How to Build a Backyard Home Theater

We have a lot of summer blockbusters to look forward to, but the truth is it’s never fun to fight the crowds at the box office. With so many fun flicks to watch over the next few months, why not bring the big movie experience home? Installing a home theater system in your Indianapolis, IN house is essential, but there are multiple ways to do it—including outfitting your backyard. Yes, it is possible to put your home theater outside. Here are some tips on how to work with us to do it right.

SEE ALSO: Theme Ideas for Your Dedicated Home Theater

The Outdoor Theater Basics

Currently, you need to purchase an outdoor TV to enjoy watching movies, sports, and more outside. But if you want a big screen, the reality is you will need to use it primarily at night. Outdoor TVs have special anti-glare technology that can display high-contrast images in even the brightest sunlight. However, there currently aren’t professional-grade projectors that can handle bright sunlight. Here’s what you are going to need to make watching movies outside possible.

The Projector

One thing to look for in a projector for outdoor use is if it has built-in MHL functionality which avoids the issue of having to run many wires. We also recommend you get a projector that is at least 2,000 lumens and has an HDMI connection.

The Screen

You may be tempted to project the movie on the side of your home or hang up a white sheet, but neither of these ideas will result in quality images and will affect your experience. The best solution is to pick a screen that you can easily setup and tear down. Keep in mind the screen will also need to hold up to wind gusts. The screen should be tight and smooth to avoid any ripples in the images. We have rollable screens made with cinema-grade material that can be setup quickly and easily for a fun movie night under the stars.

The Sound

If you have an outdoor audio system in place already, then you don’t need to worry about this portion of the installation. Our team can hook up the speakers you already have outside to the projector so that it can play anything you want to watch. But if you only want speakers specifically for movie-watching outside, then a good option is to purchase weather-proof speakers and place them in front of your seating area and also in the back to recreate the surround sound experience. In this setting, upward firing speakers can’t be used because the sound has nothing to reflect against. However, our team knows exactly how to place the audio around your outdoor theater area to produce the best performance possible.

The Source

For watching Blu-rays and 4K discs, you can rely on a Blu-ray player. However, if you want to stream a movie from Netflix or other video streaming platform, you will need a secure and reliable internet connection. We can help establish the right parameters around the backyard so you can connect to any source you like.

Things to Avoid:

• Aside from the weather-proof speakers, never leave the AV equipment out in the weather.
• Don’t leave the sprinklers on when the projector is out in the yard.
• Avoid leaving multiple wires around the yard. You don’t want your guests to trip!
• Avoid blasting the audio too loud. Unless you live miles away from the nearest neighbor, you should be mindful of who can hear your movie in the area. While our professionals can certainly help contain the sound from entering other yards, the higher you crank up the volume, the greater the likelihood you have of receiving noise complaints.

To get started watching movies under the stars, contact us online!