Author Topic: Outdoor movie screen (Read 12345 times)

shardian · « **on:** July 09, 2009, 08:24:55 am »

I've been wanting to do this for a while, and over the weekend we finally committed. Last night we finished sewing the screen, which is not easy on something this big! I cut out the frame, and I just had to see what it looked like before going to bed. I still need to cut the cross bracing for the frame, which is why the screen is sagging in the test mock-up.
As for size, the screen is 16:9 and is 12' diagonal.
First movie showing is this Saturday night, weather permitting. Movie: Ghostbusters.

ChadTower · « **Reply #1 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:52:26 am »

How do you plan on getting that outside and then back inside? Is there an easy way? And have you factored in the wind?

The issue I ran into was that I quickly got sick of spending an hour beforehand and an hour afterward setting everything up and putting it all away. The cart helped with that a lot but my process still needs a bunch of fine tuning. It just wasn't much fun to have everyone else go in and rest while I had an hour of cleanup to do at 11:30pm.

Hoopz · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:54:30 am »

Nice. Looks like the frame is PVC?

Most of the screens I've seen online show as pretty taut. Will your cross brace help with that? I see the sag in the middle of the top support, but are you concerned about the wrinkles affecting the show?

ChadTower · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:59:17 am »

I'm more concerned with a gust of wind sending the thing to the ground.

Wish anyone I knew had the sewing skills to pull that off. That is the main thing that kept me from trying the blackout cloth.

shardian · « **Reply #4 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:12:44 am »

The frame only will have to do this weekend. The cross bracing will take out almost all of the wrinkles you see.Next week, I am installing some 2" strapping and eyelets so I can stretch the screen against the frame on the back of the frame. A few bungee cords across the length and width will tighten everything up really nice.

As for mounting, 2 metal fenceposts get driven into the ground, 2 more 'legs' of pvc get added to the frame, and the whole thing goes down onto the posts. I'll probably end up bolting the pvc to the posts, but for now we'll see what happens.

Assembly takes less than 5 minutes with 2 people. Dis-assembly is about the same, but the fittings can be finicky depending on where you start. The metal poles are gonna stay in the ground the rest of the summer, and most of the fall.

I don't have a cart or anything for the projector yet. For now I am just going to use ping pong table that will already be out there on the patio. 2 floor speakers and an 80's era amp for sound. A cart with an adjustable mounting pole for the projector would be sweet.

ChadTower · « **Reply #5 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:17:23 am »

Quote from: shardian on July 09, 2009, 09:12:44 am

The metal poles are gonna stay in the ground the rest of the summer, and most of the fall.

How high are the posts? I'm thinking of putting in some pressure treated 4x4s with hooks near the top. That way I can just hang up the pulldown screen with minimal effort. They'll have to be tall but if I put them in the same spot we're viewing now they'll be close enough to the house to be out of the way.

Quote

For now I am just going to use ping pong table that will already be out there on the patio. 2 floor speakers and an 80's era amp for sound.

That's what I was doing but with a piece of plywood and sawhorses. Honestly I liked the sound better with the 60's amp and bigger speakers.

Fordman · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:18:21 am »

If you have a Jo-Ann fabrics store near, there are plenty of grannies and old maids

in there willing to sew this for you. They'll probably do it for about $100.00 or if you talk to them kind enough and offer the old maids a date, they'ed probably do it for free!

All kidding aside, at any fabric store, walk in and ask if the know a seamstress and they will point you ta at leats 99% of their employees that do that on the side or they have business cards of plenty that will do the work!

As for the screen itself, shouldnt be that hard to build a stand that will with stand 5-10mph winds out of pvc.

Fordman

shardian · « **Reply #7 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:18:40 am »

Sewing the blackout cloth was tricky. The stuff just does not like needles due to its vinyl like nature. We used upholstry thread, which is WAY stronger than the actual fabric. You will tear the screen to pieces before you ever break a single thread. We experimented alot with scrap pieces, and the seams are pretty sturdy regardless of which stitch used.The main thing we noticed is that more needle holes = more likelihood for tearing. The heavy duty stitches were actually less durable because they created more - and bigger - holes. A simple straight stitch or zig zag stich with well spaced stitch lengths were best.

Also, the sheer volume of the fabric made it difficult to handle. My wife has a nice sewing table, but I had to hold up the bulk of the material at the edge of the table while she sewed. It is definitely not a single person job.

shardian · « **Reply #8 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:24:36 am »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 09, 2009, 09:17:23 am

Honestly I liked the sound better with the 60's amp and bigger speakers.

We used the same set of 15" woofer floor speakers and 100 watt Onkyo amp at our wedding reception. It was a large reception haul with vaulted ceiling and a 2nd level seating area. Those 2 speakers filled the entire place with crisp, clear, full range sound. It sounded just as good as most DJ setups I have heard.
Sound quality is definitely one thing I am not worried about.
And if I feel lazy, I always have an awesome 2.1 pc speaker set that I used for the Hallowindow/Monster house thing last October. That setup, though small, puts out a ridiculous amount of sound.

ChadTower · « **Reply #9 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:33:10 am »

Hrm. Maybe if I plant those posts wider and put a treated 2x4 across the top, as I had been thinking at first, that would be better. That way I can put hooks for the screen I have now and gives me the ability to mount a wider screen like this one should I actually get one made.

Let us know how the cloth actually works out in terms of colors and brightness. There was a HUGE jump in quality from the vinyl siding to the actual projection screen but we had to shrink the pic to 96" wide. That's the perfect size for inside my house but small for outside. Your screen looks roughly the same size I had on the side of the house so (knowing we have the same projector) you shouldn't have any issues with it.

Yeah, I think the sound issue I have now is twofold... one, I didn't point the speakers in the direction of seating well enough. Two, there's no large cone in those little speakers. They stay clear at high volumes but they're just not pushing enough air for low frequencies in movies. The Sony receiver might be part of the issue, too, as it just may not have the power. The old GE definitely did a better job and I might swap it in. That one is RCA connections, though, and I don't really like chopping the end off a cable to split it. Never did get good results with that.

shardian · « **Reply #10 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:42:53 am »

I don't have the same projector. I bought that Infocus for a co-worker.
I have a Viewsonic PJ400 lcd projector. I double checked, and your projector will be pretty much identical results

BTW, I used this site for all of my calculations.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm

ChadTower · « **Reply #11 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:44:04 am »

Quote from: pinballjim on July 09, 2009, 09:40:36 am

I watched a movie on a piece of canvas stretched between two palm trees out on a beach and it looked fine.

It looked fine on the siding. But it looks better on a screen. And if you were to do it every other week for 6 months the amount of work involved with setup and teardown would get old very fast.

ChadTower · « **Reply #12 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:48:04 am »

Quote from: shardian on July 09, 2009, 09:42:53 am

BTW, I used this site for all of my calculations.
http://www.projectorcentral.com/projection-calculator-pro.cfm

Any idea what the estimated gain is on that cloth? I'm not 100% sure what gain is but that's how this calculator is rating the screen.

shardian · « **Reply #13 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:48:17 am »

Quote from: pinballjim on July 09, 2009, 09:40:36 am

I watched a movie on a piece of canvas stretched between two palm trees out on a beach and it looked fine.

You guys are over complicating this.

If I had 2 nicely placed palm trees at an ideal location from my house, away from neighbors on the beach, then I would agree with you. I loved my window setup during Halloween, but I don't think it is a great idea to broadcast my movies in my front window right out by the road and other houses.

Blackout cloth is necessary so the image doesn't bleed through and light up the whole tree line...and reduce my screen brightness/contrast.

Final reason: I did this because I can, and it looks far more professional than a sheet draped over some trees. You didn't have to restore that sea witch - it would have worked perfectly fine without all that work. I think you overcomplicated that!

shardian · « **Reply #14 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:50:36 am »

AVS forum guru's have spent a crap load of time figuring gain out. Blackout cloth has an average gain of 1. Depending on who you ask, it ranges from .8 to 1.2

I tested out both sides of the cloth, and we felt the white cloth side looked better and was brighter than the smooth, offwhite side. Besides, the white side just looks better standing there than the other side.

shardian · « **Reply #15 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:58:49 am »

This setup is simple. Trust me, I initially thought of what Chad is talking about - permanently mounting poles or something. My wife stepped in with the K.I.S.S. philosophy to save the day.

It took me like half an hour to measure and cut out the frame. Screen construction took around 4 hours spread over 3 nights which includes measuring, marking, cutting, and sewing.

shardian · « **Reply #16 on:** July 09, 2009, 10:01:36 am »

And on that note:
Make a PVC frame for your screen chad. Worried about wind? Throw something heavy over the feet of the stand. You're lucky you all have flat land to deal with. My screen is down the hill from my house - metal posts is the only way I can put mine up.

ChadTower · « **Reply #17 on:** July 09, 2009, 10:04:15 am »

Quote from: pinballjim on July 09, 2009, 09:52:57 am

Sure, guys, sure, but I'm simply urging you to aim for simplicity so you can actually enjoy yourselves. Making it so complex will make it so much work to set it up that you'll avoid doing it and then we'll see your setup on B/S/T next year.

Well that's the point of making the setup easy. By the end of last year I wasn't interested in doing it anymore because of how long it took. I don't mind one time work, though, so I built the cart. I figure if I set up that mount I described, and we stop using it, my wife will use it to hang plants or something. My family really enjoys the movies so it's worth the effort as long as I keep it where I don't hate the process.

The 4x4 posts aren't a permanent thing, anyway. All you have to do is dig a post hole and keep the thing plumb. I don't think I need a full frame but pipes at the top and bottom would be necessary to keep it spread. I don't get much wind in my yard. It's a small area enclosed by 12' bushes, a house, a 12' fence, and several trees.

Vanguard · « **Reply #18 on:** July 09, 2009, 10:14:26 am »

I made an outdoor screen out of the extruded aluminum channel used to build pool enclosures.

I got my cloth from a company called Dazian who has a reflective stretchy fabric for projection screens.

http://www.dazian.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?action=color_family

The aluminum channel has a groove in it that you push a rubber spline into that holds the fabric in place. Since the fabric is stretchy, I was able to pull the fabric while attaching with the spline. The screen came out perfectly smooth with no wrinkles.

I put some 4x4 post in the ground in the backyard and clamp the screen to them when we have a movie. When I'm done, I just slide the screen into my garage along one wall.

The screen is about 11'x6' in size. I also built a stand that holds the laptop and AV equipment that I just roll out to the yard and were read to go. I have outdoor speakers in the yard so I just wheel my AV rig up to the projection spot and I hook into my outdoor speakers via a box I put in the ground.

Setup and teardown takes no more than a few minutes.

Unfortunately we've had so much rain this summer that we haven't had 1 showing yet.

ChadTower · « **Reply #19 on:** July 09, 2009, 10:17:08 am »

Nice! I'm thinking something I can roll up for easier storage works better for me. For now the 96" actual screen is definitely good enough, though.

shardian · « **Reply #20 on:** July 09, 2009, 10:22:44 am »

The PVC screen material is definitely an upgrade to blackout cloth...but at a big price difference. 8 yards of blackout cloth set me back around $21.

ChadTower · « **Reply #21 on:** July 09, 2009, 10:27:22 am »

Yeah, I only have the pulldown screen because I got it for $65 off CL.

SithMaster · « **Reply #22 on:** July 09, 2009, 05:39:59 pm »

Why can't the screen be mounted to the side of the house? If you use the cloth then you could use those metal eyelets and some screws on the siding to hold it up. Taking it down wouldn't be difficult.

ChadTower · « **Reply #23 on:** July 09, 2009, 06:26:45 pm »

Because I don't want to poke holes in my siding... or the asbestos shingles that are under it. $:-\$

SithMaster · « **Reply #24 on:** July 09, 2009, 06:29:30 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 09, 2009, 06:26:45 pm

Because I don't want to poke holes in my siding... or the asbestos shingles that are under it. $:-\$

That would be a problem. Well then there is the use of velcro.

ChadTower · « **Reply #25 on:** July 09, 2009, 09:44:55 pm »

Hrm. The vinyl siding is not meant to bear any weight. Might not hold.

The 4x4 post idea is the easiest by far, I think.

ChadTower · « **Reply #26 on:** July 10, 2009, 08:55:45 am »

Quote from: pinballjim on July 09, 2009, 10:31:42 pm

Put two eye hooks in your overhang, run two ropes down to upper corner grommets on your screen, and then two ropes going from bottom corner grommets to tent stakes in the ground?

Hrm... that could work. I'll check the overhang. Might not have a ladder that reaches up there as that's the vertex of my roof.

shardian · « **Reply #27 on:** July 10, 2009, 12:56:05 pm »

Last night I picked up 2 more sticks of PVC, went home, ate and laid down. Summer sickness sucks! My wonderful wife even got the PVC out of the car. This morning she drove by a yard sale and picked up some sort of cart for the AV projector stuff. Boy did I land a keeper. Now if only I could convince her to apply some vinyl to the pacman...

I hope I feel better this evening so I can get everything set up and tested out.

ChadTower · « **Reply #28 on:** July 10, 2009, 01:47:19 pm »

Bah. My wife won't even set up the chairs to watch a movie.

koz319 · « **Reply #29 on:** July 10, 2009, 02:38:06 pm »

Shardian,

Nice job on the screen!

Not trying to take away from the DIY aspect, but for anyone interested in an outdoor screen, wal-mart has the inflatable gemmy screen on sale for $163.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7983503

I know I mentioned this before, and I know it's more expensive than the DIY solutions, but after trying several different DIY solutions, I'm pretty happy with this. Setup is not too tough, and it stows in a duffle when you're done. No permanent mounts necessary. Three downsides to this - it's not good in high wind, the tiedown ropes are not adjustable as delivered (easily fixed), and it's more fun to DIY

So my only question now is - what's the 1st movie gonna be?

Koz

ChadTower · « **Reply #30 on:** July 10, 2009, 02:45:06 pm »

Heh, read the rewiews... "the fan didn't work, it won't go back in the bag, didn't work in wind, the fans suck up grass, and the bag was ripped" and then the person gives it a 5 star rating.

shardian · « **Reply #31 on:** July 10, 2009, 02:55:55 pm »

Quote from: koz319 on July 10, 2009, 02:38:06 pm

Shardian,

Nice job on the screen!

Not trying to take away from the DIY aspect, but for anyone interested in an outdoor screen, wal-mart has the inflatable gemmy screen on sale for $163.

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=7983503

I know I mentioned this before, and I know it's more expensive than the DIY solutions, but after trying several different DIY solutions, I'm pretty happy with this. Setup is not too tough, and it stows in a duffle when you're done. No permanent mounts necessary. Three downsides to this - it's not good in high wind, the tiedown ropes are not adjustable as delivered (easily fixed), and it's more fun to DIY

So my only question now is - what's the 1st movie gonna be?

Koz

That's a great price for a blow up screen that size. The reviewers also say the screen is detachable. It won't work for my setup due to the hill in my back yard. I'm setting up the projector at the edge of my patio, and projecting to the screen 20 feet down the hill. The land will not be flat where the screen goes.

ChadTower · « **Reply #32 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:00:48 pm »

Quote from: shardian on July 10, 2009, 02:55:55 pm

The reviewers also say the screen is detachable.

Wouldn't it have to be detachable? A good screen would get all crinkled up and crappy if you just jammed it into a bag.

shardian · « **Reply #33 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:04:03 pm »

Quote from: ChadTower on July 10, 2009, 03:00:48 pm

Wouldn't it have to be detachable? A good screen would get all crinkled up and crappy if you just jammed it into a bag.

Well it is from Wal-Mart, and priced at a fraction of competitors.

ChadTower · « **Reply #34 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:04:54 pm »

Quote from: shardian on July 10, 2009, 03:04:03 pm

Well it is from Wal-Mart, and priced at a fraction of competitors.

Fair enough.

ChadTower · « **Reply #35 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:08:43 pm »

Heh, yeah, because the owner of that house is looking for a $30 solution to add on.

koz319 · « **Reply #36 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:13:04 pm »

Quote from: shardian on July 10, 2009, 02:55:55 pm

That's a great price for a blow up screen that size. The reviewers also say the screen is detachable. It won't work for my setup due to the hill in my back yard. I'm setting up the projector at the edge of my patio, and projecting to the screen 20 feet down the hill. The land will not be flat where the screen goes.

How steep is your hill? The inflatable frame is actually sort of flexible, so if the grade is not too steep, it should work just fine. (shorter tie ropes one one side, longer on other, screen will angle)

shardian · « **Reply #37 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:22:56 pm »

Ideal for sledding steep on the side I prefer to put the screen.

koz319 · « **Reply #38 on:** July 10, 2009, 03:52:17 pm »

Never been sledding, but I would imagine the hill is definitely too steep.

Post pics when you're done!

Koz

jfunk · « **Reply #39 on:** July 10, 2009, 06:26:30 pm »

My wife and I bought this screen from target.com... The first one we got had a busted motor, but the second one was great (free shipping - and fast - so no big deal there)...

Got a fairly cheap all-in-one dvd/projector from Sam's Club.. Looking to try it out a few times this summer

Looking forward to seeing other setups on here...

-Jason


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