User Control Panel
Search iVirtua
Advanced/Tag Search...
Search Users...
What is iVirtua Exclusive Community?
  • An exclusive gaming industry community targeted to, and designed for Professionals, Businesses and Students in the sectors and industries of Gaming, New Media and the Web, all closely related with it's Business and Industry.
  • A Rich content driven service including articles, contributed discussion, news, reviews, networking, downloads, and debate.
  • We strive to cater for cultural influencers, technology decision makers, early adopters and business leaders in the gaming industry.
  • A medium to share your or contribute your ideas, experiences, questions and point of view or network with other colleagues here at iVirtua Community.
Guest's Communication
Live Chat
Teamspeak (VOIP) Audio Conference
Private Messages
Check your Private Messages
Themes
Choose an iVirtua Community theme to reflect your interests...
Business Theme
India/Arabic Theme

Gaming Theme
iVirtua Recommends
Fly Emirates Advertising
5 ways to build your own outdoor cinema
Digg This Digg Topic Tag it on del.icio.us Tag topic on On del.icio.us Technorati Search Technorati Search Post to Slashdot Post to Slashdot
You are currently in Entertainment, Film and Music, Mobile devices and media
Post new topic Reply to topic
Fri May 16, 2008 3:40 am Reply and quote this post
Summer’shere and while most sensible people are heading outdoor to catch upsome rays, others are doing the reverse - going indoors to watch thelatest Hollywood blockbuster.
Luckily you can combine the two bysticking a big screen or TV in the garden - enabling you soak up somesun and some Spielberg at the same time.
There are loads of ways you can do this. Here are just five, ranging from the ludicrously cheap to the reassuringly expensive:

1. Use your laptop
Mostalmost all laptops have built-in DVD players these days so watching  amovie from the comfort of your patio should a breeze. Of course you’llget the best results if you’re sitting on a shady spot, but a, brightLED backlit display will come in pretty handy too. For ultimate inoutdoor laptop pleasure, we reckon the Sony Vaio VGN-AR61U is worth a punt.
Itpacks in a 17-inch widescreen display, 512MB Nvidia graphics card and aBlu-ray drive, not to mention a built-in hybrid analogue / digital TVtuner. It also has an HDMI port so you can hook it up to a compatiblehigh definition (HD) projector, as well as the usual audio outputs forprivate listening via headphones or neighbour-baiting outdoor speakers.Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Pro is another great laptop choice.

2. Buy a portable DVD player
As above really, only you won’t be able to play games on it, and the screen will be a lot smaller. Now while you can pick up a Hyundai HPD719 for as little as £80 on Amazon.co.uk, you’re probably better off plumping for something a bit more luxurious, like the Toshiba SD-P120T.
Availablelater this month, the SD-P120T portable DVD player has an 11.8-inchwidescreen display, Freeview digital TV tuner and all the sockets youneed, including an HDMI port, component video sockets, headphone anddigital optical outputs. The battery’s good for up to 3 hours of usebetween recharges and the player even comes with a 4-in-1 card readerso you can watch movies and photos stores on SD and other flash memorycards. Handy.

3. Watch an outdoor LCD TV
Giventhat you can already watch TV in the bath or shower, watching oneoutdoors seems like a logical extension. UK company waterprooftv.co.uksells a range of sets ranging from 32-inches to 55-inches size, withprices starting at £2,000. All the TVs are compliant with IEC IP56weather-proofing regulations and are dust and insect-resistant too.
Ourfavourite is the flagship Aquivo 55-inch Outdoor TV, which can handle1080p Full HD video signals. It comes with the full complement of HDMIand other AV ports, and even has non-reflective toughened glass. TheAquivo 55-inch Outdoor TV doesn’t ship with weather-proof speakers oran anti-theft bracket as standard, but you can add these for £300 and£250 respectively.

4. Blow up an inflatable cinema screen
Ifthe prospect of a 55-inch TV just doesn’t do it for you, you can takethe next logical step and team a portable projector either with a flatwhite wall, or - better still - an inflatable projector screen. Yourchoices here look pretty limited, with most UK companies only sellingor hiring out the screens for use a professionally-organised events.
However Pro-Idee will sell you a 2.4m screen online for £519. For anything bigger though you’ll probably need to go elsewhere - US companies AirScreen and Open Air Cinema.

5. Buy a custom outdoor cinema
Forthe ultimate in outdoor movie viewing, we reckon Open Air Cinema is theplace to go. Its CineBox range is designed partly with home use in mindand comes with all the kit you need to for a night out in front of thetelly. For around $10,000 (£5,000) you can get a 3.7m (12ft) inflatablescreen, plus a custom-made console that comprises a portable DVDplayer, compact 2500 ANSI lumens Sanyo projector, multi-channel audiomixer and a wireless microphone.
Included in the price are a pairof speakers and stands, plus all the ancillary equipment you need suchas AV adaptors for your iPod, laptop, camera, etc. Best of all, OpenAir Cinema says its happy to sell to customers in the UK - and says ithas several satisfied customers here already. What are you waiting for?

Contributed by Editorial Team, Executive Management Team
372659 iVirtua Loyalty Points • View ProfileSend Private MessageBack to Top

Related Articles
Post new topic   Reply to topic


Page 1 of 1

iVirtua Latest
Latest Discussion

Discuss...
Latest Articles and Reviews

Latest Downloads
Subscribe to the iVirtua Community RSS Feed
Use RSS and get automatically notified of new content and contributions on the iVirtua Community.


Tag Cloud
access amd announced applications author based beta building business card case company content cool core course cpu create data deal dec demo design desktop developers development digital download drive email feature features file files firefox flash free future gaming google graphics hardware help industry information intel internet iphone ipod jan launch linux lol love mac market media memory million mobile money movie music net nintendo nov nvidia oct office official online patch performance playing power price product program ps3 pst publish ram release released report rss sales screen search security sep server show size software sony source speed support technology thu tue update video vista war web website wii windows work working works xbox 360 2006 2007 2008

© 2006 - 2008 iVirtua Community (UK), Part of iVirtua Media Group, London (UK). Tel: 020 8144 7222

Terms of Service and Community RulesAdvertise or Affiliate with iVirtuaRSSPress Information and Media CoverageiVirtua Version 4PrivacyContact