In addition, here are some tips that will also help make your outdoor home theater experience a more enjoyable one.
1. Make sure you invite your neighbors over or let them know what you are doing, so they don't get surprised by the noise. Also, offering food to your immediate neighbors might be a good idea to get them to go along with your outdoor home theater.
2. If you live under the regulations of a home owner's association, please check your CC and R's for any restriction or notification procedures for such an activity. It is important to obey any community noise regulations, and be sensitive to any reasonable complaints.
3. Do not advertise or charge for anything. Regarding the public display of copyrighted material, you cannot advertise such a display to the general public (this means you can't legally invite the whole block over) and you cannot charge admission for either the movie or for food in an environment where a copyrighted DVD is being shown, without authorization from the DVD's distributor. Your backyard is not a commercial movie theater.
4. By all means, place your components well away from the swimming pool and BBQ grill. Be aware of humidity, smoke, water, etc... If you live in one of the Southern States, where it can get very humid, you may not want to place your video projector on the top shelf of your rack, but, instead, place it inside, or on a lower shelf (this may mean you need a taller rack with an additional interior shelf). This will help keep moisture out of the video projector as it heats up.
However, if you do place your projector inside of a rack, rather on top of it, make sure that the projector has plenty of air circulation from the sides or back. Compact video projectors can generate a lot of heat (despite having internal fans) and may temporarily shut down if the temperature of the bulb gets to high - you may have to add a supplementary external fan next to the projector to keep it cool.
5. Check your environment for other factors that could inhibit the viewing experience, such as ambient light sources from street lights and neighbors' properties, as well as outside sources of noise, such as a competing party, airport, or wildlife nearby.
6. Make a storage space in your garage or house for your component rack, sheet, speakers, and power cord. This will make it easy to set everything back up during the Summer and on other special occasions.
Conclusion
Backyard and outdoor home theater can be a really fun activity for the whole family. In fact, setting the whole thing up is half the fun. While you are not going to get the same picture and sound quality you are used to with an indoor home theater, the fun of viewing movies under the stars brings back the days of the drive-in movie, which most of today's young people have never experienced.
What I have presented in this article is a very basic way that you can set up and enjoy your own outdoor home theater. There are many variations and you can get as extravagant as you wish, especially if this ends up being a popular Summer activity for you in the coming years.
For some great photos of, and additioanl tips for, backyard and outdoor Home Theater setups from around the country, check out Backyard Theater.com, The Backyard Drive-In Company, and Home Theater - Backyard Bonanza (Home Theater Magazine)
Also, for furniture ideas for your pool or patio area, check out the article from Lisa Hallett Taylor - About.com Guide for Pool and Patio: Outdoor Patio Furniture.
