Outdoor projector/screen

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Thinking about turning the back of my garage into a movie screen and watching some movies outside. What does it take to make this work? Recommended screen and projector? Paging Big Daddy...

[Timberridge]

Get a large white bed sheet from Walmart?

[Woodsy]

They sell paint that is made for projection.
buddy used it in his bar to create 2 projection TVs. Neighbor painted a sheet to use it. paint back of garage?
plain sheet not as good as you would think, too thin and no weight.

other neighbor just bought a blow up projection screen, test drive this weekend.

Projectors these days are so good, little one the size of a 6 pack has 10x the lumens of the ones built in to hotel/etc 5-10 years ago

[MontuckyFried]

They sell paint that is made for projection.
buddy used it in his bar to create 2 projection TVs. Neighbor painted a sheet to use it. paint back of garage?

This. Read this to get started as some of the recommendations have changed since formulas have changed: https://hometheateracademy.com/paint-projector-screen/
Painting a wall is a REALLY fun way to go. You can balls to the wall big, it's incredibly cost effective (if you're doing it yourself), plus it just looks rad as hell. Going to be some prep work as you sand everything down to a perfect finish and such, but I think it would be worth it.
EDIT: NEVERMIND. BRAINFARTED.

[Not DJSapp]

What is equally important is sound. Whatever you're using for sound inside is lost outside. You need some big ass speakers. And distance from your neighbors because once it's loud enough to be enjoyable, that shit is going to travel.

The paint looks shitty during the day (IMHO), and if it's outside you'll need to clean it. I would normally say just get some MDO plywood, build a frame and paint that, but that would cost thousands of dollars. You could just build a frame and get the screen material and only be out $300 worth of 2x4's

https://thelashop.com/products/home-...SABEgLZDvD_BwE

[MontuckyFried]

What is equally important is sound. Whatever you're using for sound inside is lost outside. You need some big ass speakers. And distance from your neighbors because once it's loud enough to be enjoyable, that shit is going to travel.

The paint looks shitty during the day (IMHO), and if it's outside you'll need to clean it. I would normally say just get some MDO plywood, build a frame and paint that, but that would cost thousands of dollars. You could just build a frame and get the screen material and only be out $300 worth of 2x4's

https://thelashop.com/products/home-...SABEgLZDvD_BwE

OMG. You're right. I just re-read his post and I realized he was talking about painting the back of the OUTSIDE of his garage. Thought he was talking about the back of the inside for some reason and making a garage theater cave. My bad. Yeah. Disregard the paint idea, OP.

[warthog]

I bought a very large projection screen that folds up like a sheet when not in use. I installed grommet eyes on all corners and in several spots on every side. I just bungee cord it to my pool cage (backside of house would work too- I use EMT to make a frame at my old house) and run the audio through bluetooth to my Sonos setup. The projector can stay outside (mounted under flat roof), or I can remove it. I tend to remove it because it is so humid here. I have the hookups mounted right under the flat roof. Just a 2 gang power and HDMI that feeds back into the house to the TV. Pretty simple, once you climb in the attic and deal with it.

[cravenmorhead]

I tend to trust the Wirecutter's reviews for this sort of thing, particularly where I don't want to devote weeks on end to researching projectors and the like.

[ex-powderbroker]

ISBD - I bought a projector last year with good reviews off of Amazon for this purpose. I've only done two outdoor movies so far, which should be a consideration - no one has enough free time to put miles on these projectors. Anyway, the brightness is beyond fine on a modern powerful projector but as mentioned above the sound is the real issue. Fan noise is completely underestimated... it's about as much fun as summiting something cool and there's a kid up there who just got a drone for the first time, and he charged up 5 batteries. So suffice it to say that the blue tooth JBL doesn't really cut it. Good luck, the two times I had people over, it was fun.

[Yonder_River]

We bought a white fabric screen from Amazon that has grommets around it that we hook into little screws on our fence and it works pretty good, maybe you could do something like that with your garage. Takes about 1 minute to put up and take down.

[Bobby Stainless]

Screens are like 30 bucks on Amazon. Im going to hang one on my fence.


https://www.amazon.com/Projector-Scr...s%2C178&sr=8-4

[I've seen black diamonds!]

Thanks everybody. Glad to hear the cheap projectors are serviceable these days. Is there a max screen size they can handle?

As far as sound goes, I appreciate that my neighbors are quiet and try to do the same. Will probably be watching movies that are more ambient (ski movies, classic action films people have already seen) than engrossing. Hopefully a pair of bluetooth speakers can get the job done.

[splat]

Former neighbors used the side of their white house to show their 8 fucking kids movies.

[m2711c]

Thanks everybody. Glad to hear the cheap projectors are serviceable these days. Is there a max screen size they can handle?

As far as sound goes, I appreciate that my neighbors are quiet and try to do the same. Will probably be watching movies that are more ambient (ski movies, classic action films people have already seen) than engrossing. Hopefully a pair of bluetooth speakers can get the job done.

it’s usually the bass that carries enough to bothers people. Putting a piece of plywood behind your speakers can help direct the bass back towards you guys instead of towards your neighbors.

[PNWbrit]

Unless you invite the neighbors and they attend this sounds like being a shitty neighbor.

[EWG]

Unless you invite the neighbors and they attend this sounds like being a shitty neighbor.

My next door neighbor does this. Did it all through Covid. He’s a great dude and invites all the neighbors to watch. He’s done about 25 movies between last summer and this one. Everyone shows up with camp chairs and hangs or. Socially distanced last summer. Less so now.

Good fun. No worries even if we don’t attend. It’s noisy but it’s cool our friends are having a good time. Love it.

He bought a whole kit on Amazon - included screen, projector, sound system etc. was cost effective.