1. I've never owned a projecter, so, are they any good? I currently have a Sony 55in flatscreen so like good quality.

2. Is there any taboo to setting up a projector indoors and a screen in the garden to sit and watch? Broadcasting rights etc or will it simply be crap?

As an absolute newbie on this I can't decide if it's a great or stupid idea!

As long as outside is dark enough then outdoor projection will work. Diarmuid Gavin the TV Gardener was keen on outdoor projection on the show Home Front. If you're fighting against the power of the sun though you can forget it.

General tips: Keep the screen size sensible. Light is like a foil wrapped single serving of butter. Spread it on a crumpet and it's lovely and thick and you get the full flavour. Try instead to butter half a loaf with it...

You'll need sound and also some way to control what's playing. So budget for an amp, and some speakers - waterproof if they're going to live outside permanently - and some way to relay infra remote control signals back indoors. A PowerMid will do fine for this.

It's pretty simple - when you go to the cinema you sit in the dark, it's essentially the same with a TV projector - although indoors, with a smallish screen, it works reasonably well with normal light levels.

Outside at night, in the dark, would work fine.

Cheers guys. I plan on keeping all of the accouterments inside, with just the screen in the garden, which I'll bring in after use and it will be solely for use in the dark.

Is it all dependent on the actual projector for the quality and the distance that I'll be able to set the screen up?

Pretty well - but even more expensive ones don't have that much greater range/size (which is dependent on how bright the bulb is).

EDIT: One point, the other year they showed outdoor films in the park opposite where I work - good big screen, and looked pretty spectacular even in the afternoon. Obviously it was an expensive commercial unit though.

Long throw projection is the exact opposite of what's required for most living rooms and meeting rooms. And that's what most projectors are made for. The exception is the conference/lecture theatre projectors with interchangeable lenses. The rub is price. The lenses alone run from just under £1000 to well over £5K. The bodies are range from £3500~£50K+

If the screen is only a temporary installation for ad-hoc viewing then you might as well do the same with the projector. It'll be a damned sight cheaper and easier to find a small bright short-throw projector than one with an unusually long throw lens.

I have 1080px on my current screen so opting for less would be a no no for me surely?

At first glance, would this be the one for me? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Optoma-HD230...5355767&sr=1-5

It says that it's brighter so can be used during daytime.

You don't have to match the TV resolution. You can have any resolution projector you want.

The sensible choices are those that have a native 16:9 display the same shape as your TV screen. These are the projectors that have a resolution of 1280x720 pixels (720p A.K.A. HD-Ready) and the others that have 1920x1080 pixels (1080p A.K.A. Full HD). Projectors (and your TV too) take whatever the incoming signal is and multiply up the resolution to match whatever the display needs. We call this scaling. For example, your DVDs are 720x576 pixels and so is most standard definition TV as well. That's scaled to the panel resolution.

720p projectors have been around as a technology longer than 1080p ones. What you might find is that you get something significantly brighter in a 720p model for similar money to a 1080p non-3D machine.

"Lights on Entertainment"... just take manufacturers claims with a pinch of salt. Optomas are good projectors, and anything north of 2000 ANSI brightness is pretty bright for the average living room. Yes, with the right type of source and room lighting that doesn't fall directly on the screen then you can quite happily view with the room lights on. For example, a football match under floodlights or a day match is great to watch like that. But if you tried to watch the average filom which includes night scenes then you'll find those parts hard to make out. The room light will be brighter than the image being projected during those shots, so the room light wins and obscures the darker parts of the image.

It's all relative. Your mobile ringing by the bed in the middle of the night sounds like all hell breaking loose. The same volume ring might easily be missed when you're driving and listening to the radio. Room lighting is no match for the power of the sun.

chances are it would have been one of those LED boards/screens rather than a projector though,don't you think ? - if it was visible in the afternoon -

Hooray! At least now I know I am not the only person to want to try an outdoor projection screen setup! Many of my friends seemed to think I was crazy for this! Thank you for setting up this thread OP!

No, it was a projector - I was VERY, VERY impressed by it (I thought it was going to be completely crap!)

I didn't see it at night, as I'd gone home by them, but presumably it would have been even better?.

I'm looking to do the same in my garden once the weather improves.

Never been to a Drive in Cinema then

http://www.route66driveincinemas.co.uk/

There aren't many round here

However you do see them on the old American films, and of course as they ran at night brightness was no problem.

I think you're all crazy! When it's warm enough in the summer to sit outside it won't be dark until 10pm. I've sure your neighbours will love the sound of watching TV outside!

No need to get a projector just one of these.http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...osts-414k.html

Hmmm.... £414,000 for...for....oh yes. The James Bond gadget styling. The mechanism is cool. But at the end of the day this isn't even HD Ready resolution. 720p is 922,000 pixels roughly. That Porsche designed set is 725,000 pixels. And it's just an outdoor LED screen in fancy clothes. It's the same as the big screens at football grounds and shopping centres.

Thing is, the sound will be inside, I plan to have all of the technical stuff indoors projecting onto a screen in the garden through the open French doors.

It's no different to watching TV with the window open sound wise, surely?

wireless headphones for everyone too then ?

Nice idea in theory, but will be a pain in the arse to setup everytime, especially if the PJ has no lens shift. In time you'll know where to roughly place the PJ and screen and how to fine tune it, but it still takes time. I started off using a PJ on a desktop but soon got fed up setting it up and taking it down.

What sort of screen are you thinking of using, I'm assuming it'll be a portable one, let's hope there's no wind or stiff breeze.

You can't beat a system that's permanently fixed, just pull the screen down switch the PJ on and start watching. Can't help thinking it'll a be a big waste of money for the amount of times it will be used, there are so few nights where you can sit in comfort with french doors wide open. Have fun what ever you do.

We did it often in Cyprus, but wouldn't really contemplate it in the UK, cold and light pollution in town causing problems.

Good post that addresses some issues.

As I've said, it's just an idea. I'm just moving into a new house and with some extra money to burn am looking at some fantasy options.

I plan to project onto a wall at the end of the garden, the screen won't be permanent but I would probably have some kind of system in place to secure all four corners to the wall.

Having had no experience of projectors before, am I being foolhardy by thinking that I can just set it up on the back wall of the living room and point it out towards the back of the garden or is there much more to it?

I'd love to see examples of people who have given it a go

You will need the PJ positioned close to the opening of the french doors so it has clear path for projection. Having it set back too far you will not be able to project the image beyond the door opening.

What sort of distances are we talking here, wall to french doors and french doors to garden wall?


Just give you an idea on projected images and distances, for home cinema PJ's you would be looking at at 100" screen for a PJ positioned at around 12ft, this does vary from PJ to PJ.

Well for what I'm thinking it will be as far from the doors as can be to the other end of the garden. My inexperienced view suggests that as long as there are no obstructions there shouldn't be a problem, however, will the quality of the beam suffer having come from indoors 1/5 of the distance it travels through 4/5's outdoors? (rough calculations)

The beam shouldn't suffer providing there is sufficient darkness, too much light pollution and it will.

Have you any rough measurements, because if the 1/5 = 5ft you are talking of a 25ft distance, the screen would be huge, around 200", PQ on reasonably priced pj's will start to suffer when you go above 120".

I think you need to see what the distances/screen size is going to be before you go ahead.