Iggy's Outdoor Theater

[Iguana Man]

It's taken longer than I thought, but I finally have everything in place. Equipment has been purchased. Cables, surge protector, speaker wire, and of course, the PJ, DVD player, speakers and AVR are all ready to go.

This Outdoor Theater is going to be projected onto a huge wall that was sanded and repainted (the initial pic below is before said work). The image in widescreen mode will be a whopping 16 feet wide by 9 feet tall. This equates to a 220 inch screen.

Seating is BYOB. As in, bring your own blanket or beanbag chair.

It's only going to have stereo sound for now. That may change as I get further into it, but for now, stereo only.

Resolution-wise, it is going to be 720p or 1080i SD. I considered HD but given the viewing public (minus myself), it ain't gonna matter. It's pretty much for young kids to enjoy and for them to experience what a Drive-In was like back in the (my) day.

Equipment:

Panasonic PT-AX100U LCD Projector

The AX100U delivers the most elegant and natural video image we have yet seen from LCD technology. By comparison, last year's AE900 was an incremental step beyond the formidable AE700, but this year the AX100U represents a very significant step to a whole new level of performance. Black levels are noticeably improved, and the subtle softness that we found in the AE900 is entirely gone. The AX100U's image is extremely sharp and clean.

Toshiba SD-5000 upcon player w/HDMI.

Pioneer VSX-516K AVR 100wpc

Speakers..DJ style, bright sounding but cheap.

Here are the pics of the equipment and 'screen'.

[Pirate]

I cannot wait to see this finished, Iggy!

[firestorm]

Originally Posted by piratehunter

I cannot wait to see this finished, Iggy!

X2!

16' x 9'... too cool! I also like the simplicity in the math necessary to get 16x9.

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by firestorm

X2!

16' x 9'... too cool! I also like the simplicity in the math necessary to get 16x9.

I'm a simple man.

[sub780lime]

Happy you got the equipment...still cannot wait for this thing to be up and running. Feel like this project has been talked about for years and I am sure it seems longer than that for you since its your baby. Again, can't wait.

[Derb]

You should charge $$$ them kiddies

Get back with finished pics pronto.

[EM3]

Looking good Iggy!

[Iguana Man]

Looks like I picked a bad weekend to do the intro movie. With Labor Day and all, looks like next weekend will be the first showing.

If I do a dry run this weekend, which I should since I need to test out the equipment, I'll post pics. Otherwise...wait and see!

[sub780lime]

Did you do a dry run?

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by sub780lime

Did you do a dry run?

Nope! My dry run will be inside my house this week so I don't have to lug everything up to the park. I'll just hook it all up inside and make sure the equipment works.

I'll be up there 2 hrs before showtime to do any fine tuning as well. The only real adjustments I foresee is speaker placement. I suspect I'm gonna have to move them in and towards the audience more than I originally anticipated.

[Iguana Man]

Well tonight is the grand opening! Wish me luck on the weather, there's a 30% chance of rain @ 22:00 but the movie should be wrapped up by then!

I'll try and post pics tonight!

YAY!

[Pirate]

Good luck, Iggy! Hope it all goes well.

[Iguana Man]

Well it didn't rain, yet it was humid as all heck. The 16x9 ended up being 17x10.

I cant tell you folks how good the picture looked. It was FAR better than I expected. In fact, it was INCREDIBLE!

Seriously, the image was bright and detailed and WOW! I never thought an image that large from 25-30' away would look as spectacular as it did. Granted during certain all white scenes you could see the boards and their vertical gaps, but if you were not me, it was spectacular. Honest. Anyone considering this should just do it.

My pics suck because the flash washed out the image, but hey...I had a buzz and you all knew that anyway.

Here ya go.



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[EM3]

Way cool! Glad it worked out for you.

Now keep that buzz going.

[tvine2000]

Originally Posted by Iguana Man

It's taken longer than I thought, but I finally have everything in place. Equipment has been purchased. Cables, surge protector, speaker wire, and of course, the PJ, DVD player, speakers and AVR are all ready to go.

This Outdoor Theater is going to be projected onto a huge wall that was sanded and repainted (the initial pic below is before said work). The image in widescreen mode will be a whopping 16 feet wide by 9 feet tall. This equates to a 220 inch screen.

Seating is BYOB. As in, bring your own blanket or beanbag chair.

It's only going to have stereo sound for now. That may change as I get further into it, but for now, stereo only.

Resolution-wise, it is going to be 720p or 1080i SD. I considered HD but given the viewing public (minus myself), it ain't gonna matter. It's pretty much for young kids to enjoy and for them to experience what a Drive-In was like back in the (my) day.

Equipment:

Panasonic PT-AX100U LCD Projector



Toshiba SD-5000 upcon player w/HDMI.

Pioneer VSX-516K AVR 100wpc

Speakers..DJ style, bright sounding but cheap.

Here are the pics of the equipment and 'screen'.

wow an outdoor theater,brings back memorys of putting up a bed sheet and the uncle getting out the 8mm projector.

[Pirate]

That looks like it went great! Well done, Iggy!

[Tattiana]

Good job Iggy! Looks like alot of fun and i think its soo nice what you are doing for the kids :')

[Derb]

congrats,

17x10 huh.. DAMN. All looks good. How was the sound?

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by Derb

congrats,

17x10 huh.. DAMN. All looks good. How was the sound?

Not actually sure of the height, we measured the width and it was about 17'6". I assumed it bumped the height by a foot making it 17x10. Regardless, it still maintained the 16x9 proportions.

The sound was much beeter than I expected. I used the loudness button and bumped the bass from the avr to overcome the 'brightness' of the speakers.

[sub780lime]

That looks great! I am really impressed with the picture and that is taking into account whats lost by the camera. Good job and I am glad it worked out so well. So how many viewers did you have?

[Iguana Man]

Originally Posted by sub780lime

So how many viewers did you have?

Well it was the first showing and it coincided with the all day Brookside Clam Bake festival at the local field. Given everyone went there first, then 'stumbled' in afterwards, I guess I was happy with the #'s. About 25 showed up. Mostly adults, and if I had to guess, 25% kids.

Not bad but a bit disappointing given my community has 36 homes. On top of that, some didn't even know about it so next Saturday should be better.

I know my camera is capable of taking better pics so I gotta try and maximize what you folks see on this board since those pics above are WAY worse than the actual viewing.

It really was amazing what a $1300 PJ could do given the size of the image. And that's from a dude who spent $600 on an ISF calibration for my home HT PJ.

[sub780lime]

The Farther away picture looks great. Makes me wish I had a projector. I got the wall space in our master bedroom

[Frankie]

Pretty cool Iggy.

[sub780lime]

Have we not had a second viewing yet?

[Iguana Man]

Nope, haven't had a second showing yet. I had foot surgery and it put a damper on the whole thing since I refuse to let anyone other than my self handle my equipment. And if that sounds wrong, tough nuts.



I did get this though and come hell or high water, it's gonna be the next viewing!

[zepherman]

Yes, the films of Ray Harryhausen are true classics. The guy was a genius with stop motion animation. That collection is one that I would love to add to my library, but I think I will wait till (if) it ever comes out on high def.

BTW I noticed the dvdfile site in the background. Cool touch.

Seth

[sub780lime]

So...Anymore showings take place after the first one?

[Iguana Man]