RED Hydrogen has been delayed once again due to complex certification process, as reported by RED’s founder, Jim Jannard on H4Vuser forum. Read below Jim’s statement.

The R&D of a cellular apparatus is very complex especially in regard to certification processes. It’s even more complicated than manufacturing cameras. In the past I was a senior product manager of a medical phone at a leading international company. That phone (I mean the R&D stage) has crushed the company all together due to huge amount of investment in research and development that sucked the resources of the company. I truly hope that Hydrogen will not get RED down the drain, but it will defiantly take significant focus from their main business – cinema cameras.

Jim Jannard statement

Let’s read what Jim, RED’s founder has to say about the delayed release of the Hydrogen:

“Again, wearing this project on our sleeves… lots of information to share. I hope I don’t miss anything.

As you probably know, we were set back in certification by a critical part that needed to be retooled. That change has now been completed (certification is still in process) and that delay has affected the launch schedule (this part drives me crazy). Given that… here are the dates we are locking down.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a difficult project and there is a remote possibility that something could come up to further affect the schedule. While the odds are pretty low for that happening, it is still possible.

PLEASE NOTE: This is a difficult project and there is a remote possibility that something could come up to further affect the schedule. While the odds are pretty low for that happening, it is still possible.

November 2nd: launch date for AT&T, Verizon and Telcel (Mexico)

Shipping only aluminum and colors are Black and Shadow. Titanium will not be available from the carriers until 2019 and then in very limited quantities. Price will be $1295 for aluminum Black and Shadow. We appreciate the patience and support that the carriers have shown the past few months.

October 9th: release date for HYDROGEN Pre-order customers

Black aluminum will ship 1st and Titanium models will follow shortly after. The Ti version has proven to be very challenging in production. My bet is that these will be highly desirable and extremely hard to get for several months even after the official launch. If you were brave on this one, you will be rewarded with scarcity.

August 31th – September 11th: release date for the Houdini Developer’s Model

There will be an event at RED Studios Hollywood to kick off delivery of this program on August 31st. Quantities for Houdini are EXTREMELY Limited. I guarantee there will not be enough slots for all that want to jump in so read carefully and then email as soon as you can if you want in. 1st come, 1st serve. If you already signed up for Houdini, just confirm you are OK with the change in the program.”

To read the full statement you can check out the H4Vuser forum.

My 2 cents are that Hydrogen release is going to be delayed again. BTW, you got to admire RED on the courage for going to something like that.

Personal note: The goal of this article is to emphasize to complexity of developing such product in regard to the very complicated certification processes related to cellular devices. RED has taken a significant risk here and that should be admired. The R&D combined with certification processes when developing (and also manufacturing) a cellular product is extremely hard. It’s also huge challenge to develop from scratch cinema cameras, raw codec and so on, but this is a whole new animal. I have worked as a senior product manager in an international medical company which decided to jump into this kind of adventure. The company was bankrupt. Hopefully RED is not going into that negative route.

Does RED need this adventure? Let us know what you think!