New 10th Doctor Sonic Screwdriver Universal Remote

[Richard B]

You're doing the best you can, mate. Us here in the US will just have to be patient. Keep up the amazing work!

Ah, many thanks for your patience and support. As you can imagine, we've been getting rather a lot of emails lately from impatient customers - whilst it's great that they're keen to receive the product, it's even nicer to receive such kind and thoughtful words from folks like you.

 

[novicepropmaker]

Ah, many thanks for your patience and support. As you can imagine, we've been getting rather a lot of emails lately from impatient customers - whilst it's great that they're keen to receive the product, it's even nicer to receive such kind and thoughtful words from folks like you.

People are seriously doing that? I can understand being excited but people are sending you complaints about waiting? You have given us the best Tennant sonic available on the market. I would wait another year if I had to. You guys at the wand company are the best!

 

[Mr Mcgoo]

Hi Richard, the release date on the Australian DW 50 store has an estimated time of arrival for the 30th of this month. I was wondering if this is accurate, or if as you said the production continues at the current rate it will get pushed back a bit?

 

[Richard B]

People are seriously doing that? I can understand being excited but people are sending you complaints about waiting? You have given us the best Tennant sonic available on the market. I would wait another year if I had to. You guys at the wand company are the best!

I wouldn't say that they are complaining, just that they are a little less patient and understanding than you guys are. Thanks again for all the support and enthusiasm.

Hi Richard, the release date on the Australian DW 50 store has an estimated time of arrival for the 30th of this month. I was wondering if this is accurate, or if as you said the production continues at the current rate it will get pushed back a bit?

I expect that's about right. BBC Australia are collecting their first batch from our Hong Kong warehouse on Thursday this week (which is the same day that we're airfreighting the first shipment to the USA), and depending on how they choose to ship them to Australia (which I assume will be by airfreight, or possibly with a courier such as FedEx or TNT) they should arrive in Australia sometime next week. That would then give them a few days to get the stock booked into their warehouse and start sending out to customers by 30th October.

 

[techman28]

BBCAmericaShop just today switched from saying Preorder available to saying in stock. I'm guessing based on info from this thread that is a mistake. Their pre orders had previously say available on/after 10/15/13 so maybe the site just auto update to say in stock now that it's the 15th. Or is it possible that BBC American Shop already received their first batch? Richard do you know? Thanks.

 

[Richard B]

BBCAmericaShop just today switched from saying Preorder available to saying in stock. I'm guessing based on info from this thread that is a mistake. Their pre orders had previously say available on/after 10/15/13 so maybe the site just auto update to say in stock now that it's the 15th. Or is it possible that BBC American Shop already received their first batch? Richard do you know? Thanks.

You're correct - that's a mistake - they definitely haven't received any stock from us yet.

 

[Formori]

BBCAmericaShop just today switched from saying Preorder available to saying in stock. I'm guessing based on info from this thread that is a mistake. Their pre orders had previously say available on/after 10/15/13 so maybe the site just auto update to say in stock now that it's the 15th. Or is it possible that BBC American Shop already received their first batch? Richard do you know? Thanks.

I saw this also on the BBC Canada Shop last night for only a few hours, then it went back to "Pre-order", and just now it's gone back to "In Stock" so I wonder if someone is just messing with the inventory system.

If it's in stock though I might not wait for Thinkgeek (since from the sound of it they're not going to get their order until Thursday, and if I'm lucky I won't get my order until 5 business days later anyway.

Hmmm, decisions, decisions...

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

First off, thank you again Richard for all the effort you've put into, not only this sonic, but also the time & effort you've put into keeping all here updated. Most of all, I want to thank you for your patience in having to answer all the shipping/ in-stock questions that seem to keep coming your way.

I don't mean to be offensive to anyone here. I LOVE this prop, & have spent several hundreds of dollars in various forms of it, & I'm probably more excited by this one than any other I've gotten. That being said, it's kind of embarrassing to see the same questions posed to this man over & over. It's like some are waiting for Richard to say, 'Well, If you can't wait like everyone else, let me run down to the shipping department & send one directly to you since your chosen vendor hasn't gotten their stock yet.'

To me, this is the 'adult' form of being in the back seat & continuing to ask dad if we're there yet. You being bored & impatient does nothing but exhaust the driver, & make the trip less enjoyable for all.

I don't mean to come off as condescending, but I love this site for threads such as this. Where we as fans can interact with those that make the magic happen, & I'd hate to see someone with the patience & understanding that Richard has shown here, decide that going through the same thing over & over just isn't worth it.

 

[TimeyWhimyStuff]

First off, thank you again Richard for all the effort you've put into, not only this sonic, but also the time & effort you've put into keeping all here updated. Most of all, I want to thank you for your patience in having to answer all the shipping/ in-stock questions that seem to keep coming your way.

I don't mean to be offensive to anyone here. I LOVE this prop, & have spent several hundreds of dollars in various forms of it, & I'm probably more excited by this one than any other I've gotten. That being said, it's kind of embarrassing to see the same questions posed to this man over & over. It's like some are waiting for Richard to say, 'Well, If you can't wait like everyone else, let me run down to the shipping department & send one directly to you since your chosen vendor hasn't gotten their stock yet.'

To me, this is the 'adult' form of being in the back seat & continuing to ask dad if we're there yet. You being bored & impatient does nothing but exhaust the driver, & make the trip less enjoyable for all.

I don't mean to come off as condescending, but I love this site for threads such as this. Where we as fans can interact with those that make the magic happen, & I'd hate to see someone with the patience & understanding that Richard has shown here, decide that going through the same thing over & over just isn't worth it.

Well put, and completely agree with you. With any prop out there you need to have a certain level of patience, and I'd love to see what this company can do next. Even though they said their next product isn't Doctor Who related, that dosen't mean there won't be anything else in the future, and I'm looking forward to whatever it may be.

 

[Richard B]

...I might not wait for Thinkgeek...

There's no chance that we'll be delivering to anyone in North America (i.e. BBC America or BBC Canada) sooner than we deliver to ThinkGeek. They are easily our biggest customer anywhere in the world - they're extremely nice people to work with, and the existence of this product is almost entirely thanks to them - many months ago, when we told them we were thinking of making the product, they gave us an indication of their likely order quantity that was big enough for us to have confidence that this was going to be a commercially-viable product.

First off, thank you again Richard for all the effort you've put into, not only this sonic, but also the time & effort you've put into keeping all here updated. Most of all, I want to thank you for your patience in having to answer all the shipping/ in-stock questions that seem to keep coming your way.

Thanks very much - as I've said before, it's been a real pleasure to have such a warm welcome from everyone here on the RPF.

To me, this is the 'adult' form of being in the back seat & continuing to ask dad if we're there yet. You being bored & impatient does nothing but exhaust the driver, & make the trip less enjoyable for all.

Thanks for stepping in - you do have a point, but from our perspective it's really not the fault of the folk here on the RPF. I've not seen any of the questions from you guys as an irritation - as I mentioned before, you folk are much more reasonable and understanding than most, but I can say that the sum total of all the questions about release date that we're getting via email, Facebook, Twitter and forums is feeling like rather a barrage at the moment and responding to these is, of course, giving us a little less time each day to focus on actually getting the product made and delivered. It's an absolute privilege for us to be making a product that people are so keen on, but it's been pretty stressful recently with these delays, partly because of the frustration it causes for end-customers, but more because we're risking damage to our reputation with our retailer partners - we've been proud of the fact that we've always delivered our shipments on time until now.

I hope that all makes sense.

Cheers,

Richard

 

[Usagi Pilgrim]

Thanks Richard. I wasn't saying anything was anyone's 'fault' per se.

just know that for me, I knew this was coming, but without the info you've provided, I'd have never known that it was 'late'. Therefore, I wouldn't have access to you to ask for insider information.

I didn't mean to overstep here. It just seems like you're being treated like a doctor at a family reunion. Folks cornering you to ask health advice, & since you're 'one of us', there's an assumption that you shouldn't mind. Kinda like the old 'no good deed goes unpunished' saying.

 

[cbkprop]

Just wanna say real quick that even though i do not have it yet, i love the prop. I was a little worried with seeing the firebox video that there would be that click sound when pressing the button before the sound effect was played, but of course you have removed it which i am VERY HAPPY about. At this point, this prop seems perfect even though i do not even have it yet.

 

[Richard B]

I didn't mean to overstep here...

Oh, don't worry - you didn't overstep at all - I really appreciated all your comments! As I said, we are somewhat drowning in questions about shipping dates at the moment, so any respite from such questions is definitely helpful. I'll post a note on here when we have actually made deliveries to the retailers, or if any other problems come up which are going to cause further delay.

Just wanna say real quick that even though i do not have it yet, i love the prop. I was a little worried with seeing the firebox video that there would be that click sound when pressing the button before the sound effect was played, but of course you have removed it which i am VERY HAPPY about.

Erm, I'm afraid it does still have a click sound when pressing the button before the sound effect is played. For consistency, we made it always click when the button is pressed, otherwise it can get a bit tricky to be sure of what you're doing for the various multiple-press combinations.

 

[cbkprop]

Erm, I'm afraid it does still have a click sound when pressing the button before the sound effect is played. For consistency, we made it always click when the button is pressed, otherwise it can get a bit tricky to be sure of what you're doing for the various multiple-press combinations.

Um, are you sure? This video is showing when he presses the button there is no click. Is it just in FX mode there's no click?

REAL 10th Doctor's Universal Remote Control Review - YouTube

 

[Richard B]

Um, are you sure? This video is showing when he presses the button there is no click. Is it just in FX mode there's no click?

Yep, I'm sure - sorry! I guess in that video the commentary was recorded separately, and that the audio track cuts from the commentary to the sonic screwdriver sounds just after the click has happened, so you don't get to hear the click. I wasn't expecting the click to bother anyone too much, as some of the original BBC sound effects had a click at the start (and end) of the sonic buzz, but I guess I misjudged that - I'm sorry to disappoint you.

 

[cbkprop]

Yep, I'm sure - sorry! I guess in that video the commentary was recorded separately, and that the audio track cuts from the commentary to the sonic screwdriver sounds just after the click has happened, so you don't get to hear the click. I wasn't expecting the click to bother anyone too much, as some of the original BBC sound effects had a click at the start (and end) of the sonic buzz, but I guess I misjudged that - I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Its fine, thank you for the reply!

 

[cbkprop]

Yep, I'm sure - sorry! I guess in that video the commentary was recorded separately, and that the audio track cuts from the commentary to the sonic screwdriver sounds just after the click has happened, so you don't get to hear the click. I wasn't expecting the click to bother anyone too much, as some of the original BBC sound effects had a click at the start (and end) of the sonic buzz, but I guess I misjudged that - I'm sorry to disappoint you.

Was the click made quieter? I know that its there but later in the video i think i hear it but it just sounds a bit quieter then what i heard in the fire box video.

 

[Richard B]

Was the click made quieter? I know that its there but later in the video i think i hear it but it just sounds a bit quieter then what i heard in the fire box video.

It's quite possible that the Firebox video makes the click sound seem louder than it really is. When Firebox recorded the video, there was a whole load of background noise (traffic etc.) that they couldn't easily remove, so I made a new audio track for them with just the product's sound effects in sync with the original audio. In doing so, I may have set the sound level of the clicks a bit higher than I should have done. Also, we did change the design of the speaker enclosure a little between the prototype (in the Firebox video) and the final production version (that you can see and hear in the newer YouTube video), and that change will have slightly affected the relative loudness of the different sounds.

 

[cbkprop]

It's quite possible that the Firebox video makes the click sound seem louder than it really is. When Firebox recorded the video, there was a whole load of background noise (traffic etc.) that they couldn't easily remove, so I made a new audio track for them with just the product's sound effects in sync with the original audio. In doing so, I may have set the sound level of the clicks a bit higher than I should have done. Also, we did change the design of the speaker enclosure a little between the prototype (in the Firebox video) and the final production version (that you can see and hear in the newer YouTube video), and that change will have slightly affected the relative loudness of the different sounds.

Ok, thank you for responding to all of my questions! Your awesome.

 

[MEKKANNOID]

Richard,
I live in New Zealand, and while not being on the official retailer list, this local website is advertising the sonic with a preorder option and expected release date of the 27th:
Tenth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver | at Mighty Ape NZ
Do you know anything about how this retailer is selling them if they are not on the list, and how accurate the date may or may not be?
If this is for real then it is a much better option for me than shipping from overseas.
Thanks, I appreciate that you may be too busy to answer my question.