Summer Movie Night

[BrentEvans]

... would be a great application for my new ($10 from eBay and a little TLC) projector. We did a test run this evening (cartoon for the kids).

I'm not going to go all out with surround and so forth, but just a flick for a few friends. Any tips on making an event like this successful?

[LelandCrooks]

Yes, don't show Scooby Do.

[subharmonic]

Whats the goal?

Home events? Movie events for groups? I can imagine in this group you may get a suggestion or two for awesome sound.

[biggerrigger]

I just did this last weekend for about 40 friends,family,neighbors. I used a 5x9 screen hung right on the side of my DJ trailer. 2 T39's to handle the lows and a pair of melded DR250's running in stereo spread 45' apart on stands to handle the rest. Everyone sat up to 50' from the screen with not one complaint with the picture or the sound

I have to say that it is quite the experience to be outside at night and to have Zero Dark Thirty playing at reference level. When the choppers are flying by and you feel every pulse of the chopper blade in your chest,chair,ground beneath your feet. It sure adds a new dimension that you just do not get in a home theater or the big theater for that matter. I have a killer HT and its just not the same as doing it outside. Its how fast the sound dissipates outside that makes it so real.

We ran the popcorn popper non stop and had a hotdog roller handling snack duties along with homemade old fashion ice cream for every one to enjoy while they watched the shows.

Overall everyone that attended was blown away with the experience and can not wait to do it again. I agreed to do this every other weekend if weather and life did not get into the way.

My advice for a successful showing would be as follows.
1. Get yourself a proper screen as large as possible for you given projector. (Look at "Carl's Place" for a great screen at DIY prices)
2. Have everyone that is attending bring there own lawn chairs and or blankets,sleeping bags
3. Have everyone bring a snack for the snack table.
4. DO NOT play TED if children are present. Better yet just don't play it at all.
5. Run a stereo pair of tops and subs as close to reference as possible without pissing off your neighbors.
6. Invite your neighbors so they do not get pissed.
7. Run your popcorn popper off of a separate circuit to avoid tripping a breaker.
8. Safety first when running your cables. People will be in a strange area in the dark and will trip over every cable they can if given the chance.
9. Same goes for your projector. Make sure it cannot be bumped into.
10.Have a good selection of titles to chose from and urge people to bring there movies to view so everyone is happy with what is playing.
11. If kids will be attending play there movie first. They tend to fall asleep by the time its over.
12. If it gets too chilly have propane patio heaters ready to go. We ended up using 4 to cover everyone. (They do a great job of keeping everyone warm without being too loud or bright.)
13.And last but not least, No matter how dark you think it is do not try to fool around with your wife because you will get busted by your buddy's and they will tell you two to get a room.

Have fun and make sure it is a good time for everyone involved. If you come up with anything that I have missed be sure to add it to the list for others to use as a reference. Take pics of your setup and post back with your turnout.

[67baja]

You guys are killing me. I feel I was coerced to order a 12' outdoor screen (which I did order). Now I need to upgrade my theater projector so I can make my old one the "outside" projector. Jeez this is a never ending project.

[biggerrigger]

Its well worth it in the end. Just getting everyone together and having a great time for nothing more than the gas to get to your place and back is a rare thing in this economy. Lots of people that came to my showing last weekend had said that they have not been to the theater in over a year due to the cost and lack of any extra disposable income.

[DJ Higgumz]

this is something I thought of, t60s would be a necessity. There has to be some sort of surround distributor for rack-mount applications right? how would you get full surround? This could easily be a big thing. and I have a projector for "club visuals" that i haven't put to use yet, I got all the tools to do it! I could just see these along the beaches at night, tiki bars within 50 ft

[cirvinfox]

Be sure your liscensing is in order, things like these are considered public events and a DVD from wal mart doesn't have the liscense for that use.
This is actually a common thing, and there's two companies you can get liscenses from:

http://www.swank.com/

http://www.criterionpicusa.com/

I don't know what the liscense costs are, but I dont think they're all that much for a non cost social gathering, you'd have to talk to them first.

Not that I'm a shill for obnoxious companies destroying the public domain for their own profit at the detriment of our cultural heritage.. but I'd not want you to get in trouble just trying to have a fun community event.

.... I honestly feel a bit dirty having posted this.. excuse me, i need to wash off the shame...

[88h88]

There has to be some sort of surround distributor for rack-mount applications right? how would you get full surround?

The Behringer DCX has a 5.1 option right out of the box though it requires 2x DCXs linked due to only having 3 inputs per unit. I mean you could buy a proper Dolby/DTS processor but those are silly money...

[BrentEvans]

this is something I thought of, t60s would be a necessity. There has to be some sort of surround distributor for rack-mount applications right? how would you get full surround?

T60s = unhappy neighbors for miles and noise permit issues. You're much more likely to get a noise permit if you keep it in check. Around here it's not about SPL, it's about whether the content can be made out from more than 100 feet.

Rackmount surround processors exist... they're usually pretty expensive. Most of the people who would come won't care about that anyway... stereo and a sub will be sufficient.

[BrentEvans]

Be sure your liscensing is in order, things like these are considered public events and a DVD from wal mart doesn't have the liscense for that use.

Actually, you can do a private outdoor party under the standard license. What you can't do is either charge admission or invite the public.

[DJ Higgumz]

Or say they are paying for equipment rental

[biggerrigger]

A pair of wide dispersion tops(I.E. DR250's) and a capable sub or two(see T39's) and everyone is happy. We really did not miss the surround effect at all. I think the key is to get your tops spread apart far enough that you really get the panning effect from left to right in those scenes that have it. The beauty of setting up outdoors is you can get the tops where you want them to get the biggest bang out of 2.1.

I agree that the T60's would sound killer used outside for this purpose but at reference levels you will make more people mad than happy. But if your out in the country then by all means run what ya brung and enjoy.

[cirvinfox]

Be sure your liscensing is in order, things like these are considered public events and a DVD from wal mart doesn't have the liscense for that use.

Actually, you can do a private outdoor party under the standard license. What you can't do is either charge admission or invite the public.

Yea, but once its outside of family and friends, it may become an issue. I'm not saying my word is law, I'm no lawyer for sure, just, be mindful to avoid trouble is all I'm saying.

As far as surround processors, most computers today have plenty of processing power and many analog audio outs for it. Using linux and JackD will let you do anything you want, and windows has many programs too. My Gigabyte motherboard also has some pretty darn good sound hardware on it in the form of an ALC889 codec, with 7 configurable outputs I can configure for whatever I want. This unit cost me 500USD to build about 4 years ago and it was almost top of the line then.

[DJ Higgumz]

actually technically I think you can't even share it with your family by law, however no one is going to sue someone for sharing with family members. Disney???