Redrock microRemote?

[Trevor Meeks]

Fair enough. So the average customer can go to your site and order these items?

No, they aren't shipping, and you can't even order.

 

[Brian Valente]

No, they aren't shipping, and you can't even order.

Trevor - it's never a party until you've arrived. Yes they are shipping. They are already in customers hands, we hope to be shipping faster.



Cheers

Brian

 

[Trevor Meeks]

Trevor - it's never a party until you've arrived. Yes they are shipping. They are already in customers hands, we hope to be shipping faster.

I'll believe it when I see it :sifone:

Recapping the 'issues'? We switched from an analog system to a digital one, we added a sonar rangefinder, we added a second type of hand controller, and we developed our own digital motor, keeping the price all-in for around $2500. I'd say that's a lot of development.

I think Paul may have been referring to the 'issues' such as saying "coming soon!!!" for 2 years or... the circuit boards or cables that were supposedly found to be shorting out, days before the units "started shipping" in June or whenever that was of last year.

It's all been a pretty big bummer of an experience from a customer standpoint. That's why I personally (and as it appears, a number of other people) chose other products that are actually proven and available.

 

[Brian Valente]

Yep - i would say that sounds like the development process to me.


A new product has to go through being proven, and we're totally fine with it going slowly and being proven out - that's exactly the process we're going through now. Being on set at Warner Brothers and seeing the microRemote and the Preston side by side and performing comparably I think really opened some eyes last week. I'm not saying it's identical in all ways, but the performance was looking great and the network show is looking to use it in their next episode.

Trevor you are fortunate you can spend $15,000 on your chrosziel system, and it sounds like you are happy with it. If a Preston was affordable I don't think we'd be in this business. But they aren't for most people, and we are looking to produce a great performer at an exceptional price. I think it's going to be worth far more than the price we set.


Cheers

Brian

 

[Paul Schneider]

I don't have any issues with development and certainly know it takes time to get it right...especially with electronics. I'm glad the products are finally coming to market.

My issue is with the marketing hype that prematurely surrounds these things...and its not just a Red Rock issue. In the last few years we've been barraged with a slew of promises and prototypes of products claiming to solve all our needs at prices designed to open our wallets. Unfortunately many never come to pass or when they do end up being a let down in design, execution or price.

Prototyping and experimentation is both necessary and cool, but in the drive to be relevant and competitive folks are now more prone to misrepresent these betas as ready (or nearly ready) for market. This does no one any good. It pisses off the consumer and hurts the image of the company...often permanently.

I've now learned only to trust things I can actually buy and being offered by companies with a proven track record of quality and delivery. No offense to RR as you have always made some top notch stuff, but its never real until it ships to the average joe and its effectiveness can be evaluated independently in real world situations.

 

[Trevor Meeks]

seeing the microRemote and the Preston side by side and performing comparably I think really opened some eyes last week.

Awesome, so it does F.I.Z. now? Sorry, but unless it actually does, it's nowhere near comparable... but that's cool that WB got to use one. Still no average Joes!

 

[Mike 'Fireman' Ross]

Not yet - we're still in the reservation list fulfillment.

@Mike yes we have your order, it will just follow the reservation deliveries.


Cheers

Brian

Well, I wasn't informed of any 'reservation deliveries' - I saw the system at NAB, and decided to give it a whirl. I ordered it from the website, and expected prompt delivery... pretty simple stuff.

The email I got confirming the order, and the website itself, said (to paraphrase) that the product was in stock and available for immediate shipping (the 'product status' web page was explicit: "Lead time: 1 day"), and the order would be processed immediately. Talk of 'reservation deliveries' just sounds like excuses to be honest; I ordered in good faith, I even paid for overnight shipping, and weeks later I'm still waiting. Seriously unimpressed, I suggest you make this right...

Mike

 

[KEN ANDREWS]

Brian,

Could you tell us how many units you have shipped to non-beta testing/real customers? I think being forthright and transparent with some concrete information like that would help restore a bit of confidence in the product. So far, there has been nothing real to see except a few working units at trade shows. I ordered on June 1st and have had no new info since. I'm fine to wait, and I do agree this is going to be the price to value leader in the marketplace, but calling the product sold out at this point, when it appears none have actually shipped, is probably not going to win you any customer service awards.

 

[Tim Morten]

Ordered June 2nd (when units were supposedly in stock), on June 14th received a mass-email clarifying that units will be delivered first-come/first-serve basis, emailed back asking when mine will go out, got a non-committal answer. I appreciate that I haven't been charged yet, but I do feel like expectations were initially set incorrectly. Oh well; I've always had a good experience with RedRock, and I appreciate that Brian is here answering questions. Here's hoping that whatever is causing the delays gets cleared up soon!

 

[Brian Valente]

Hi everyone,
Roundup of responses, so I apologize in advance for the length of this post. If you are a microRemote order holder, I highly recommend you read everything here.

Awesome, so it does F.I.Z. now? Sorry, but unless it actually does, it's nowhere near comparable... . Still no average Joes!

Trevor you are incorrect on both points. If you read my post i said they performed comparably, not that they were functionally identical.
Yes 'average joes' have them now (in fact WB only got to use it for an afternoon) - more details below. Where you getting your information?

Could you tell us how many units you have shipped to non-beta testing/real customers?

Sure - Maybe it would be helpful to give some additional details on where we are. We have about a dozen shipped units to 'real people' reservation holders (more by the time you read this). For each of these so far we have hand held the delivery, setup, and product training to make sure everything works properly, our documentation is clear, and to solicit feedback. So far the rollout has gone pretty much as we hoped: the unit has performed great, met or exceeded expectations in virtually every way, and has resulted in some improvements and some changes. Two quick examples of this: We've added a feature to reverse lens direction on the fingerwheel (in addition to the wireless remote), and we added an 'auto torque' feature during lens calibration with a manual 'fine tune' for personal preference. There are many small usability improvements as well and some tuning up of documentation.
We continue to ship with this strategy in mind.

Based on the last few installs it's been consistently good, so I think we'll be moving into the faster shipping stage soon.

Well, I wasn't informed of any 'reservation deliveries' - ...the 'product status' web page was explicit: "Lead time: 1 day"), ....Talk of 'reservation deliveries' just sounds like excuses to be honest; ...I suggest you make this right... Mike

Mike - we exchanged a few PMs about this, so I apologize if I'm repeating some things. I understand you are coming in new to the microRemote, but there has been a reservation list for two years on this product and it's been pretty widely known. I'm sure there are at least a few people here that hold a reservations and have placed an order.

I apologize again that you were able to place an order without a clear understanding of the microRemote status - that was not supposed to be available. We made some site changes based on your experience. For example the complete lead time on our status page said "1 day unless otherwise noted on the product page" but people seem to skip over that second part. We revised our process and pages and now point people to the lead times on the individual product pages.

Regarding 'making it right' our best option is to just ship as fast as we can. I don't think the reservation holders ahead of you would appreciate you going in front of them. Drop me a PM and let us know what you'd like to do, but our commitment to our reservation list stands.

Ordered June 2nd (when units were supposedly in stock), on June 14th received a mass-email clarifying that units will be delivered first-come/first-serve basis, ...(snip)...I do feel like expectations were initially set incorrectly.

The june 14th email you received was an excerpt from the original ordering email to make sure folks read it. here's an excerpt from those emails (my emphasis added):

"Placing your order now does not guarantee you will receive yours on June 1st and does not guarantee a specific timeframe for delivery.... (snip)... As a new product, it will initially have limited availability. Once we receive your order and determine all orders and inventory, we will contact you with an estimated lead time for your order. If you require a microRemote in a specific timeframe, we recommend you do not place an order at this time."

I would like to think this is pretty clear about setting expectations. We haven't yet contacted people with the lead time and delivery estimate, though working to address that shortly.

There isn't anything "causing delays" - we are going slowly (see above).

(Regarding emails, for those of you who have placed an order, you will also receive an email from us shortly regarding the ability to now add additional individual items to your order. The most common request was additional marking disks and adding the fingerwheel to a wireless bundle. These are also in our store now as well.)

I don't have any issues with development and certainly know it takes time to get it right...(snip). I'm glad the products are finally coming to market..(snip)..My issue is with the marketing hype that prematurely surrounds these things...and its not just a Red Rock issue. (snip)... its never real until it ships to the average joe and its effectiveness can be evaluated independently in real world situations.

On the last part, we totally agree, and I don't think we've ever suggested anything to the contrary. We are totally focused on real world performance feedback of the microRemote.

Product release can be challenging for everyone. No one wants a product that people want to buy but it's not available. Conversely, manufacturers are constantly pressured to talk about what's new, and to show the latest and greatest. This has a really beneficial side because customers can see what's coming up, and to get a better "big picture" of where things are going, and also to give feedback and what you'd like to see. That's good for us too - there is no substitute for direct customer interaction. But this seems to come with a wide range of expectations and demands that range from reasonable to flat-out crazy. We all try to balance this as best we can.

For those of you in the LA area, we are considering a hands-on microRemote session this coming Saturday. for those of you who are interested drop me a PM and if there's enough interest, we'll find a location and do it. We'd love for people to use firsthand the microRemote.

Thanks for reading

Cheers

Brian

 

[Tim Morten]

Any update on shipping?

 

[Trevor Meeks]

Weren't they supposed to be shipping June 1st? Haha oh wow...

 

[Brian Valente]

@Tim - we should have an update sometime this week regarding the reservation list with some details. We've already shipped out a bunch and there are a number of customer threads on other forums. one is here: http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=42285

we made some final tweaks to the firmware with some nice enhancements.

@Trevor - Yep, they shipped starting June 1, to "average joe" users as well. Not sure the point of your comment.



Cheers

Brian

 

[Ryan P. Kelly]

They Are Shipping

They Are Shipping

Hey guys. Just wanted to post some images of the microremote. I receveived my unit on July 7th. Please forgive the lack of RED camera in the photos

They are shipping...slowly yes...but the units are rolling out. I have seen sevearl other posts around the net and twitter showing remotes in the wild.

One set up is a vertical moco slide that will be used on a car rig for the opening shot of a short we start filming Sunday.

We are shooting on a submarine for the second act so i needed a handheld rig for the tight spaces. I rigged up the fingerwheel and have power fed by the backpack. DP6 mounted on the back will allow my AC to follow behind in the passageways.
Really love the System. I especially like that with the fingerwheel plugged in...turning on the wireless unit Maps the lens to the wireless. Turn off the wireless and control goes back to the fingerwheel...remapping it again. No need to recalibrate the lens when you want to switch.
I will try to answer any questions you guys have. I also have posts on dvuser and cinema5d.
I will be shooting over the next 3 weeks for the DVX warfest and will be posting BTS stills and videos on my film page "The Light Once Captured" http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?284407-quot-The-Light-Once-Captured-quot

 

[Tim Morten]

@Tim - we should have an update sometime this week regarding the reservation list with some details. We've already shipped out a bunch and there are a number of customer threads on other forums. one is here: http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=42285

Thanks Brian - looking forward to the udpate!

Best,
Tim

 

[Trevor Meeks]

"This week" eh? :sifone:

 

[Sascha Rossier]

How can I order a Bundle / put my Name on the List?
Since on the Redrock Site it says SOLD OUT ... i unfortunately can't place any Order ...
Even if there are a lot of Peeps in front of me I just wanna make sure i'm queuing up in the right place.
Can anybody help?

 

[Jarek Zabczynski]

They told me I need to wait till preorders are filled and stock is back on the site. They wouldn't let me reserve one, eventhough I thought I sent in an email for reservation ages ago.

 

[Brian Valente]

Hi all - quick update and answers. I hoped to send an update last week, but the pace of our motor production has been taking too long. It has been taking too long to tune them to our QC standards for noise (they are extremely quiet). We've found another approach which is spinning up in the production line, but they haven't given me an updated schedule. So we continue to ship, slowly, not ramping as fast I hoped. We will update here and to existing order holders via email when we have news.

@Sascha you'll need to wait until they go on general sale. We aren't doing any more reservation lists beyond the original one. I recommend subscribing to our newsletter, twitter, fb, etc.

@Jarek we realize we cut off the reservation list orders before the deadline we set, so when they go back on sale we will have a short period in which existing reservation holders will be able to place an order ahead of others. It's going to be a short window, so look for the announcement.

Hope that helps


Cheers

Brian

 

[Sascha Rossier]

Hej Brian ... thanx for the update. Lookin forward to your general sale. Keep up the good work.