# Kaleidescape Offers Disc Quality Video and Audio Minus The Disc



## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

The internet has brought the home theater enthusiast many things, including the option to stream content with little more than a few clicks of a remote. Great, right? It certainly satisfies a convenience factor that brick-and-mortar video rental stores sorely lacked; the immediacy of streaming a film is by far its best quality. But, if you’re an audio and video snob like myself, then the downside of streaming – namely compromised audio and video – makes the ole’ physical disc the best and most desirable option. But, the physical disc’s death is nearly inevitable (when remains to be seen). Recently, a company called Kaleidescape announced a 4K movie system called Encore that strikes an interesting balance between quality and convenience, edging us that much closer to a high-quality 4K streaming world. So, couch potatoes, kick up your feet and checkout what the company has to offer.










The centerpiece of Kaleidescape's Encore product line is the Strato Movie Player, a pseudo-streaming player that promises disc quality playback. Strato is world’s first 4K Ultra HD player with HDMI 2.0a and High Dynamic Range compatibility. The player downloads and stores (either internally or externally) movie content direct from Kaleidescape’s online store. It then offers full Ultra UHD playback (4K 60fps) without startup delays, buffering errors, pixilation, or service drops that plague traditional streaming media. Strato also offers lossless multichannel audio (which should bring a smile to your face). Kaleidescape sells an internal 6TB hard drive with enough capacity for up to 100 4K UHD movies, 150 Blu-ray quality movies, or 900 DVDs. Customers opting to forgo the internal drive can connect their Strato player to an external movie server.

Kaleidescape’s online movie store is supported by an easy to navigate website with user-friendly dropdown menus and featured movie banners. A quick browse through the store’s library of 11,000 titles shows a great mix of current and past HD titles, including the likes of _Inside Out, Jurassic World, Pixels, Psycho, and The Game_. 4K UHD content is not yet available for download, but it’s great to see a promising selection, and pricing (which ranges from below $10 for older releases, up to $24 for current releases) is also in the range of acceptable for films that users buy and keep.

The company also announced two new versions of its HD-quality movie player called Alto. One version offers a 6TB internal storage drive while the other requires the use of an external movie server. Alto also ships with an onboard disc player for playback of physical media. In addition, Kaleidescape unveiled its Terra Movie Server that offers 24TB of media storage.










_Alto Movie Player, available now._​

"We are very proud to introduce our new Encore line of movie players and servers, which provides the industry's finest sound and picture quality, and the most entertaining and convenient way to experience your movies at home," said Cheena Srinivasan, Kaleidescape co-founder and CEO. "Our new Strato movie player provides the most authentic home-cinema experience. Our new Terra product is Kaleidescape's third-generation movie server; it incorporates everything we learned from the first two generations. These new products are supported by the release of our new movie store, which is more attractive and easier to navigate than ever before.”

The Alto Disc Server is available for purchase now (retail $2,495), Terra will be available November 2015 (MSRP unreleased), and Strata is due to arrive during Q1 2016 (MSRP $4495 with 6TB drive, $3,495 without).

_Image Credits: Kaleidescape _


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## Peter Loeser (Aug 11, 2012)

Todd Anderson said:


> Strata is due to arrive during Q1 2016 (MSRP $4495 with 6TB drive, $3,495 without).[/I]


$1000 to add a 6TB drive? yeesh.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

This product definitely has a narrow buying audience...


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## Tonto (Jun 30, 2007)

We should invite them to be a sponsor.


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## NBPk402 (Feb 21, 2012)

I love the idea, but their pricing (as well as others I have seen) is too rich for my blood.:sad:


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## Michiko (Oct 31, 2015)

I've been looking at the "Kaleidescape", it's pretty expensive for 3 grand. How long does it take to save a movie to it and what the storage capacity? :help:


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Good question... I'll see if I can find an answer for you.


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## Todd Anderson (Jul 24, 2009)

Michiko said:


> I've been looking at the "Kaleidescape", it's pretty expensive for 3 grand. How long does it take to save a movie to it and what the storage capacity? :help:


Kaleidoscope says that a typical Blu-ray movie takes 40-80 min with download speeds of 60-100mbps. DVD quality is quicker and Ultra HD quality will be slower. Of course, all of these are significantly fast than buying a physical movie from an online retailer... But but not as instantaneous as your typical streaming experience.

Hope that answers your question.


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## macadamianut (Jan 24, 2011)

You can buy a lot of disks for that price 
Think I will stick with physical media.


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