I had intended to follow up the last post rather quickly with a description of the rolling projector cart that I created to hold all the electronics for my outdoor theatre, but became rather busy with life.
First, my work with Tyto Media as a freelance real estate photographer “took off”. Rather than shooting 2 or 3 homes per week like I started out, I was quickly shooting 8 to 10 per week.
AAAAND…
I began working freelance for Players Circle Theatre (a startup theatre company in the North Fort Myers area) building, teching, painting and installing scenery & sound for several productions since December.
I didn’t want to expose the electronics (projector, speakers, amps, DVD player) to the elements, so I built a rolling cart to house/transport the them from a normal spot in the corner of my living room to the location on the lanai. The cart features durable castors for ease of transportation and adjustable shelves to fit the electrical components.
Since the cart was to be a relatively permanent feature of my living room, I took care to build it as if it were furniture. I used clear pine and 1/2″ AC ply for the majority of the carcass (mitering the corners for best appearance). I painted the cart using one of my favorite finishes (chalk paint) and sealing it with a wax product designed as a top-coat.
The cart worked well for several projection events before Christmas, but as the weather cooled and my schedule heated up, January and February and early March didn’t offer much opportunity for al fresco video viewing. Meanwhile, the old tuner/amp that I was using to provide audio, lost one channel of stereo entirely. This led to one or more viewings using only the onboard speaker from the projector.
I had mused in the last post, that some projectors featured built-in Bluetooth, but that my old one did not. However, I located a Bluetooth transmitter on Amazon that could, coupled with a wireless powered Bluetooth speaker (also from Amazon) be routed directly out of the audio output of the projector, bypassing the tuner/amp.
Last evening was the first use of this new technology with a viewing of DVDs of our favorite band (STYX) in concert. The speaker was just short of amazing in power and clarity (though some latency issues saw JY, Tommy & Dennis moving their mouths slightly out-of-sync with the audio)
That’s all for now.
Stay Safe
designandtechtheatre 