Jim Jannard, founder of Irvine-based Red Digital Cinema Camera Co., has figured out a way to allow viewing of 3-D and virtual reality content without the need for a pesky headset or glasses.
The company released Hydrogen One last week, a 5.7-inch Android device that’s the “foundation of a future multi-dimensional media system” and will include “attachments for shooting higher quality motion and still images as well as Hydrogen-format holographic images.” It’s offered at $1,595 and $1,195 price points, and will ship in the first quarter of next year from Jannard’s “own personal first production batch.”
Hydrogen One doesn’t require a headset to view 3-D and VR content. It will also “integrate into the professional RED camera program” as “user interface and monitor.” A proprietary “H30” algorithm embedded in its operating system converts stereo sound into “expansive multi-dimensional audio.”
Oh, and yes, you can make phone calls with it, too.
Last year Jannard called Hydrogen “the most mind-numbing project” he’s ever worked on without giving details about the type of product it was. He later sent out periodic teases in a buildup to last week’s announcement.
“I never believed that AR and VR would be successful as long as you needed a pair of glasses or a headset to view content,” he told Forbes magazine last week. “No one wants to drag around another piece of gear that has to be charged every day.”
Red Digital, convenience aside, appears to be “going after the general market now, which is not something they’ve done before,” said Fullerton-based freelance photography director Chris McKechnie, who’s invested more than $135,000 on Red cameras and accessories over the years. “This is more of a consumer-based product. It’s still high-end professional but at a consumer-level price point.”
Jannard, who founded Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. in 1975 with $300 and sold it to Italy-based Luxottica in 2007 for $2.1 billion, addressed the market move in another forum post on the day of the product release.
“So why do we feel we can make a difference in the cell phone market? Because we are doing everything different and (we feel) better. That is the only way to enter a market. That was the thinking behind Oakley. It was the thinking when we released the RED ONE. Same formula. Make something significantly better and you have a reason to be.”
McKechnie resisted the urge to be among the first to own Hydrogen One, citing many unknowns at this point. However, he said he wasn’t surprised that may of his peers on the RedUser online forum made the leap—Jannard’s track record was enough to give them “faith that the product will be amazing.”
“Over the past 10 years, RED has gone from scam (announcing the impossible) to delivering the impossible … over and over,” Jannard said in his post. “Our core customers have seen and participated in this process and have stories to tell. Apparently we have earned their “blind trust” because we have not let them down. We understand that those unfamiliar with our history will certainly not get this … Today we saw the full range from “complete trust” to “hard skepticism.” I have seen this before … many times actually. Makes me smile.”Â
The inventor with about 90 patents to his name launched Red Digital in 2005, and turned over the reins to President Jarred Land in 2013. Last year he explained his departure on Red Digital’s online forum, saying that he’s “been off the grid for the past couple of years” working on the invention.
Jannard tied for the No. 6 spot on the Business Journal’s 2016 OC’s Wealthiest list with an estimated net worth of $3.2 billion.
