guys at the miniplex would let me get in there after-hours with a laptop and a PJ to see for myself :p Hmm, maybe I COULD bribe them lol

[joe12south]

Jorus,
It's totally dependant on your distance from the screen. The same rules apply no matter how large. i.e. if the viewing distance is 1.5-2x the screen width, then the picture looks perfect, no pixelization. (That's why billboards are printed with a line screen of about 10 per inch, and magazines are printed with a line screen of about 133 per inch, viewing distance makes a huge difference to perceived resolution.) If you stand right next the the screen, each pixel is huge! I started the seating about 12 feet back from the screen, which at half the screen width is far closer than recommended, but the picture looked decent. At that close range the lack of resolution in the DVD was very obvious to me, but a "normal" person wouldn't really know to complain.

[joe12south]

Jorus,
I almost forgot your last question:

If you could have a dedicated room built to house that screen, would you be willing to live with it permanetly?

Well, I enjoy watching films as large as possible relative to my seating. Contrary to prevailing opinion, I want a film to fill as much of my field of vision as is possible. There is a physio-psychological concept, TSPO (Total Sensory Perception Overload,) which basically states that if you can overload your senses, your brain will give over to the illusion. I don't find that the recommended 1.5x2 distance rule does that. I prefer to sit 1x or even closer if the image will hold up. That's the only way for the impact of the image to match the impact of my sound system.

[Jorus]

Thanks for the replies, joe :)

Personally, my "sweet spot" for movie watching is about 1.2x the screen width. 1.5-2x just doesn't do it for me, either. What we need is a Teranex, man. That oughta kick DVD PQ up a notch :D

[steve_fye]

Did you have a subwoofer outside also? How did it sound? I've always wondered about what a completely "open air" system would sound like.

Steve

[joe12south]

Steve,
Yes I did have a sub. In fact, that's what I set all of my equipment on. I actually had to set it's relative volume *lower* than what I use inside. I guess the low-frequency waves had a lot more room to grow. Monster's Inc. has a *very* aggressive low-end to the soundtrack so I'm still surprised that nobody called the police. ;-)

[Flooper]

Joe,
Very, very cool. We do "Movies In The Park" for our small town of Swisher, IA as fundraisers. We don't charge of course, but we do sell a lot of popcorn, pop and hotdogs. I use a 16' x 9' screen made from four strips of black-out cloth sewn together, and hung across a steel pole like a shower curtain. I use an Infocus 425Z (900 lumen DLP, which I bought just for outdoor...can't bear to take may "good" pj outside!!)) It works great, but now that I've seen your 24 footer, I think I may have to try that!! We often get 150 to 200 people!! We do it on a tennis court, and hang the screen on the chain link fence. I have a friend who's a local travelling dj type, and he brings out his huge (and I mean huge) outdoor speakers. The whole thing is a blast. I bought a cheap $197 Pioneer 100W x5 receiver, and although it gets pushed pretty hard, it still sounds great outdoors. Here are some suggestions for your outdoor movies--we've found that comedies are the most fun, since you get everyone laughing, and it's contagious.

Both of the Jim Carey "Pet Detective" movies--crowds love 'em.
Spy Kids
Both of the "Dr. Doolittle'" movies with Eddie Murphy--really good crowd movies
Mulan (actually quite funny)
Blues Brothers
Men In Black
Shanghai Noon
Liar Liar

These are the movies we got the best crowd reactions from.

The hardest thing is finding a movie suitable for all ages AND outdoors.

Thanks for sharing your setup

[Mark Rejhon]

Hi,

During the summer, the city I live in, City of Ottawa (Canada) in the summer had a small outdoor film festival with an approximately 15-18 feet diagonal temporary 4:3 rolldown screen draped on a wall to the end of a parking lot during a downtown movie festival playing a DVD movie on a digital projector. It was an obscure title, I forgot, I showed up in the middle of the movie. It was 4:3, but the picture took advantage of DVD quality. (It might have been a hard disk jukebox, or DV, or something else of similiar DVD quality, but it was recognizably about DVD resolution so I am assuming DVD). My friends really enjoyed the movie though the movie itself not being captioned, I had a hard time following (due to my deafness). They had DJ-style equipment big enough to require a decent cargo van including big speakers like those used for portable rock concerts. I think about 300 people attended. It was at the corner of Bank Street and one of the following downtown streets [Albert, Slater, Queen, Laurier], I forget which one. Was called the Outdoor Film Festival. The projector looked like one of the HDTV-LCD's or at least XGA. The picture was great for an outdoor film festival and better than 16mm too. No scaling or interlacing artifacts noticed. The picture certainly wasn't dim.

Certainly, the quality of the digital presentation was much superior to a lot of film festivals in the past -- and proper deinterlacing was definitely used (probably a Faroudja/SAGE Fli2200 built into that projector). Nice to know they have kept up with the times going digital! The equipment needed to host a really good 500-person film festival with a 15-to-20 feet image is getting smaller and more reliable, thanks to the advent of digital entertainment and high quality digital light cannons...

The atmosphere was pretty good and non-rowdy. Perhaps you should introduce an Outdoor Film Festival in your town or city. Or get such a movement going for others. Get permission from your city to use a parking lot after nightfall, and then do a temporary setup. Have some good digital source material for an independent film or permission from the studio to publicly exhibit the film. Or use old public domain material that's been digitally remastered. You can certainly do 20 feet screen sizes no problem with many of today's light cannons. Screen could be temporarily attached or leaned onto a wall at one end of the parking lot, or rent a super-huge-sized freestanding tripod screen. (You might be limited to about 15 feet sizes with those, though) One may furnish their own screen with some quality material that can be hung on a wall, as long as it is wrinkle free when hung (i.e. make sure that the whole top and bottom are attached to horizontal-pole-weights to keep the screen taut like a traditional pulldown). A cheap oversized Da-Lite type "blinds" screen works well too for a film festival on a parking lot that has a wall at one end that a screen can temporarily be attached to. If the building is only one or two stories tall, one can go on the top to drape downwards the screen from without attaching it to the wall. [Get the applicable permissions from the city and building owners first].

Of course, if you have a backyard big enough to host your film festival or party, then go for it! It will be an amazing experience being able to host your own film festival right at your home on a 20 feet screen.

[Larry Slip]

a lot of hard work to make people happy, i have always been that person too. nice job
larry

[mandarax]

I do a once per month movie for kids in a small community center. We get about 50 to 75 kids per month. The dollars or should I say cents that are made go into the community center. They pay 2.00 dollars per child which includes a pop and chips. We raffle the tickets for a free ticket admission. At present we are displaying the movie right onto a light green wall about a 12 foot wide.

Nothing brings families together easier than kids.

I am going to make a pemanent screen. Probably out of goo.....as soon as i figure a way to not have it destroyed by other events held in the community center. This summer I plan on making an outdoor movie event.

Great job on the Monster cut outs you made.

It is hard to get movies that are going to interest all age groups. I can't wait for the Sponge Bob Square Pants movie to be released.

[joe12south]

Mandarax,

That's a great idea that I might try to duplicate with an inner-city charity here in Nashville. Even if there is no "profit" for the charity, letting poverty stricken families come together for a big screen movie and snacks would be a benefit in and of itself.

[dbroome]

If you need a hand setting up, I'm about 30 minutes south of Nashville and would be glad to help out.

[joe12south]

dbroome,
I'm going to do some research and figure out whch organization to team up with. Once I've got a game plan, I'll let you know.

[dbroome]

Sounds good. I know some people at the Inner City Church of Christ you could organize through, if you wanted to get with a church (and were careful which movie to pick)...

[lancestorm]

In-freaking-insane!!

How much did it cost to put this screen together in materials???

[joe12south]

About $100. ($10 bucks per panel of showerboard + the 2x4's + a gallon of Kilz.) I now have a source for a much better screen material that is free to me (Dupont Tyvek) so next time I'm going to be able to build an even bigger (30' x 15') screen with no seams.

The cost for the whole party was a lot more than that ... we don't really want to know the total! ;-)

[SVonhof]

Any word on whether or not that Tyvek source would be able to supply material for screens for other people that would like to do something similar?

[joe12south]

I knew someone was going to ask that! Yeah, my "source" (my father-in-law) has easy access to it. Dupont wastes more of it than all of us combined could ever use everytime they start-up a new run. I have to keep bugging him to get me a variety of samples so that I can see which weave and coating would do best (there are many variations) for this application. I promise as soon as I can get him to remember, I'll let everyone know.

[worm5406]

Bounce

[SVonhof]

Worm, is this bounce for Joe? Or just bringing this thread back to life because it is fun?!

[worm5406]

Both actually...

Since it is Summer... I fugiured there were a few others that would bring this topic back to life and see what others are doing. Espc with the new projectors out there.

(Right Steve... Ohh it's not Steve though is it, Scott?)

[brickie]

glad this one got bumped...that is a nice job, and i know some other members were looking for thread to try this..here in chicago they do movies in the park as well...i'll be going to see jurassic park in a couple of days...

brickie

[stegen]

my dad did something simialr. he had a oild sharpvision and watned to have a packer party outiside. it was in december in wisconsin so it was about 10 out. cold as heck. anyway. we had the game on the backside of the house, about a 25' screen. looked dim and washed out. the news came and we were on tv cuz of it. it was all fun till the pj couldnt take the cold and turned off and wouldnt turn on again. :( good time though.

[Reveille]

This is a very impressive party you put on. Do you leave that big screen up all the time? My homeowners would have a cow even if their kids where the ones wathcing the movie.

[joe12south]

The posts stay up all the time, but I take down the panels between parties. Since I have an 8' privacy fence, it's really nobody'd damn business what goes on behind it. ;-)

[Clarence]

Originally posted by steve_fye
Did you have a subwoofer outside also? How did it sound? I've always wondered about what a completely "open air" system would sound like.

Steve I know this is an old thread, but it is a fun one and I thought of it yesterday too, so I was glad to see it bumped...

I did an outdoor theater last night for our local Relay For Life (a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society where teams have someone walking around our high-school track while we campout on the football field on the infield and have activities outside the perimeter of the track.) Our small town raised over $100,000 this year, our "First Annual".

This was not your typical campout... they were pumping tunes on the track for the walkers and we were pumping movies on our end for the people resting between shifts.

Watched "Brother Bear" and "Pirates of the Caribbean"... cannons booming at 3am... gotta love it!

It was a perfect night for my outside screen setup, but the thing that impressed me most was the sound quality... I thought the subwoofer would get lost in the infinite outside volume, but it was thumping quite nicely.

I only have a 100w JBL 5.1 system, but it sounded great. At home, I usually set the volume between -30 and -15 (-10 when I want to do short, loud sound demos), but last night I was running with the volume set at -5 to 0 (I haven't figured out the significance of the volume numbering; I'd rather have a 0-11 scale like "Spinal Tap" :D )

I had the sub and center set up under the projector, since the screen was so far away. And I set the L & R about halfway between the screen and the audience. LS and RS behind the small crowd.

The sound separation between LF & RF was also noteworthy. I was using 8" Infinity's as "large" fronts (a setting on the receiver where it doesn't filter all the lows as it does when you use the default "small" satellite front speakers).

-Clarence

[victor-eyd]

Can someone direct me to the link where the guy fired his Sanyo through the garage door on Halloween and he use some sort of plastic opaque material from Lowes or HD so when the kids walked by the house they effectively saw a 8' x12'-15' RPTV?

Thanks- I want to know what the material is made from.

[FramerJohn]

Found this thread tonite. I have been thinking of doing this summer for the neighborhood. I have a benq 8700 that I have to get outside to see what size screen I can do. Nice to hear that a sub makes a differance outside. This theard has me exited
about getting started.

[technut Canada]

I got to thinking about outdoor screens and found these commercial inflatable screens (some are HUGE!):

http://www.superscreenusa.com/index.html
http://www.blimpsign.com/index.htm
http://www.plasmascreens.co.uk/inflatable_screens.htm
http://www.specialtymile.com/laserprod/coldair.html
http://www.primetimeinteractive.com/movie_theater.htm
https://secure.room2.co.uk/harknesshall/airscreen.htm
http://www.avmltd.co.uk/basicPage.php?page=category.html&category_id=26

Unfortunately, all of them are far too expensive for backyard use.

But that got me thinking that if you already own some kind of a giant inflatable (eg. moonjump room) or a rectangular trampoline that you can put on its side, then you have a ready-made mount/backing for your own screen material!

[FramerJohn]

Originally posted by technut Canada
I got to thinking about outdoor screens and found these commercial inflatable screens (some are HUGE!):

http://www.superscreenusa.com/index.html
http://www.blimpsign.com/index.htm
http://www.plasmascreens.co.uk/inflatable_screens.htm
http://www.specialtymile.com/laserprod/coldair.html
http://www.primetimeinteractive.com/movie_theater.htm
https://secure.room2.co.uk/harknesshall/airscreen.htm
http://www.avmltd.co.uk/basicPage.php?page=category.html&category_id=26

Unfortunately, all of them are far too expensive for backyard use.

But that got me thinking that if you already own some kind of a giant inflatable (eg. moonjump room) or a rectangular trampoline that you can put on its side, then you have a ready-made mount/backing for your own screen material!

Cool idea but thats crazy money.

[Reveille]

Those inflatables are very cool but way overpriced. If this becomes popular someone will mass produce an inflatable 20 foot screens at a reasonable price.

[rydad]

Hi,

Loved your outdoor screen idea. I am thinking of doing the same on a smaller scale for my back yard.

I'm thinking about an 8 x 12 foot screen. I'm not too sure of what materials to use. I'm not sure I will be allowed to make a permanent screen. You mentioned that you take your screen down. Do you leave it up all summer and take it down after the warm season? Does it get dirty staying up outside all the time?

I really don't have any place to store 8 x 12 panels in the house or garage. If I left the screen up all year, do you think it will withstand the weather? I could slap a new coat of paint on it every summer.

Any problems with Mosquitos outside while watching the movies?

If I made a take down screen I was thinking of butting 3 panels together. Would the seems be visible?

Or what if I use those insulation panels (3 of them butted together)..does anyone know if they are cheap enough I could just toss them at the end of the summer?

Thanks.

[dbroome]

On mine I have gone a slightly different route. I got two of the thick white painters drop clothes. I connected them together with velcro down the middle. The seam is visible, but not distracting on a 22 ft wide screen.

Along the top and bottom I put a row of grommets in. I then took a long piece of PVC pipe and used zip ties through the grommets to attach them to the top and bottom.

Then, I screwed 4 pulleys into the eaves of the house, through which I hoist the PVC up (spaced so that drooping isn't a problem). The bottom PVC helps hold the scren taught and weigh it down.

When the night is over, I drop the screen, roll it up and secure with some more velcro. Then I just hang it from some bicycle hooks in the roof of my garage.

It has worked great for three seasons now...

[rydad]

Thanks, great idea.

How big do those painters clothes come? Are they pretty white or are they kind of tannish white?

Park

[dbroome]

The one's I got (IIRC) were 11 feet wide and was the biggest I could find. But I went to a Lowes and didn't shop around, so I am sure there are bigger ones out there.

Mine started off pretty white, but has slightly discolored with age. I would still consider it white when held up against a pair of socks :-)

[FramerJohn]

Originally posted by dbroome
On mine I have gone a slightly different route. I got two of the thick white painters drop clothes. I connected them together with velcro down the middle. The seam is visible, but not distracting on a 22 ft wide screen.

I just did my movie nite outside last nite. I also used two white painters drop clothes glued together. My screen was 18 ft wide and the picture was great. I could have gone bigger. Its a good cheap way to do a screen.
dbroome do you have any pics of your setup. I did mine fast so I had some wrinkles in it.

[rydad]

Hi all,

I am trying the drop cloth screen idea for my outdoor theatre screen. I will test it tonight. It looks like the wind is blowing the screen around. What do you guys do about the wind blowing on the drop cloth?

Thanks.

[joe12south]

A partial solution for the wind is to cut small slits in the cloth every so often. A crecent shape will work well. This will allow a lot of the wind to pass through without taking down your screen. Depending on the material this will work well, or it might look terrible if the material does close back correctly. I have no idea how drop cloth will behave.

[dbroome]

I've been out on vacation, and so didn't get the pictures as requested. I'll shoot for that this week.

On mine, I tied the bottom PVC down (to cinder blocks or downspouts or whatever was handy) and it seemed to hold it pretty steady. It was on a protected side of the house, though, and so doesn't get much in the way of gusts...

[rydad]

Hi,

I ran a test of my outdoor screen this weekend. It worked well enough, but I am just too afraid of the mosquito issue (W. Nile V). Don't know what I can do about it . I really wanted to have a movie party for the kids this summer. But I don't know how much of a risk the mosquito thing is. Bummer.

[dbroome]

I used some citronella candles and had a few cans of bug spray and didn't have a problem. Here are a couple of images from 2 years ago:

http://www.davidbroome.com/dcp_0011.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/dcp_0012.jpg

and one bad one from last year after I tightened up the screen:

http://www.davidbroome.com/dcp_1216.jpg

[psycho]

when projecting outside, there is lost of potential viewers watching, is the an issues with copyright law that you need to deal with, I want to do this one day, but with 35mm and everything.

[joe12south]

Just because outsiders could incidentally see or hear the protected content doesn't necessarily make the display problematic. Intent matters ... charging admission or inviting the general public would be examples of clear violations.

In any case, the worst thing that would happen is that you would be asked to not do it any more because damages to the property holder would be negligible and not worth pursuing.

[SVonhof]

I have a friend that lives near a drive in theater. He can walk over to the nearby park and watch the movies and can bring a radio and tune to the station they are broadcasting the soundtrack on if he gets close enough. They are still operating to this day.

For that matter, I remember driving back from my grandma's house passing the drive-in theater as we were cruising along on the freeway. We would always watch to see if we could figure out the movie, and maybe catch a view of something. :D

[Jeepin]

I ended up ordering some Tyvek via mail order after looking locally for some Tyvek (or similar) material locally. All of the local distributors had the Tyvek with the logos on one side. I didn't think that would work very well since you could see the logo when turned around. Material Concepts sold me a 10' x 30' piece of unlabeled Tyvek for $25 shipped!! They give discounts to schools and anything related to kids (the screen is for a PTA fundraiser). This should give me two 10' x 15' 6:9 screens. Give Douglas Kohn a call at 800.372.3366 x. 101 and get a quote. I ended up getting a good deal as he happened to have this sheet lying around. They also have a website at www.materialconcepts.com

Did anyone ever try Tyvek as a screen? I'll give a report after the 28th!

-Alan

[joe12south]

Yes, I'm now using Tyvek and it works awesome. It has more "gain" that flat white paint or material, but doesn't suffer from hot-spotting like glossy materials. (That was one issue I had with showerboard, I had to Kilz it to get rid of the hot-spots.)

[KLAATUWI]

As mentioned before, I also have been trying to find the link to the guy who had shown Monsters inc. from his garage. If I remember correctly he was using a Pt-L300. If anybody has any luck could you post the link?
found it, it was'nt a l300

http://www.mikeandsharonrhodes.com/halloween.htm

[Mntneer]

This is a great story. I've often thought about doing something like this here.

[FramerJohn]

We are doing another movie nite this weekend. This will be our 2nd time we did it 4 weeks ago. We had an 18ft wide screen and the picture was incredible.

[jake14mw]

I am having a movie night next weekend, but am having a really tough time coming up with screen material. Any white dropcloths that I can find have a seam in them. It seems like the butyl type dropcloths all have a seem if they are more than 4 feet wide. I am looking to do somewhere around a 7' x 12' screen. I have a call into Material Concepts that was mentioned earlier in the thread, to see if they have any Tyvec type material. . Does anyone have any other ideas for material?

Also, I don't know what kind of projectors you others used, but I have an X1, so am planning on keeping it to 12' wide because I'm not sure that it would look good any wider.

[joe12south]

My advice is to not sweat the seam too much. It's not as distracting as you might imagine. And I also think you'll be pleasently surprised at how big of an image you can project. If I'm not mistaken the X1 is brighter than my LS-110, and I went double what you're thinking.

[ender611]

jake14mw

It seems that seams aren't a huge distraction in the big picture experience. Some have blackout sewn together, some have plywood butted together.

Tarps may not be a good material but talk about cheap.

http://www.nbmc.com/tarps/white.html

10 X 16 for $16 with heavy duty grommets all around! Probably has seams.


Or maybe some greenhouse supply place would have..

http://www.fraservalleygreenhouse.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=24_111&products_id=572

Be as cheap as the tarp if you didn't have to buy the whole 100' roll!
They also got mylar...looks to have a white backing. Wonder how the silver side would look with the big screen.

[reedl]

I would love to do this here in Mass, but with the plethora of bugs that exist here, it would probably not be possible to keep from everybody getting bit many times over.

And I have a great backyard for this also too.

Oh Well!

Reedl

[jake14mw]

Joe,

I'm shamelessly stealing your idea, and am having a Monsters Inc. party tomorrow night. I have cut out my Sully and Mike characters. Do you have any tips on painting them? I bought a quart of the three main colors for them. Did you worry about details like the hair texture on Sully, or did you just paint the colors flat? Thanks for the awesome idea, I'm having fun.

[joe12south]

I styled mine with flat colors, based on the 50's era illustrations that they used for much of the ancillary movie art. There are several children's books, etc. that have the Monster's Inc. characters in this style.

[FramerJohn]

Its been awhile since I have checked in here. Last week we did Scooby Doo2. This was our 3rd time. It keeps growing everytime we do this. We had about 70 to 80 people in our front yard, its hard to count in the dark. For a screen I used dbroomes idea for putting the 2 tarps together with velcro and gromets around the outside. This worked great I got my screen alot flater and the two tarps I found are white with a vynil coating.
At 18' the picture was great. I was shocked at the quality.

[dbroome]

I did mine Friday night, and will hopefully be putting up some pictures soon. Turn out was awful, though. We only had 12 (and I popped popcorn BY HAND for 60). Stupid debates got scheduled same night as my party ;-)

[XRocker]

Looks at 32'' tv, looks at picture, looks at 32'' tv, looks at picture, starts to cry :(

[dbroome]

Okay, here are the images I promised, finally:
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0138.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0139.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0140.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0141.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0142.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0143.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0144.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0145.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0146.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0147.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0148.jpg
http://www.davidbroome.com/images/dcp_0149.jpg

Feel fre to ask any questions!

[Todd Torfin]

where did you get the shower board at?

[Todd Torfin]

what type of Kilz did you use? Exterior, General Purpose, Latex, Premium?

Does the shower board come in 4X8 sheets? If they do would this shower board make a good indoor screen say one sheet 4X8 nailed to a frame, hung from ceiling cover it with Kilz do you think that would work?

[dbroome]

I'm afraid I didn't use shower board. Just a couple of drop clothes (that really need to be restretched after hanging in the garage for almost a full year).

[joe12south]

Just regular old Kilz. Doesn't really matter. The point is to matte the the very glossy surface of the showerboard.

I don't think the showerboard/Kilz solution would really stand-up to the intense scrutiny of permanent, indoor use. You can find many, many threads on better solutions for that.

[opel70]

I purchased a silver 16'x9' tarp at the end of the year last year to make a backyard screen. Still need to build it, but that is the plan for this spring. Still need to get a viable cheep option for the audio. My laptop doesn't have digital out, so DD or DTS are out.

[Kram207]

Won't that be a bit dark??

[GraceAdler]

There's a good forum about backyard theatres at

backyardtheater.com


Does anyone know where to get BO cloth? I haven't found a website for any.

[victor-eyd]

walmart.com sell 105x80 blackout cloth (it's hidden unless you click on the fabric size box)
lumenlab.com sells 110" wide cloth
as does dazian.com

jo-anns or any local fabric store sells blackout cloth aka blackout drapes aka curtain liner at 55" wide

All items above except the walmart are per yard but at least you have the height should you want something larger than 55" high.

Victor

[Steve Scherrer]

I went to Wal-Mart looking for a suitable material, and found a white very stretchable spandex-type material. I believe it is 54 inches, but easily stretches to about 7 or 8 feet wide. I actually bought about 10 yards of the stuff, so I plan on making my screen about 7 or 8 feet tall by about 12-14 feet wide.

The material itself is very matte--my wife and I held it up to our indoor screen and it seemed to make a fantastic image. We also noticed that it works on both sides, so would make a great reversible screen as well (in other words for a rear projected screen). We bought enough that if it thins out too much when stretched, we will double it up to brighten the picture up.

The best news: It was $1.00 /yd at Wal-Mart on clearance, meaning I only paid ten bucks for it. And no seams, if everything goes according to plan...

[victor-eyd]

Steve,

What's the material called? I'm looking to get to create a 170-190" 16:9 outdoor screen and can you confirm it actually stretches to 7-8' ft high?

Victor

[Steve Scherrer]

The material stretches comfortably to 7 feet, and (with effort) to about 8 feet--without really any extra for wrapping or stapling. I have noticed a couple of important things about the material, though.

When stretching, the material gets very thin, and is see through with only one layer. I recommend getting enough material to double up.


I had a lot of trouble stapling the screen to the frame I made (which is about 7 feet by 16 feet (2.35:1). It runs like women's nylons. I would recommend getting some king of reinforcing material.

As it is for me, I am making a collapsible screen with 2x2s and hinges. I have decided not to use the stretchable material (although for a fixed screen, I believe the screen would be absolutely smooth and flawless). By taking the screen down and collapsing it repeatedly, I think the screen will too easily tear.


Edit: Oh, to answer the question, it is simply white spandex, 54 inches wide.

[ender611]

I didn't have any luck in finding this material in my area last year but maybe some greenhouse or hydroponic place in your area would carry it..

black and white poly (http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/56631.0/CategoryID/12000.0/SubCatID/2715.0/file.htm)

not sure if it would work

[Steve Scherrer]

[QUOTE=ender611]I didn't have any luck in finding this material in my area last year but maybe some greenhouse or hydroponic place in your area would carry it..

black and white poly (http://www.kalyx.com/store/proddetail.cfm/ItemID/56631.0/CategoryID/12000.0/SubCatID/2715.0/file.htm)

not sure if it would work[/QUOTE]

Interesting. I would think the material would be too reflective, and cause hotspotting. But I would be interested in checking it out.

I was speaking to a friend, and he recommended a 12x16 white painting tarp (papery on one side, plastic on the other), which I bought last night for $16 at Home Depot. The mater would work as a screen, but it has all kinds of wrinkles, and two big seams running the length. I am trying to find a seamless material. (I am not totally giving up on the stretchable spandex, especially if I can't find a suitable replacement fairly soon. But I will need to do some work to reinforce the edges so that the material doesn't run when stapled to the frame.

[rfisk]

[QUOTE=victor-eyd]Steve,

What's the material called? I'm looking to get to create a 170-190" 16:9 outdoor screen and can you confirm it actually stretches to 7-8' ft high?

Victor[/QUOTE]

The stretch material I use is called Trapeze and I get it from Dazian. It's durable and I'd have to say it's pretty tear-resistant -- also washable. Great stuff, in my opinion. It stretches 50% in both directions. Works for front or rear projection.

Here's a thread about my outdoor screen (http://backyardtheater.com/forums/index.php/topic,17.0.html) construction (with photos) and here are a few projected screen images (http://backyardtheater.com/forums/index.php/topic,44.0.html) .

Randy

[Steve Scherrer]

Great work rfisk. The screen looks amazing, and the images are fantastic. Enjoy!

By the way, there is another outdoor screen thread here: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=448969

[Arty13]

I've been looking at this Trapeze material, it looks promising, but how much would you buy for a 300 inch widescreen? would 6yards be enough? 6yards=216 inches wide, and 122 inches tall, and for a 300 inch screen i need 261X147, would that be too much or too little streching? or could i just use 5 yards instead? Also when it gets streched how see through does it get? Also what is a good pj to use for this size? i figured if anything, when i upgrade my current pj, the Optoma H31, i could use that outside on the screen, or would that be a bad idea? and by the way great screen :D


Arty

[rfisk]

[QUOTE=Arty13]I've been looking at this Trapeze material, it looks promising, but how much would you buy for a 300 inch widescreen? would 6yards be enough? 6yards=216 inches wide, and 122 inches tall, and for a 300 inch screen i need 261X147, would that be too much or too little streching? or could i just use 5 yards instead? Also when it gets streched how see through does it get? Also what is a good pj to use for this size? i figured if anything, when i upgrade my current pj, the Optoma H31, i could use that outside on the screen, or would that be a bad idea? and by the way great screen :D
Arty[/QUOTE]

Thanks Arty!

RE: material ordering, I'm not sure. When I ordered mine, I thought I had it ‘all figured out’ without much waste. Turned out the piece I received was WAY big and I may have twice as much as I needed. Honestly, I was so excited about it I just chopped off the excess and tossed it back into the box.

I wrote it off to one of two things:
1) I didn’t know squat about ordering fabric (likely).
2) They were at the end of a roll and just chucked whatever was left into the box (possible).

I never revisited it to figure it out. They claim a 50% stretch and my unscientific test (pull it out of the box and tug on it a couple times) pretty much confirmed that.

I would not stretch it much tighter than necessary at first. It goes taught pretty quick and will stay there for a long time. It ‘will’ relax a bit and you will need to give it a stretch again. Don’t freak out -- it’s not a problem. Maybe you’ll tighten it up once a season. I only mention it so you don’t overdo it at first.

It is reasonably transparent. i.e. if you’re in a situation where there will be ambient or direct light ‘behind’ your screen, you’re going to have viewing problems. If it’s either blocked or dark behind your screen, you’ll love it.

I’m not familiar with that PJ but if you’re not competing with a lot of ambient light, and have 400+ lumens to work with, I’ll bet you’re OK to get rolling.

Have fun!

Randy

[Gadget_girl]

Does it matter what sort of projector you use on these big screens? What about some of the recent "hot buys" such as the H31, 4805, AE700 etc. Will these work or do you need something of a higher end for such a large screen?

[victor-eyd]

I got great results firing a 15ft wide 4:3 against my garage using a NEC MT820 with over 1300hrs and SVGA res.

Cost me all of $10.00 to do it.

Yes, that was the price of the projector.

Do you need a high end pj to accomplish the same? No, you don't - unless its the only pj you have.

Victor

[rfisk]

[QUOTE=Gadget_girl]Does it matter what sort of projector you use on these big screens? What about some of the recent "hot buys" such as the H31, 4805, AE700 etc. Will these work or do you need something of a higher end for such a large screen?[/QUOTE]

I've been using a 400 lumen NEC MT600 outdoors for five years. No, you don't need an expensive projector. As time goes on, you may 'want' more, however. Depends on your ambient light, throw distance, and screen size.

Randy

[BusyHands]

I was intrigued by the mention of using Tyvek for an outdoor screen (this was last year), but there was no followup on it.

I did some looking and discovered a kite-making store that sells 60" Tyvek sheet for $3.50 a yard. That's a hard price to beat for a good outdoor screen, assuming the Tyvek works well.

Kitemakers also use lots of strong, lightweight rods and tubes and have lots of clever connectors to put them all together with. So, what I'm thinking about is making a 60x100 inch rectangular kite, which will probably weight less a two pounds and can be rolled up and stored in a mailing tube.

Does anyone have experience to share on using Tyvek and/or making a frame from carbon fiber kite components?

[camarillo_cinema]

I just bought a 12 x 20 ft white tarp on eBay for about $30, including shipping. With it, I bought some "bungee balls" that allow you to fasten this to your frame thru the grommets. I now need to design the frame, and mount it. It should be up and running next week.

Don

[Steve Scherrer]

We had our movie night the other night, and although I didn't get any shots during the movie (I didn't want to disturb the 30-40 or so guests we had, I did manage to get a few before taking down the equipment. Check out my gallery to see some screen shots of The Incredibles, the movie we showed that night (as well as a couple with "Cars", the preview on the Incredibles). I also have some with a flash and some during the day to get a good view of the screen.

The images are limited by the camera--the real images were much sharper, brighter and more colorful. I used a Benq 6100 projector running through a Panny RP-56 progressive scan.

Enjoy!

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=22516

[blknblu]

OK, I'm new here and just wanted to post to say thanks for all the great ideas. I did my first outdoor movie this past weekend and it was a success.

Since I am only going to do this maybe once a month thru the season, I wanted something inexpensive and easy to assemble and disassemble.

I used a 10'x20' white tarp stretched on a 2" PVC frame. I used the bungee ball thingys to secure the tarp to the frame. The frame used the full 10' long pipe in all sections with standard unglued fittings, tees and elbows. It had a center support in the vertical. The tight tarp on the frame makes it hold itself together and I guyed off the two end verticals and added a knee brace to the center support behind the screen screwed to a stake in the ground so it wouldn't move. I was able to set the frame directly on the ground since it was uphill from our deck. It was plenty sturdy. I am planning on adding 4 or 5' legs so I can move it down the hill closer to the deck. This may prove a little tricky.

The image was good on the white tarp, but as others have said it is a bit shinny in the bright areas of the image. I am trying to figure out a way to tone it down some. It is however very cost effective, I found one on line for $14 plus about $7 for shipping.

Total screen cost was under $100 and I figure I can set up or take down the screen in under 30 minutes now that all the head scratching and parts are together.

[bootron]

when people were having hotspotting issues with the silver metallic pvc fabric they used a frosted vinyl layer on top to tone it down some. this may work for you to get a very thin layer of frosted vinyl and lay it on top. if you can get it to lay flat it might cure the shiny problem.

[rfisk]

[QUOTE=BusyHands]I was intrigued by the mention of using Tyvek for an outdoor screen (this was last year), but there was no followup on it.
[/QUOTE]

Hi Busy,

My intitial experiments were with Tyvek. We were adding on to our house at the time and I had some lying around. It worked OK but it did hotspot. Also, I wasn't able to find any without all the blue lettering and it showed through from the back.

It was just a little glossy in my opinion.

[BusyHands]

Thanks for your reply, Randy. Kitemakers use the stuff, and I have found it - CHEAP - in 60" width, and without any printing, on one kite site. And the folks on that site have been really helpful suggesting methods of making a screen from kite materials (Tyvek, graphite rod and connectors). The shininess would definitely be a concern, though.

Seems like the best thing, for now, would just be to make an aluminum frame for my canvas screen.... But the Tyvek idea is not dead. I'm going to get some samples to see what the stuff looks like. Thanks for all the input!

[brickie]

Cool thread..glad to see it still going.

How would a true micro perfed screen from inside a movie theater work?I've got a chance to pick one up from a theater closing down(sorry only 1 screen),MINT shape for $100 or less..Size is like 30 ft by something..Don't remember.I'm going to check it out later today.Cool thing is it's already grommetted.

brickie

[BusyHands]

Seems to me like it would FREAKIN' IDEAL! Someone posted about using a perfed screen outdoors and reported that it reduced wind problems some. Obviously, the optical characteristics would be fantastic. The only possible concern would be the size of the thing -- you're going to have to build a really big frame for that one, but it's a problem I could live with.

I'd say, if you have the room for it, grab it!

[Westshorestudios]

Brickie - I'll make you a deal. PM me and tell me where the theater is, your contact person's name, email, telephone, etc., and I'll go out there to evaluate it for your needs. Don't be surprised, though, if I report back that you don't want it! and then in a few weeks you see me post pictures of my new "real cinema" screen!!!

Greg

[Bclews]

Brickie,

I bought one myself and couldn't be happier. Mine was 16' X 30'. I cut it into quarters (7.5' X 16') along existing welded seams.

I kept one end for myself, since it has grommets on 3 sides. I built a simple frame from EMT (metal conduit) and bungee balls. With the bungee balls it is perfectly flat; wrinkles completely disappear.

IMO, a perfect outdoor screen. Let us know how your screen turns out.

[brickie]

Will do..I was even thinking about using some of it as a indoor perfed screen.Anybody have any experience with this?I've heard some frown saying that you would be able to see the holes in a home theater environment..Any different opinions?

brickie

[Bclews]

The holes are pretty big (and plenty of them). Perhaps if you were to back it with a white material they would be less evident.

Here's a look at mine before I cleaned it --

http://gallery.avsforum.com/showphoto.php/photo/15539/size/big

[brickie]

Thanks!! Great clear pic,and yes there are quite a few holes there.Evven if it didn't work for inside use,I suppose it doesn't get better as far as an outdoor screen.

brickie

[rfisk]

I tried to get some of this from a local 6-plex being demolished a couple years ago, but they eventually blew me off.

I had some perf samples from one outfit and they went out of their way to warn me it wasn't for outdoor use. As I recall, they were concerned about the reflective surface coating breaking down in the sun and rain. Just thought I'd mention that. Shouldn't be much of a problem if you're putting it up and taking down frequently.

I just remembered something... when they built our local IMAX, they 'ripped' the screen putting it up and it had to be replaced, delaying the grand opening. Doh!

[rsante]

In my signature I created a link to my website that has the outdoor screen construction page and the Jaws movie party pages.

[brickie]

Nice website and looks like you had a major success!!Congrats!

brickie

[rfisk]

VERY cool, Roger! Nice work.

[joe12south]

- Tyvek comes in many different finishes for many different uses, there is also a similar woven composite named Typar that you might want to try. The "shiny" white material with blue lettering is for house wrap.

- The the material you are using is hotspotting, you might want to try coating it with Kilz. Kilz is very white, and even a light dusting with a spray gun would probably eliminate the problem.

- Our next big showing is going to be "The Nightmare Before Christmas" Planning has begun, with October 29th the target date. I'll post pics afterwards.

[Steve Scherrer]

Roger, thanks for the pictures. It looks great!

From your website, I see that you made the screen 2.35:1. I agree, constant height is the way to go with the outdoor screens. There's just something about having the widest possible screen for the best movies. We went from some previews that were 1.78:1 on our 16' x 7' screen, and then when the movie started, and the image stretched the whole width, it was pretty impressive.

(My indoor screen is constant width, which I enjoy, because my pj is ceiling mounted and much more difficult to adjust than the outdoor pj.)

[rsante]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

People are still talking about it around work here, and now one of my wife's uncles is looking into buying a projector.

[MississippiMan]

Just a little teaser fer ya all. Look to see my post on the advent of a true "Drive In Theater" sized 4:3 First Surface Light Fusion screen. 480" <40'> X 281" <23.4'> coming soon. Featuring an all new screen material and Weather Resistant paint, and set up to highlight both Projected Movie content, and live Video feeds from the Multi-Purpose Entertainment Venue in question. (6000 lumen DLP Large Venue PJ to be used, BTW) The Drive-In has FM Broadcast capability as well, 208 Car spaces, a large "Festival Seating" area, and a large "w" shaped Stage under the screen.

No Playground though. :(

A little cruel to be so oblique, butcha know, I would not venture this far down the road to mention this developement without already having a Map and some Gas in my tank. I have a destination and it is almost in sight. When I arrive at the next stop, there will be something exceedingly special for everyone who cares about such things to enjoy, and maybe, just perhaps, employ something similar, and on a 'slightly' less grandiose scale, in thier own Back Yards and Home Theaters.

Oh yeah. Did I mention that it was affordable? It is. More than anything I've advocated before. Anybody will be able to avail themselves of this application as a true DIY project, but have to do very little themselves to achieve the expected and desired results FSLF can offer..

That's all ya all get fer now. Give it about 2-3 weeks, and all shall be known.

MMan

[Scorpion_007]

BRAVO!!! and well done!! Looks awesome

[BusyHands]

Here's an interesting development from an enterprising backyard theater fan: some guy is selling a CD on eBay with instructions for building an outdoor screen from PVC pipe. The photo looks pretty good, though a competent DIYer should be able to look at it and devise a plan without buying the CD.

I'm not able to post the link, which will be stale in a week anyway, but if you search eBay for "build your own drive-in screen", you'll find it.

[victor-eyd]

Save your money:

http://www.digitaldummies.com/projects/outdoor.asp

Victor

[bkalil]

I was browsing through some search engines and came across this thread. I had to throw my 2 cents out there now .... We have been doing outdoor movie nights for the past few years. We belong to a non-profit conservation club that their annual fundraiser in the form of a family picnic every year. A few years ago they opted to not have the traditional bon fire the night before and I began having movie nights for the workers and families. Every year when we go out on the first weekend of october, I try to bring something extra that we did not have the year before. It started out as just a 4 foot screen and a laptop showing through an Lcd projector with PC speakers for sound.

Now we are up to a 10 foot screen on a tripod with a full DJ style sound system. I am actually doing a movie night for my family this weekend for a birthday party, I would like to take some pictures for anyone to look at and give me some ideas as to what other people are using and to tell me what you think of my setup.

I look forward to getting ideas from other people.

[HincklNutt]

awesome job, very impressive. that screen is huge!

a few buddies and i took a 100' extension cord down to target along with one of threre projector, and played a few rounds of halo on the backside of target. taht was a good night. we could see the back of target from my porch, so it seemed like a good idea at the time :p