Projector in the Garden

[rossnewark]

Hi,

Thinking of buying a good all round projector that can be used for presentations etc... but what I'm really after is a projector for use in the garden on some nice summer evenings - get some friends round, some beers in and watch some football/movies (maybe some Wii or Xbox action)

Can anyone suggest a good all rounder? or give me some pointers to look out for?

Ideally I would like to mount the projector in an enclosure during the nicer months, but for the winter bring it into the house.

I would also like it to be fairly portable so if I want to go to another persons house I could have a similiar set up.

Thanks

[hornydragon]

Critical thing about projector usage is ambient light if you can control the abient light then you have a chance, If you have a really dark garden it could be a fun option, you will need some audio system too (exterior speakers) and I would be wary of using an enclosure but setting it up on a table should be fine as long as it doesnt rain.

What sort of budget do you have? and what sort of presenting will you be doing?

[rossnewark]

I may have the need to do some software presentations nothing to technical - Powerpoint/Flash.

The ambient light is the difficulty thats why I think the viewings would have to be done late evening - the garden is fairly dark, no lighting or speakers installed yet.

I have a spare Yamaha Amp which I might use for the extorier setup. However the other option would be to drive the audio off my cambridge audio incognito multi room system as I would like to utilise that for music in the garden.

[hornydragon]

incognito isnt a particulalry good system and may struggle if the garden is large will also limit you stereo sound. Incognito is an A-Bus system like Jamo,OPus octopus and systemline modular. Systemline do have an external AMP unit whihc you can use with larger speakers (standard exterior passives) Or you could run line level from the incognito into the old amp and use that to give the sound some more beef.

[rossnewark]

Yeah I have a spare external amp that i was just going to use as a power amp but it may have a new home.

I can get good prices on toshiba, benQ, infocus and sony projectors so the projector suitable for garden use would probably come down to one of those (any prefs?) - unless anyone can suggest otherwise?

[rossnewark]

Probably not the place but here's my 2 penny's worth on the Incognito system:

I'm using the SS20 passive speakers in the master bedroom and they're crisp and quite bassy enough for the bedroom (much better than the SS10's - too tinny)

I also have the AS10's in the kitchen and bathroom - they're never going to be as good quality as floor standers or surround speakers - but then you couldn't put these in the places I have mentioned (well except the bedroom)

They are hidden well in my newly plastered ceiling's and the keypad looks clean and uncluttered - it minimises having audio sources in every room, and allows me to serve music, mp3, radio from a single source.

The surround setup is a seperate system (mordant short) and the garden setup would also be as well - probably using my old rig of Gale speakers.

the wife thinks I'm mad for having so many speakers - but how many is too many

[hornydragon]

I would avoid cheap DLP data units for video if you can gt a decent HC unit then infocus, or perhaps Sony for LCD (I'll leave you to read the DLP v LCD debate)

[cyberheater]

I'd go for one of the ones with a built in DVD player/speakers. Like the Optoma DV11.

http://pan.fotovista.com/dev/9/9/000...l_00038799.jpg

[robzter]

Having been a proud owner of the Optoma DV10 for over 2 years i can 100% recomend this beauty for excatly what your looking for and this PJ throws a massive picture.if its a still night then a sheet will work wonders unless you have a white wall in the garden.the built in speakers are pretty good too and you can always hook up some external ones.
im selling mine soon as i have a HD65 now sadly as its a great PJ.