Rollei, a German company who has been making cameras since 1920, introduced a new digital video camera with an embedded pico projector. The SD800P carries Rollei’s MovieLine camcorder sub-brand and features a 7 lumen embedded projector with QVGA (320×240) resolution and 300:1 contrast ratio, located in the front next to the camera lens. The camcorder records 1080p video at 30 frames per second (FPS) on SD cards of up to 32GB and features USB, HDMI and composite video connections. Power comes from a 700 mAh lithium ion rechargeable battery. The SD800P is currently available in the UK for a suggested retail price of US$494.

As if to counter the recent lull in projector enabled Smartphone introductions, a number of manufacturers have released digital still and video cameras with embedded projectors, including 3M, Aiptek, BenQ, DigiLife, General Imaging, Nikon, Sony, ViewSonic and others. Camcorders do not suffer the space constraints faced by cell phone designers and generally have larger batteries for the projector to draw upon. Perhaps more important is the absence of carriers interfering with (or outrightpreventing) the distribution of these innovative products.

Product Page: Rollei MovieLine SD800P