Top tips: 5 ways to build your own outdoor cinema

Home theatre & Audio

Stick a screen in your garden and get the best of both worlds this summer. Here's how

May 14th | Tell us what you think [ 0 comments ]

Why watch that summer blockbuster indoors, when you can do it just as well without

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Summer’s here and while most sensible people are heading outdoor to catch up some rays, others are doing the reverse - going indoors to watch the latest Hollywood blockbuster.

Luckily you can combine the two by sticking a big screen or TV in the garden - enabling you soak up some sun 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:

Sony Vaio AR series laptop 1. Use your laptop

Most almost all laptops have built-in DVD players these days so watching a movie from the comfort of your patio should a breeze. Of course you’ll get the best results if you’re sitting on a shady spot, but a, bright LED backlit display will come in pretty handy too. For ultimate in outdoor laptop pleasure, we reckon the Sony Vaio VGN-AR61U is worth a punt.

It packs in a 17-inch widescreen display, 512MB Nvidia graphics card and a Blu-ray drive, not to mention a built-in hybrid analogue / digital TV tuner. It also has an HDMI port so you can hook it up to a compatible high definition (HD) projector, as well as the usual audio outputs for private 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 Toshiba SD-P120T 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.

Available later this month, the SD-P120T portable DVD player has an 11.8-inch widescreen display, Freeview digital TV tuner and all the sockets you need, including an HDMI port, component video sockets, headphone and digital optical outputs. The battery’s good for up to 3 hours of use between recharges and the player even comes with a 4-in-1 card reader so you can watch movies and photos stores on SD and other flash memory cards. Handy.

Aquivo Outdoor LCD TV 3. Watch an outdoor LCD TV