How To: Build a Backyard Movie Theater for under $260

We've been playing around with the idea of setting up a garden movie oasis for quite some time now. Last summer Gregory posted a snapshot of Ed Sweeting's bargain backyard theater as a Final Frame and we thought we'd take a second look at how Sweeting managed to make an outdoor screening space for $259...

As reported in Electronic Home, Ed bought a projector from eBay for $127, $12 on electrical connectors for his speaker wires, and another $120 on a popcorn popper. He then revived an old amp and pre-amp he purchased right out of high school, and the rest came was donations from friends and fam.

Ed's father-in-law gave up an RCA DVD/VCR combo, his step-dad passed along a set of Yamaha speakers, and Ed's neighbor's provided a screen that had been gathering dust in their attic. “It was a EMH 110 Stewart motorized projection screen, Ed tells EH. “I don’t know how old it is but a new one runs about $1,400.” Lucky!

He found and cut down two broken road construction signs and rebuilt them to hold up the screen. He pieced together a rolling A/V cart from scraps found at his job at a local TV network, so he could roll all his equipment back into the garage.