WHAT E QUIPMENT DO I NEED?

A few times a season, after my kid’s peewee football practice, we’d have everyone over to a neighbour’s house. He’d set up speakers and a projector, pointed at a wall. We’d watch a classic football movie: We Are Marshall, Rudy, Remember the Titans. It’s a great environment, outside on a summer night. My editors at POPULAR MECHANICS know I like that kind of thing, especially if there are new gadgets involved. So they sent me a modern projector and Bluetooth speaker, and told me to set them up in my backyard. This time without 50 kids.

BENQ HT1070 PROJECTOR

Projectors are so much easier than they used to be. You turn the Benq on, navigate a set-up screen for language, input source, and a few other things. You adjust the zoom, get it focused. Other than that, I didn’t do anything. I just set it on a folding chair about three metres away from the wall and started watching.

I connected my ipad to the projector with a Lightning-to-hdmi adaptor. Animated movies always look the best, so I started with The Secret Life of Pets. The picture was amazing. It was crisp, sharp, bright, even before the sun went down.

I went to the manual to see what the buzzers and bells were, and there wasn’t really anything. Then I realised, what do I really need? The picture is what matters.

LOGITECH UE MEGABOOM SPEAKER

I connected this speaker to my ipad via Bluetooth. The audio synced up with the video, and for a small group it was loud enough. If I had 40 or 50 people over, especially if some of them started talking, I would borrow my son’s speakers that he uses for deejaying. But for a few people, this is a great, small speaker.