Ive been looking back at a bunch of threads where people were inquiring about building portable outdoor theaters in a case. I'm wondering if anybody has actually completed one of these and has any insight to what works best.

Im considering for this client an Elite Screens drop down 100" and a portable Epson projector that will be approximately 13 to 16 away and projecting up to the screen from the top of a case housing an amp, a streaming device and a couple of pull out and place speakers. The screen will be permanant but the case and projector will need to be portable for indoor storage.

Any advice is appreciated.

Don't know abot Elite, but Draper makes outdoor motorized screens designed for outside and weatherized.

I have done a couple of projects where the screen stays and the projector is moveable. I used a rolling utility cart and strapped the projector to the top. AVR mounted on lower shelf along with streaming media device. I also add a 45 pound weight on the very bottom shelf to make sure the cart doesn't become top heavy.

I've set them up as 2 channel stereo, 5 channel stereo. I've also done with powered speakers and a pre-amp only as well as standard AVR with speakers.

You guys have the audio side figured out, which is the difficult portion. Inflatable strikes me as the best solution for video, unless- wind. Anyone have hands on with the “camp chef” pieces?

I have done this a couple times for clients and I am doing it at my house next week. Inflatible 160" screen, 1080p 5000-6000 Lumens LED Projector, Roku Streaming Stick, Powered Speakers or a Sonos Play 5 or two, then a portable laptop tripod stand. We give the client an idea on where the screen goes and we hook everything up and attach it to the stand. Works great

I had a Camp Chef 120” screen that we used to host movie nights. They work pretty well but frame assembly was not trivial. I don’t think I would pitch it to a customer if built-in was an option.

with the price of laser projectors dropping, consider that for increased longevity.

I think we have a 144" Camp Chef (or something like that). Personally I think it works great and setup is easy. After about 10 uses, some of the spring clips that locked the pieces together but I think we got good use out of it. We even rented it to friend who used it for movie nights. Our intention was personal so we didn't charge much.

We bought a small rolling rack and put a Rolls Mix Mate 3 along with a BluRay player for the video. We have used streaming devices but they have to be within wifi range. Off the Mix Mate we powered 2 JBL self powered speakers. XLR and extension cords to both speakers. We use an Optoma conference room projector. I believe it was under $1000 and really bright.

It's not something for a non techie homeowner to setup and it's not great for renting to the masses. But it was super awesome for what it does!