Projector Screen Review: Gemmy Inflatable Outdoor Screen -2

Next, time to attach the screen surface. I unfolded it and started clipping it on to the frame. That took maybe another minute and change. Then I attached the 8 tethers to the screen frame. There are two connecting spots for them, on the left side, and two more on the right. (One on each side near the top, the other about half way up.) Time to stand up the screen!

Let me say right now, that this whole process is much easier with two people than one. I wrestled the screen to the vertical position (naw, it wasn't that tough), and thanks to virtually no breeze - it just stood there. I imagine that if you have a several mile an hour wind, you'll need one person to hold the screen up, while the other secures the tethers.

OK, tether time - Gemmy provides these screw in type anchors that went right into my lawn, on one side, but I was short on space on the other. I managed to tether the left side, with 2 of the tethers into the ground, but the other two - one to the upstairs patio support, and one to my hot tub (behind the screen). That took all of another 4-5 minutes and I was ready to go.

One minor beef, about the tethers provided. They use a standard eyehook (I think that's what they are called) at each end and cliping them to the screen frame is - almost literally - a snap. I would, however, have liked to see the tethers be adjustable in length. That will make setup even easier for those, like myself, who may find attaching the far end of the tether to available objects instead of into the ground/grass. With adjustable tethers, I would have easily been able to setup on my driveway, as I have many places that I could have attached the tethers to. Those spots, though, were not necessarily the right distance for the tethers. Of course, a quick trip to the hardware store and maybe $10-$20 bucks, and the problem is solved.

❮ ❯

Time to put this inflatable projector screen to work.

So I dragged out my HD-DVD player, and the new Epson Cinema 400 home theater projector that I was also reviewing at the time, plugged everything in, powered up, and Damn! if it didn't look great!

Minor detail: My yard slopes a bit (from the right side of the screen to the left so the screen was a little off angle. I set the projector level, and things worked out great, I was able to almost perfectly fill this 149" diagonal screen.

The first movie I popped in was the HD-DVD of Phantom, and here are a couple of images of the screen: