VFS Inclino, Imperio, Origo News ??

[Carlo Rho]

Sorry Gary... I read it better now... I'm a bit tired of this thread and all the
unnecessary posts, mine firsts...

Any news VFS???

 

[Lee Dashiell]

I emailed them a week ago with no response. This is totally rediculous and a slap in the face that there is no response here or via email from VF. Those who defend this type of business practice are foolish.

 

[Brigham Edgar]

yup...starting to wear very thin indeed...

He has had a lot of trouble with the whole Origo cable saga but it's well overdue to give an update on what's going on.

I would expect the latest round of parts has arrived and they are building them together. But i think the big delay now is the firmware issues that have been discovered with the units that are in the field. Because of this i have now gone away from thinking it is just a matter of building the units up with the new casts for the aerial and it is now a significant re-write of firmware bug fixing. This i would think is in all reality going to delay things by at least a couple of months from now, so maybe by late July if we are lucky. But don't forget this is my opinion on it all and as we have no update from VF about what is going on i would think a substantial delay of a couple months before full shipping may be about right...well at least this is what i am thinking.

 

[Joel Kaye]

well at least this is what i am thinking.

I got through to Curt last week essentially what I heard was that they increased the resolution of Impero in the most recent firmware rewrite and it introduced a new issue they didn't expect. He felt he'd have a handle on it in short order and get the first 30 units shipped. I have a feeling it's close but he is inventing a brand new thing so nothing is totally certain. I do believe they care about quality a great deal and want to have an extremely competitive product.

A lot of us went through this with our Birger mounts but eventually things worked out. Eventually things will work out here too.

 

[Rich Schaefer]

yup...starting to wear very thin indeed...

He has had a lot of trouble with the whole Origo cable saga but it's well overdue to give an update on what's going on.

I would expect the latest round of parts has arrived and they are building them together. But i think the big delay now is the firmware issues that have been discovered with the units that are in the field. Because of this i have now gone away from thinking it is just a matter of building the units up with the new casts for the aerial and it is now a significant re-write of firmware bug fixing. This i would think is in all reality going to delay things by at least a couple of months from now, so maybe by late July if we are lucky. But don't forget this is my opinion on it all and as we have no update from VF about what is going on i would think a substantial delay of a couple months before full shipping may be about right...well at least this is what i am thinking.

Yup, I think So too

 

[Adrian T.]

I have a feeling it's close but he is inventing a brand new thing so nothing is totally certain.

Curt, please stop inventing! Don't move the target! Moving targets are the killer of almost every project!

I do believe they care about quality a great deal and want to have an extremely competitive product.

A product that's not shipping is not competitive at all!

And lack of communication is even worse...

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

Curt, please stop inventing! Don't move the target! Moving targets are the killer of almost every project!.

You just don't get it he's not re-inventing anything he's trying to take a very complicated, expensive, already existing product and make it cheaper so it's possible for this community to own, instead of renting.

Some of us were prepared for this wait to be the case and we're also aware of that he's a nice and skilled engineer, more then a business man.

They didn't underestimate their ability to create a product within the time frame they gave. They underestimated the time to make a VERY complicated product competitive within the time frame they had.

The problems that occurs are the domino effect. One problem solved creates a new one. That's why most products goes through a lot of beta testing before they enter the market.

We can see it like this. If we wouldn't put in the money the guys wouldn't be able to start this project at all. If someone invested the money upfront they would have wanted a greater return. Making the investors the buyers is the cheapest way to go. It's simply catch 22.

I agree that them not coming back to us with updates is somewhat annoying, but knowing myself I have a feeling they're silent mouses, since they're afraid of starting flaming wars with upset costumers. That would most probably put them out of business, so they're scared and cautious. If i was them I would be terrified over all the upset customers that seems to exist and would feel very uncomfortable confronting them. Again, catch 22.

I know there's people here who are annoyed with the fact they have to rent for their productions. See it this way. You would have to anyway. Us putting up the money upfront enabled this project to happen. It wouldn't otherwise.

Now!!! We all know that the product actually exist. We all know they have them in hundreds and we know it's close for them to get shipped. I myself would never recommend that you count on renting gear out before you've tried it out and bullet proofed it yourself. So if you have that feature coming up I suggest that you no matter what, count on renting what you know will be functional gear and if it's not, it's someone else's problem to solve. If you get the VF in time and manage to test it. All the better and it's a nice bonus.

I myself did bite the bullet and also ordered an ARRI system. Have I cancelled my VF's? NO!!! I will still use them as well. I believe in them as great low cost versions. Just like RED.

Edit: I'd also like to add that them not answering is most probably also because they're struggling 24/7 with getting this to work.

 

[David Didato]

On 5/4 at 9 am Curt did update us. People should let him work to finish the products they are so impatient for. In the other thread, he specifically said he can't both spend time on RedUser and work on the shipments.

So, choose: you can have regular updates, or you can have him work on your units.

 

[Pawel Achtel]

I myself did bite the bullet and also ordered an ARRI system.

Out of curiosity, how much is the ARRI system?

 

[Fredrik Callinggard]

Out of curiosity, how much is the ARRI system?

Well I did order it immediately as soon as the sterling dropped :beer:

I did order a lot of other things at the same time, but I say that it came to around €30K for a complete set together with the new WRC2 remote focus ctrl, zoom main unit 3 motors etc.

So it is a big difference in price but I do have lens data, lcd screen and separate ctrl for iris and zoom as well. AND of course ARRI quality.

 

[Adrian T.]

On 5/4 at 9 am Curt did update us.

There was no update about the Inclino/Impero.
That's what he said:

I'll update as soon as I get that off my plate later today.

No further updates since then...

People should let him work to finish the products they are so impatient for.

I've let him work for over 13 months now since I paid. He's "finishing" the products since last summer.

In the other thread, he specifically said he can't both spend time on RedUser and work on the shipments.

So, choose: you can have regular updates, or you can have him work on your units.

5 minutes for an Inclino/Impero update wouldn't hurt.
We never got an update since NAB.

 

[Manuel Wenger]

second that.

I´m sick of no communications at all. I sent an email to Curt 2 weeks ago with no response yet. I don´t swallow the argument "I can work or I can stay on Reduser" 5 min for an update once a week wouldn´t hurt.
I can handle delays when i get information about them, what really gets me mad is "we will ship 30 units next week" and than after a lot of bugging for updates you hear 4 weeks later nothing was shipped because of whatever reason, and thats the case since September last year.

I´m sure VFS allready lost some customers just because of this behavior, and i might be one of them if i don´t hear any news soon !!

Manuel

 

[Craig Schober]

I agree that them not coming back to us with updates is somewhat annoying, but knowing myself I have a feeling they're silent mouses, since they're afraid of starting flaming wars with upset costumers. That would most probably put them out of business, so they're scared and cautious. If i was them I would be terrified over all the upset customers that seems to exist and would feel very uncomfortable confronting them. Again, catch 22.

i would agree with you except we've all witnessed and participated in the birger mount thread. i lost count of how many times customers got impatient and began bashing erik and the canon mount but everytime erik checked in and gave a brief report, it calmed everyone down for a few more days. this cycle repeated dozens of times and got many existing and new customers through the hard months of waiting. we all have our birger mounts now and i'm waiting for my impero. i'm not basing any productions on it's expected delivery date but i just don't want to see vf lose all those potential orders when new users log in and read page after page of bashing and complaints.

 

[Joel Kaye]

Curt, please stop inventing!

I'll agree he'd be wise to check in here for 10 minutes every couple of days but you've clearly never tried to program something complicated that hasn't been done before (I have). Sometimes you're pretty certain a course of action should work but then it introduces other issues you'd have to be Einstein to forsee.

They're trying to get the unit working without bugs. Shipping a bunch of units that failed at a critical moments is worse than not shipping. Then again... RED shipped with a lot of bugs, no audio, no EVF etc. and they continue to iron out everything from the codec errors to workflow even as they develop the next generation... so I could be wrong - lol!

This thread is identical to the Birger thread though. Frankly, the first estimate that mount would be out was Aug 2007 (announced NAB 2007). We got it a year and a half later.

Be glad you didn't order a Carrion Monitor.

 

[Rich Schaefer]

Curt, it is time to Update your Impero-Inclino Customers!

 

[Erik Widding]

Birger Imperos

Birger Imperos

The fedex man brought me a box from ViewFactor this morning... The units I received today are production Imperos with release candidate software. I need to do some testing, and Ken needs to get Impero software updating capability into the MAC/PC apps. I think we will have a good understanding of the shipping schedule on Monday, when we will start shipping.

I am in a good mood now, please don't punish me for giving an update, by ringing us on the phone to ask when your Impero will be arriving. As soon as we know when a given customer's Impero is ready for shipping, we will email him to settles his account.:thumbsup:

 

[Matthew Rogers]

I was told today by Caroline @ VF that my impero/inclino which I sent back because of bad connectors (non lemo) and the lack of the antenna should have a same day turnaround. We'll see if that actually happens. If it does and I get it back early next week I will test the crap out of it to see if the wireless mode works better.

Matthew

 

[Joel Kaye]

wireless mode works better.

Was wired mode working well?

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

Some people seem to have missed it, but the last update from Curt was on monday, 5/4. They are in the process of building 30 more units.

Not sure just what that means and whether or not these next units will have the new antennas or not.

I think the whole non-LEMO connector issue took its toll on them this week.

I've become quite numb over this whole situation. I paid over a year ago, like many of us here, but I try to remain in as much of a complacent state as possible. I know that VF would refund my money if I ever asked them to. I also know that they will eventually deliver a product. In the mean time, I don't have much choice other than to wait... Can't afford an Arri or BarTech... Actually, I don't really care for the BarTech all that much after renting it a few times. I've only played with the Arri on one occasion, never actually used it. It seems really nice, but to rent it for a week would cost more than buying the VF system. Actually, I've spent more on renting the BarTech over the past year than what I will have invested in my VF unit... I guess them holding onto my money is just my way of thinking I still have my place in line for whenever Curt gets it right. Hopefully he gets it right before I'm the only one left in line! Hahaa...

 

[Mitch Gross]

Out of curiosity, how much is the ARRI system?

Abel is selling the new system in a two-channel (focus & iris) configuration for under US$16K, complete with cables for the RED. A third channel for zoom is available as an option. These are the strongest motors in the industry bar non and the system is incredibly intuitive to use (I trained on it in about 3 minutes).

And yes, Arri uses genuine Lemo connectors. ;-)