Seven ways to entertain, educate, and engage your school community

We all love movies, but have you ever thought you could use a portable cinema system at your school all year round? Here is how you can use it not only for movies and fun, but also to engage your school community:

1. Fundraising events

It comes to no surprise that school parents’ organisations love outdoor cinema.  Watching movies together is a great way to entertain and engage your school community. Movie night is a great event which can be a major fundraising activity. It is easier to organise than a school fete, it is guaranteed to draw crowds and bring so much needed cash to your school.

However, most P&C associations prefer to hire the outdoor cinema for the night. It costs around a thousand dollars to hire the equipment and the technician, but there is one little secret school mums and dads do not know.

outdoor cinema - easy fundraiser for schools

The reality is – they could DIY, without a hiring company, provided your school has a portable cinema. One person can set up an inflatable movie screen big enough for 650 people within 20 minutes! And all AV equipment is so easy to connect and operate that no technical knowledge is required at all.

The only expense of the school committee would be getting the license to show the movie. To get the license, one needs to fill in the one page form obtained from Roadshow PPL or Amalgamated Movies. Secondly, pay the licensing fee, which depends on the size of the audience and your location. That’s all the effort required for a fabulous fundraising event!

2. Information nights and graduation events

No matter how big is your auditorium – there are days when your audience is bigger. Information nights and graduation events may require showing videos, photos, and presentations on a big screen, so that hundreds of people would be able to see it. Portable movie screens give you the flexibility to choose the space where to run the event. They also allow to cater for a bigger audience for lower cost.

The only factor you need to take into account is light. Even the brightest projectors will not be able to deliver decent picture if there’s a lot of ambient light around. So place your screen and projector in the darkest corner of your hall, turn off the lights, and let the show begin.

3. Disco Party

Is it your annual disco for students? No need to invite professional DJ-s. Turn the portable cinema into a disco station – simply project pre-selected musical videos on a big screen, or play the music via the speakers. You can also show the slides of your choice on the screen – be it photos of the students, or presentations and projects made by students.use portable PA system for outdoor events

4. Sports and outdoor events

Holding events or sports activities outdoors or in a big hall? Save your staff’ vocal cords with a portable PA system, which happens to be a part of the portable cinema package! A pair of speakers together with a lightweight and portable multimedia control system allows making announcements and playing music from USB, smartphone, or laptop, wherever you are.

5. Enhance your media and visual arts programs

For starters, teach students how to set up and run an outdoor cinema event. This could be a great project, which could even give students some budgeting and event management skills! Secondly, movie making will be more fun if the freshly made films could be projected to a big screen!

6. Use it all year round

viewsonic projector 3200 Lumen
Projector supplied with a portable cinema is over 3000 ANSI Lumen bright, which is just right for any standard screen (90-100”) in a lit room. The projector does not have to wait idle till your next movie event – use it all year round in the classroom!

7. Say “thank you” with a movie

Say “Thank you” to your community – students, parents, and teachers, with end of the year party and a movie night. Easy to organise, this event can coincide with Christmas celebrations, and is a great way to get everyone together for a beautiful celebration.

Smart Digital Australia is an ASCA recommended supplier for portable cinema systems.

Smart Digital Australia - prefered ASCA supplier
We are proud to support Australian primary and secondary schools, providing them with portable projection screens, PA systems, and portable cinema equipment.

Contact us today to find out about our exclusive offer to schools.

Payment plan helps bring entertainment to communities faster

We are often asked if we offer payment plan to our customers.

We are happy to announce that we now offer you equipment operating lease FlexiRent. As they say at Flexirent, “If you can plug it in, you can Flexirent it”. You may already know that outdoor cinema from Smart Digital is a plug and play package – easy to set up and operate. We made things even easier for small community organisations, rental businesses, schools, holiday parks, and others, with simple and fast finance option now available.

It takes 15 minutes to apply for a lease of a portable cinema package, which means you can bring entertainment to your community within days!
This payment plan is free from documentation fees, upfront payments, and maintenance or account keeping fees. What is more, you can stretch payments for up to 5 years!

Benefits of an equipment operating lease

  • Simple access to finance – minimum paperwork!
  • Keep cash flowing – avoid big cash payments and preserve your liquidity.
  • Tax benefits – leasing is a fully deductible operating expense for business tax purposes. Ask your accountant or tax advisor for advice.
  • Ease of budgeting – lease payments are fixed, so you can budget and plan with certainty.
  • Avoid depreciation – leasing and equipment finance is an operating expense with no depreciation to account for or track.
  • Bundle your solution – bundle all your equipment, accessories and installation into one single operating lease.
  • Keep up to date – lease assets and equipment over their productive life then upgrade at the end of term to new and better equipment.
  • Be more productive – the extra productivity that the new equipment brings will help pay for the lease cost.
  • Evolve with your lease – as your business needs to evolve, you can add on equipment at any stage of the lease term and include it all in one monthly payment.
  • Flexibility – at the end of an agreement you can choose to upgrade the equipment, extend the agreement, pay month to month or simply return the equipment with no further obligations.

So what do you need to do?

First of all, select the portable cinema package for your community. Estimate the size of your audience, and give us a call to discuss everything in detail. We will provide you with a formal quote for the equipment you would require.

Secondly, check how much would you be paying monthly with Flexirent, using their online calculator.

Apply for FlexiRent services over the phone – 1300 340 447.

Sign the paperwork received from FlexiRent and we will send you your outdoor cinema – it’s that easy!

Warehouse sale – one gift for the whole family up to 20% off!

Now this is Smart (Warehouse sale): buy one gift for the whole family!

Sort your Christmas presents in one go! Get along to our 1-Day Only Warehouse Sale and keep the entire family happy with a brand new backyard home cinema package!

** A MASSIVE 10-20% OFF ALL ITEMS! **

When: 3pm-8pm – Friday 25th November 2016

Where: Warehouse of Smart Digital Australia, Unit 8, 52 Corporate Blvd, Bayswater, VIC, 3153

Come and see these fantastic inflatable and static movie screens in action, and check out our range of projectors, AV systems, speakers, and more!

What you get:

  • Great way to amuse family and friends during warm summer nights
  • Fabulous entertainer for New Year’s night, kids’ parties and sleepovers
  • Lots of WOWs for both kids and adults
  • Envious neighbours – they have the standard trampoline for their kids, and you have outdoor cinema for everyone (they can peak through the hole in the fence, too!)

Packages comprise:

Movie screen of your choice, a movie projector, and a soundbar or speakers.

FIVE HOURS ONLY – prices are slushed!
HandiTheatre Light, RRP $899 – get it for $765 only!
HandiTheatre Home, RRP $1399 – get it for $1259 only!
HandiTheatre Pro, RRP $3749 – get it for $2999 only!

Amazing opportunity to see backyard cinema systems in action, before you buy!

Affordable backyard cinema package now available

We are excited to announce the launch of a new backyard cinema package – HandiTheatre® Light.

You can use HandiTheatre® Light backyard cinema package even on a balcony or driveway – so compact it is! Yet this outdoor cinema system is big enough for up to 30 people.

This backyard cinema is very easy to set up and only has 3 components – a projector, a soundbar, and a movie screen.

We have applied many years of experience in outdoor cinema business to develop this product. We have selected and combined the equipment to make quality outdoor cinema affordable. As a result, this outdoor cinema package delivers bright image and great powerful sound in the outdoor environment. The screen construction is unique. Melbourne designed, it is simple, yet stylish and durable. Moreover, you can wash the screen in the washing machine, if it gets dirty.

Use backyard cinema package HandiTheatre® Light for outdoor birthday parties, family movie nights, and teenage sleepovers. Spend more time outdoors, watching movies or playing active computer games. Make backyard cinema a Christmas present for the whole family – it will bring families together, and give joy to adults and kids alike. Finally, this model of outdoor home cinema is very affordable, so you could host your own backyard movie nights on a budget!

The backyard cinema package costs only $899.

Buy HandiTheatre® Light via our online shop and be ready for hours of outdoor summer fun!

We ship outdoor cinema packages internationally!

We are often asked if we supply outdoor cinema packages to other countries.

Here is the answer:

Smart Digital Australia sells its outdoor movie systems all over the world. We have developed special outdoor cinema packages suitable for international sales. Normally projectors and loudspeakers have warranty only in the country of original purchase. Our solution is to supply everything else and give the customer the recommended brand names and model numbers for local supply and purchase. The other big advantage, particularly with the speakers, is the saving on the freight.

We have a special arrangement with DHL for airfreight shipment to almost any country in the world. This saves money and ensures fast delivery.

The electrical equipment is 110 – 240 volts for use everywhere. The electrical connectors used with our unique SmartBox® are all international standard IEC connectors. This makes it for easy access in the unlikely event that service may be required.

We offer inflatable movie screens of the highest quality. The screen surfaces on the ParkView® and HandiTheatre® models are made of theatrical quality stretch lycra fabric.  Remove the screen surface for washing, if required. The stretch lycra material ensures a completely flat, wrinkle free surface, imperative for screening great movies.

The outdoor movie systems from Smart Digital Australia have all been designed and assembled in Australia, sourced from local and imported suppliers. They are of the highest quality and meet international standards. To survive the Australian conditions all the equipment must be robust and strong. In Australia, we love outdoor entertainment!

We want to bring the magic of outdoor cinema to your community, whether you are in England or Canada, Saudi Arabia or France.

Need more information or a quote to suit your application? Contact us on line, send us an e-mail or phone + 61 3 9729 6300.

9 Ways to Cut Movie Licencing Costs

All you need to know about legal aspects of showing films in public

Are you planning a public movie event?
You need to understand movie licensing, costs involved and ways to save on the licences.

Good news – no licence is required to show films in your backyard to your family and friends!
Any event beyond your backyard, including free events, is subject to licensing. Non-compliance may cost you up to $250,000, so read on to avoid the penalty!

Public screenings include, for example:

  • Showing films at school, in the sports centre, or in the library
  • Fundraising events
  • Movie nights at Holiday Parks and on the public ovals
  • Watching movies at film societies or on mining camps
  • Screening movies on private land (golf clubs, wineries)

Where do I obtain licences?

In Australia, Roadshow PPL represents the majority of film studios and film distributors, including Warner Bros, Universal, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Walt Disney.
Amalgamated Movies are non-theatrical film distributors for Sony Pictures (Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures), and others.

Contact these licensors and request permission to screen two or three movies, in case the first choice film is not yet available for public performance. Most of the movies are available for non-theatrical screening events only several weeks after DVD release.

Public performance of music requires a separate licence. Contact Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA) for details.

What costs can you expect?

If you are planning to show movies to the non-paying audience throughout the year, you may be eligible for a blanket licence. Blanket licence is paid once a year and gives permission to show films all year round – no need to pay for each film! Budget several hundred dollars for a yearly licence, depending on your location and on the size of your audience.

For a one-off event, the costs for a standard movie licence vary from $300 to $1000. A country primary school will be on the lower end of the scale whilst a commercial organization will be on the higher end of the scale.

Organising a ticketed event? Prepare for the minimum flat fee or for 30-35% of your ticket sales, whichever is greater.

The licensing costs depend on:

  • Audience size and screen size
  • Distance to the nearest hardtop cinema
  • Location of the event and ticket prices

When planning an event, contact the licensing officials for the quote and mention all details of the event to get the accurate costs of movie licensing.

What are the options to minimise costs when organising events on a big screen?

  • Some film distributors are cheaper than others. Amalgamated Movies can be more budget friendly. Choose among films made by Sony Pictures (there are some excellent kids’ movies and adult classics on offer!) or look through their range of Australian movies, anime, Bollywood, Asian Cinema and independent films.
  • Screening Art House films will cost you far less than recent Hollywood blockbusters.
  • National Film and Sound Archive offers to loan the films pre-licensed for non-theatrical and educational screenings. For as little as $22 dollars, show such films as Babe. Pig in the City, Cinderella, Bran Nue Dae, Happy Feet, Mao’s Last Dancer, and others. The restrictions will be for indoor spaces only. You also need to meet the NTLC terms and conditions of loan available at: http://www.nfsa.gov.au/collection/screening-loans/.
  • Consider showing documentaries – great way to educate community, and often, a very affordable one! For example, “Edible City”, a documentary on sustainable local food system, will only cost $125 for local government or $39 for the library!
  • Christian camps and schools can obtain yearly licence via their Church, at very reasonable rates, via Heritage Films or via Church Video Licence.
  • Schools should check if they are covered by the co-curricular licence, which allows showing films for entertainment purposes. Unfortunately, this licence does not allow screening films for general public and for fundraising activities.

Free alternatives

Some of the fun activities and events do not require any licensing expenses. Consider the following entertainment ideas:

  • Watching live to air TV, including free to air films, footy finals, state of Origin matches, or Olympic games, does not require licensing. All you need is a set top box connected to the projector. Replay of these events, however, may require a licence.
  • Youth can play computer games on inflatable screen – this activity normally does not require licensing as well.

Finally, to organise a public movie event, you need equipment. We provide both projection screens and complete portable cinema packages. Check our store to find the cinema equipment for your audience.

Use EOFY sale to get ahead of the competition

Offer new experience to your clients and minimize tax on the way

Any small business is trying to offer unique experience to their clients. Event organisers and party rental businesses, holiday parks and restaurants, indoor sports centres and swimming pools – they all are on a quest to find a point of difference. They all know – the business will strive if it offers something special.

kill two birds with one stone

how to kill two birds with one stone

However, long term planning is not always in agreement with everyday needs and immediate challenges of the business. Cutting costs, urgent breakdowns and repairs, changing business environment – they all need immediate attention.

End of financial year is a good time when you can kill two birds with one stone. You could solve short term task of tax minimisation and plan well ahead, preparing something new and exciting for your clients.

All the plans you were putting aside need to be reassessed now. Why? Easy! Other businesses are offering their best prices for EOFY sale, and you should use this opportunity to spend wisely and to save big.

You surely know that as a small business, you are eligible for an immediate tax write-off for the goods valued under $20.000. The question is how to maximise the benefits from this opportunity. We believe that buying a car, or a computer, or any other electronics, even during EOFY sale, only sorts your immediate needs and is not paving the way to the next financial year of success.

We suggest to get ahead of the competition and to invest now in a point of difference.

rocket start

have a rocket start ahead of your competition

Offer your clients something they can only experience at your place, and even something that sounds crazy:

  • Dance, fitness and karaoke night (maybe, a karaoke workout or a fusion dance and fitness?)
  • Exergaming (in case you don’t know it yet – it’s playing computer games for exercising)
  • Hot tub cinema (watching movies sitting in a hot tub!)

Think about combining experiences, for example offer outdoor movie nights for dog lovers, good food and movie festival, glamping cinema night, or horror movie campout.

Find new ways to utilize the indoor and outdoor spaces available.

Use indoor sports centre not only for sports activities and kids birthday parties, but also to entertain their parents. Think fitness classes with a difference. Think catering, disco, trivia, or karaoke. But most importantly, think about your customers and what fun and entertainment means for them.

Use the beer garden or front lawn of your pub as a meeting place of the sports fans, offering them to watch the live TV sporting events on a big screen. Add entertainment and catering (the way Jupiter’s Casino does it on Gold Coast) – and the whole new experience is ready! With such an offer, the customers will come to the event and will talk about you many days after it.

For many of those ideas, inflatable indoor and outdoor cinema screens and matching audio video equipment will be a great solution. Inflatable screens are portable and do not take much space when packed. We also offer the unique audio video control solution SmartBox®, which makes entertainment easy, be it showing movies, running a karaoke competition, or having a live TV event.

clock

Time for long term planning is now!

The best time to buy the equipment you will need for the next year of success is now. As many other businesses, we at Smart Digital have an EOFY sale and offer up to 15% off our product range for orders placed before the end of financial year. We hope that with this offer you will have a rocket start ahead of your competition.

Contact us today and get ready for the year of success!

Rackmount Blu-Ray / DVD player – a new solution for AV Professionals

Rackmount Panasonic Blu-Ray / DVD player is a new, smart and affordable solution for your portable audio video installation, a home studio, or a video production house.

Are you supplying audio video equipment to schools, hotels, night clubs, or small theatres? Are you making video or creating music at home? Are you an avid audio video fan? Building your own home theatre? Then you appreciate convenience of rack mounting equipment.

Rackmount equipment gives freedom, whether all items are mounted in a basic studio rack, portable rack case, or a premium studio rack. All the equipment is in one cabinet, convenient and neat. No cables are dangling, no dust is gathered.

Rackmount Blu-Ray / DVD Player

Rackmount Blu-Ray / DVD Player

We would like to offer you to have a look at our new and sleek solution made to suit half depth racks – a rackmount Blu-Ray / DVD player. We took a standard Panasonic model DMP-BD83GN and built it in the powder coated metal case with mounting brackets. The result is a great and convenient entertainment device, allowing playing movies and music in variety of formats. It does have a front-loading USB port, so if the customer comes with the memory stick, all you need is to plug it in and play!

Truly versatile, this rackmount player, taking only a single rack space, will play almost every disc format plus multiple audio and image file formats from the USB. LAN port gives the flexibility to connect to a network for smart networking. The unit is available for sale via our online shop and our eBay store.

ABS rack case with a drawer

ABS rack case with a drawer

Wait, there’s more!

To make it easy for you, we also offer 19” ABS rack cases with drawers and small LCD TV monitors.
All you need for a professional and portable package – get a rack case, build in the Blu-Ray player, add, depending on your task, an amplifier, a monitor management system , or a light control unit, or a multi-channel mic preamp. Use the drawer to store your microphones, tools and cables – and you are ready to go! You may want to connect the player via HDMI cable to a small TV monitor to get immediate information on the played track, or maybe even use a rack mount monitor.
SmartBox-Gold
If you are after a complete professional audio video controller, than check our SmartBox range.

 

We hope you’ll enjoy the convenience of our rackmount solutions!

Huawei air blowers are used for glass cutting application

Huawei air blowers have a proven track record of keeping inflatables in good shape, be it jumping castles or inflatable movie screens.

A small 1HP (horse power) blower is capable of keeping a 6 metre outdoor movie screen in a perfect shape for a movie night, while a 2HP air pump is the best choice for big commercial jumping castles.

glass cutting application

glass cutting application

However, these blowers not only breathe air into inflatables.

Recently, we have learned about a very unusual application for the jumping castle blower. It is used by furniture manufacturers for glass cutting.

Have you ever tried lifting a piece of glass? The task is not an easy one. To move the glass or mirror on a glass cutting table, one would need a cushion of air to remove frictional force between two surfaces. This air cushion can be created by upward air supply via the holes in the table. The blower is situated under the table and blows air into a cavity. The air is then directed through a series of holes on the surface of the table.  The upward flow of air lifts the glass, so that it floats several millimetres above the cutting surface. This allows manoeuvring the sheet of glass, which means one glazier can handle large sheets of glass!

Huawei air blowers are successfully used in this application by JBL Glass, manufacturers of beautiful glass shower screens and built-in wardrobes. They offer customised solutions for their customers in Port Macquarie and surroundings. Smart Digital is delighted to assist this small business in their everyday work by supplying a 2HP blower from Huawei.

Do you have a story to share about your air blower? Write to us – we are always interested in your feedback!

Jumping Castle Air Blowers – Now Available!

We are proud to announce a new line of products: Huawei Jumping Castle Blowers.

Have you checked your jumping castle blowers recently and discovered some of them are out of order? We recommend having a spare for emergency situations. All air blowers for inflatables should comply with Australian safety standards.

Choose the Right Jumping Castle Blower

When evaluating any jumping castle blower you need to consider quality, efficiency, and safety. The Huawei products are built to last, extremely safe and reliable, and at a price that won’t strain your budget.

With over 25 years’ experience in making air blowers, Huawei has developed high standards. The motors are assembled in house and rigorously tested. Hauwei blowers are constructed of fireproof materials and are shatterproof – as demonstrated by a 2 metre fall after which the blower still operates perfectly. In testing, each blower must withstand high (70°C) temperatures for 7 hours.

Jumping Castle Blower

They also work perfectly in wet conditions, they are tested according to UL1450 and EN60335 standards.

These bounce house blowers comply with Australian standard for amusement rides and devices AS 3533.4.1-2005.

Inflatable blowers need to be constantly running to keep the bounce castle properly inflated, so energy efficiency is critical to the cost of operation. Huawei air blowers inflate jumping castles within 30 sec to 2 minutes, are extremely energy efficient, minimizing operation costs.

Inflatable Air Blower Size Selection

If you are replacing an old blower, check the power of the original air pump. Many manufacturers of jumping castles supply the smallest blower to do the job. It may make sense to consider obtaining a slightly bigger one. As the inflatable structure ages, it may require more power to maintain a firm shape, which again, will require a bigger air pump.

The majority of commercial bouncy castles will require a 1.5 HP (1100W) or 2 HP (1500W) air blower. The 1HP model is for smaller bouncers and jumping castles suited for 5 children or less.

Note that some inflatable bouncers require two blowers which operate simultaneously.

Flat Rate Shipping

Freight costs are also important. That’s why we offer flat shipping rate all over Australia – to support businesses in remote areas.

As an official distributor of Huawei jumping castle blowers in Australia, we have all major blower sizes in stock and ship within 1-2 working days after the order is received.

We also offer online shopping so that you could place the order any time convenient for you, whether you are in Perth or Canberra, Sydney or Adelaide, Hobart or Melbourne, or any regional city or town.

Shop Huawei Jumping Castle Air Blowers now.

Questions? Please feel free to call us at 03 9729 6300. We are happy to help you select the right jumping castle blower for your inflatable.