Are budget outdoor projects worth it?

Snakeweasel

I am considering purchasing a budget projector, screen and speaker to have outdoor movie nights.

A big part of this would be for using with my niece and nephew who wouldn't be able to stay up all that late, so would budget projectors work around dusk, or do you need total darkness?

The Ritz

If you want a projector to compete with ambient light around dusk you’d need more than 5000 ANSI lumens, pereferrably lots more than that - please note that the lumens measurement quoted by cheap non-mainstream projectors on Amazon and other selling websites are not comparable, and are usually vastly overstated. It depends on your budget, but very high output projectors are not cheap, if you have a restricted budget ( we all do !) then have a look for a mainstream business projector (for instance Sony, Benq, Infocus, Epson) a high light output on the second hand market and factor in a lamp change if needed.

Cheers,

Ritz

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117497363#Comment_117497363

You'll probably do with 3,000 at dusk surely?

Saying that you are not getting a budget brand with 4k and 3,000 Lumens

Lujan

I have been mulling this over myself over the last few weeks.

A mate of mine bought a decent one for around e400 a few months ago. I think it was 3500 lumens. Watched a game outside (under a gazebo) and I found it quite hard to see much.

The ones on Amazon are saying 6000 lumens for around £130 and I have been very tempted even though I know they can't argue great based on the price alone

The Ritz

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117640394#Comment_117640394

I share the desire to be able to have an outdoor movie on a summer night - I’ve had projectors of all kinds for about 20 years and the family would love it. I tried once with a 2500 (genuine) lumen projector and it was a total waste of time so I stick to my advice above about the level of light output needed. I considered getting a 2nd hand commercial grade projector, the kind used for large venues, but tbh it just wasn’t a practical proposition to store and maintain something that size for the sake of a couple of times in the summer for movies or big sports games.

As far as the light output claims of projector costing a couple of hundred euro, I remain completely sceptical !! While I haven’t any 1st hand experience of them (and dint intend to waste my money on one), experience and logic tell me that an led or laser light source with that level of output measured properly to international standards is not going to be found in a cheap product from a non-mainstream brand.

However, if someone wants to try this out and post the results with pictures, it make a very interesting read.

Ritz.

Hallaz

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117640434#Comment_117640434

I was considering to buy gazebo to do this but now not sure..

Was the screen and projector both under the gazebo?

Was it a heavy dark gazebo with cloth material sides or just a light plastic material?

thanks

Lujan

https://boards.ie/discussion/comment/117642780#Comment_117642780

Both projector and screen were under the gazebo.

To be honest I wasn't paying to much attention to the material, but I don't think it was heavy material.

It was a very bright day and my mate did say he needed more than 3500 lumens to get a decent picture outside