Well, it really was a matter of time when a production video camera would incorporate a pico projector in the chassis. Sony’s HDR-PJ50V Handycam fits the bill.
Now, I’m not a huge fan of hard drive camcorders, mainly because of the data issues with hard drives. Having said that, having 220GB of room on a video camera is pretty stinkin nice. But the main thing about this video camera is, of course, the projector. This is a no brainer innovation. People have been wanting this ever since pico projectors started getting much better. Here is a sample video of that project, with specs to follow:
Specs:
| Format | Internal HDD, flash memory |
| Class | Consumer / Projector |
| HD | Yes |
| Image Stabilization | Optical |
| Primary Audio Format | Dolby® Digital 5.1 ch |
| Secondary Audio Format | Dolby® Digital 2 ch Stereo |
| Included Media Capacity | 220 GB |
| Included Software | Sony Picture Motion Browser |
| Optical Zoom | 12 x |
| Advanced Zoom | 17 x |
| Digital Zoom | 160 x |
| White Balance Presets | Auto/ Onepush/ Outdoor/ Indoor |
| Auto / Easy Mode | Yes |
| Face Detection | Yes |
| Low Light Mode(s) | Yes |
| Scene Mode(s) | Auto/ Twilight/ Twilight Portrait/ Sunrise & Sunset/ Fireworks/ Landscape/ Portrait/ Spotlight/ Beach/ Snow |
| Still Image Resolution(s) | 7.1 megapixels 4:3 (3072×2304); 5.3 megapixels 16:9 (3072×1728); 1.9 megapixels 4:3 (1600×1200); 307K pixels 4:3 (640×480) |
| Flash | Yes |
| Flash Settings | Auto/ Forced/ Prohibited |
| Simultaneous Video / Still Recording | Yes |
| Width (mm) | 64.0 mm |
| Height (mm) | 66.0 mm |
| Length (mm) | 128.0 mm |
| Body Color(s) | Black |
| LCD Size (inches) | 3.0 |
| LCD Resolution (pixels) | 230000 |
| Touch Screen | Yes |
| Viewfinder | No |
| Video Light | Yes |
| Composite (RCA) output | Yes |
| S-Video | Yes (proprietary cable sold separately) |
| USB | Yes |
| Component output | Yes |
| HDMI | Yes |
| Headphone output | Yes |
| Mini Microphone input | Yes |
| Accessory Shoe (Hot) | Yes |
| Included Wireless Remote | Yes |
| GPS | Yes |
| DC Power | Yes |
| Sister Model Down | HDR-PJ30V, HDR-PJ10V |
| Included Battery | NP-FV50 Li-ion battery |
| Other Features | Built-in video projector |