RED recovers stolen gear, but valuable IP still missing

Good news for fans of ultra high definition imaging: RED Digital Cinema (and Oakley) founder Jim Jannard is reporting that almost all of the equipment stolen a few weeks back -- including the aluminum prototype, a lens, and several computers -- has been successfully recovered by a team of private investigators. As you probably know by now, RED was founded with the intention of bringing professional-quality camcorders into the hands of the common man (well, the common man who has $17,000 to spare), and its first 4K footage became available for public consumption shortly before the break-in. Jannard writes that the stolen gear was broken up into two parts, and while the camera and related hardware are back in safe hands, computers with potentially valuable development info are still missing. He goes on to caution us against speculating about "the motives of the thieves or any connection with the industry," and doesn't delve any further into the specifics of the recovery efforts; however, with information about the project and the Mysterium sensor still in the wild, we can't help but speculate (sorry, Jim) that the IP was the most valuable aspect of this crime to whomever perpetrated it. We'll keep you updated on this case as it progresses, but if you happen to see anyone selling the plans for an 11.4 megapixel camcorder out of the back of a truck, please do the right thing and give Team RED a heads up.

[Via CrunchGear]

[tekdroid @ Oct 9th 2006 12:59PM]

like.no.other

[Finished Law School @ Oct 9th 2006 1:11PM]

I blame Sony since all of their latest stuff has been crap, vaporware, full of root kits, DRM'd to the point of nonfunctionality, and of a fire risk.

[Alden @ Oct 9th 2006 1:34PM]

haha sony... what a pile of shit.

[T Martie @ Oct 9th 2006 1:38PM]

"recovered by a team of private investigators."
No thanks to the police apparently.

[Tonicboy @ Oct 9th 2006 2:43PM]

Ok, something smells fishy to me here. RED reports the theft a couple weeks ago and massive news coverage ensues. With some amazing luck, today they recover the stolen EQ. With the exception of unspecified "IP", RED is no worse for the wear, and has lots of free publicity to boot. How the heck did the "private investigators" manage to recover the gear without finding the crooks? Did the thieves just leave the stolen gear stashed in a janitor's closet or something? Or maybe they buried it on a desert island and left a map with clues in the RED offices. And if the police helped find the gear, how come there has been no police statement?

[Ben @ Oct 9th 2006 3:06PM]

Police can't comment about on-going investigations.

[MochiBalls @ Oct 9th 2006 3:14PM]

@Tonicboy
You wrote exactly what I was thinking for quite sometime about Red in general. Everything I hear and read coming out of Red smells fishy. I'm really surprised more red flags (pun intended) aren't raised from publishers when these stories arise. Even the recently released 4K footage looks fake. It looks like CG to me. I only saw the Oakley video footage - how about humans or something hard to CG? The only human footage I saw was a screen still capture, which could've come from a digicam.

[Pete @ Oct 9th 2006 3:27PM]

Yeah so they have the hardware back, lets see some live demos now.

[mike @ Oct 9th 2006 5:00PM]

Of course the next shoe to drop is development and delivery delays due to the loss of valuable IP.

[Porkchop Flavored Cupcake @ Oct 9th 2006 5:43PM]

@MochiBalls
See the live 4K presentation that was shown at IBC this year (featuring real people and real objects): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ymt4QGoapA

[Shawn @ Oct 9th 2006 7:03PM]

Hm, isn't that a supercharger used to house the camera?

[kbsig106 @ Oct 9th 2006 8:33PM]

That looks like a bolt on Stillen 350z turbo charger w/ a lens and some handle bars. Wonder what kind of HP gain they're gonna see...