Kaleidescape Owners Thread

[Travis Ballstadt]

Yes, it's so much nicer now that it's easy to catalog your existing discs, It works with an external BD Player, they have a list of supported players. Some of the D2D deals are better than others, Disney, Fox and MGM being the worst for upgrade pricing, here's some of the ones on my list that I haven't upgraded yet.

View attachment 69315

I’ve not cataloged a single disc. I did a bunch of stuff on VUDU years ago with things I had on dvd and didn’t feel the need to buy on Blu-ray. Have just bought via sales and bundles on Kaleidescape.

 

[Todd Anderson]

@Sonnie they have lots of concerts in their catalog...!

 

[Michael Boeker]

I'm considering this avenue once again, as I understand you can now buy a Bluray player and get your own movies loaded at considerably less cost.

However, I'm a little confused about the size of the player and server. There are obviously two pieces of gear. The player appears to be compact, but can I get the 22TB server is a compact case as well?

Here is a picture of the Strato 4K Movie Player and the Terra Prime 22TB Server together. Below that is an RME M-32 32 channel Dante DAC and the StormAudio ISP EVO outputting 32 channels via AES67 to the RME DAC.

I just checked and I currently have 665 movies and concerts. I have a Strato 12TB (discontinued) and will be adding a Terra Prime Server. My Strato 12TB is full with 195 movies/concerts.

 

[Michael Boeker]

Yes, it's so much nicer now that it's easy to catalog your existing discs, It works with an external BD Player, they have a list of supported players. Some of the D2D deals are better than others, Disney, Fox and MGM being the worst for upgrade pricing, here's some of the ones on my list that I haven't upgraded yet.

View attachment 69315

Don't buy those Rocky movies for that price. Wait until they go on sale. I bought mine for $14.99 each.

 

[VJM]

Don't buy those Rocky movies for that price. Wait until they go on sale. I bought mine for $14.99 each.

Exactly, MGM D2D prices stink

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Thanks for sharing, Michael. I plan to keep the player up on top of my cabinet with my Firecube but then have the server down below on the shelf behind the cabinet.

I am quite picky and very selective with my movies. I don't think I've watched a comedy since Trading Places and The Jerk. I'm more of an action and sci-fi type, but even then very selective. There are only a few dozen movies I've watched more than once. This will be more about convenience and quality to me than it will be quantity. I suspect I might watch a few more than normal if I can catch them on sale, but it will likely be a one-and-done watch, and then I can delete them if the space is needed for something newer that I want to keep on the server.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Thanks for sharing, Michael. I plan to keep the player up on top of my cabinet with my Firecube but then have the server down below on the shelf behind the cabinet.

I am quite picky and very selective with my movies. I don't think I've watched a comedy since Trading Places and The Jerk. I'm more of an action and sci-fi type, but even then very selective. There are only a few dozen movies I've watched more than once. This will be more about convenience and quality to me than it will be quantity. I suspect I might watch a few more than normal if I can catch them on sale, but it will likely be a one-and-done watch, and then I can delete them if the space is needed for something newer that I want to keep on the server.

If you really aren't the type to rewatch, you can rent on Kaleidescape as well. Might be the way to go. Rentals are $8, except for "still in theaters" titles, which are generally $20 rentals if you can rent it. If you decide you want to purchase after the rental, you can get $4 off the purchase price within 48 hours.

Titles automatically delete after they expire. Rental windows are similar to other platforms. You can rent something, you have like 30 days to watch it, once you hit play you have a 48 hour window to watch, finish, rewatch, etc. in that window. Then the purchase offer starts.

 

[VJM]

I agree with Travis, if you don't rewatch much then the rental option is good. For me if the price is $9.99 for something I'm not wanting to really collect I just buy it outright anyway since it's a pretty good deal.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Here is a picture of the Strato 4K Movie Player and the Terra Prime 22TB Server together. Below that is an RME M-32 32 channel Dante DAC and the StormAudio ISP EVO outputting 32 channels via AES67 to the RME DAC.

I just checked and I currently have 665 movies and concerts. I have a Strato 12TB (discontinued) and will be adding a Terra Prime Server. My Strato 12TB is full with 195 movies/concerts.

View attachment 69328

Nice Rack!

 

[Todd Anderson]

Thanks for sharing, Michael. I plan to keep the player up on top of my cabinet with my Firecube but then have the server down below on the shelf behind the cabinet.

I am quite picky and very selective with my movies. I don't think I've watched a comedy since Trading Places and The Jerk. I'm more of an action and sci-fi type, but even then very selective. There are only a few dozen movies I've watched more than once. This will be more about convenience and quality to me than it will be quantity. I suspect I might watch a few more than normal if I can catch them on sale, but it will likely be a one-and-done watch, and then I can delete them if the space is needed for something newer that I want to keep on the server.

The sales are non-stop.... and I find I'm buying non-stop. The worst is the "2AM, I can't sleep, browsing the most recent sales" purchases

Not that great for the wallet, but it's so easy to click buy

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I'll probably rent a lot of movies that I'd like to rewatch and never purchased. I can see myself being more of a renter... then again, I, too, have those "2AM, I can't sleep" moments, too, and I might end up buying it at the sale price instead of renting it.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

One reason I am considering one is that I watched a new movie the other night, and the streaming was awful—going in and out of obvious compression with artifacts galore. It irritated me. I also know the audio would be a lot better on several of the movies I've watched recently.

 

[Todd Anderson]

It's hard to turn down the $9.99 4K films on sale.

They've completely nailed the store/purchase user interface... and the app is fantastic, especially the built-in remote control. The only feature missing is a way to fast forward/rewind by scrubbing. If they could work that into the app, the system would go from a 99/100 to a 100/100.

 

[Todd Anderson]

One reason I am considering one is that I watched a new movie the other night, and the streaming was awful—going in and out of obvious compression with artifacts galore. It irritated me. I also know the audio would be a lot better on several of the movies I've watched recently.

Yup. You won't need to worry about that.

Do you have a gigabit connection?

 

[VJM]

I have a 500Mbps connection and it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to download a 4k movie

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yup. You won't need to worry about that.

Do you have a gigabit connection?

Indeed... I have three Ubiquiti Networks UniFi UAP-AC-PRO units hardwired from our fiber throughout the house... one in the AV room.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I have a 500Mbps connection and it takes about 15 to 20 minutes to download a 4k movie

I'm only testing at about 380mbps down ... still pretty good. I'll take it since previously we were on DSL and lucky if we got 500kbps down.

 

[VJM]

I'm only testing at about 380mbps down ... still pretty good. I'll take it since previously we were on DSL and lucky if we got 500kbps down.

I just schedule mine to download overnight, every so often I'll download to watch right away, the great thing is you can be anywhere, open the app up and tell it to download and it will be ready to go when you get home.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Indeed... I have three Ubiquiti Networks UniFi UAP-AC-PRO units hardwired from our fiber throughout the house... one in the AV room.

Of course. Why did I even ask???

I blew it - BIG TIME - during our recent home renos by not pulling ethernet. I do have ethernet into the theater room rack, but I should have pulled that stuff everywhere.

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

Of course. Why did I even ask???

I blew it - BIG TIME - during our recent home renos by not pulling ethernet. I do have ethernet into the theater room rack, but I should have pulled that stuff everywhere.

This house has ethernet pulled to various locations, but it's not great quality, I only have the single player so haven't tested it. I'm also not sure it is even functional at this point, as a couple summers ago the main line from the box outside to the panel gave out and I had to re-run that cable. Worked out for the best because I was able to bring it into a better location on the other side of the house instead of right behind my screen. Now the modem lives in the utility closet and runs straight to the rack/switch.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

When we built 24 years ago Ethernet wasn't a huge thing like it is today... speeds were abysmal for the most part. Fortunately, I have easy access to our attic with a walkway and lighting, so running to a room isn't a huge deal. I'm about to run a line from my testing room to the switch today. Some of these processors require a direct connection to establish an IP address, which can then be used wirelessly.

As for Kaleidescape... I bit... ordered the 22TB Kaleidescape this morning from Robert at Value Electronics. Thanks, Robert!

 

[jdubs75]

While I love the product and everything it offers, I still cannot get past the extremely high cost for K-scape storage. $300-500/TB is a tough pill for me to swallow. Maybe some day I can make it happen. For now I'll live through you guys Hahaha

 

[Travis Ballstadt]

While I love the product and everything it offers, I still cannot get past the extremely high cost for K-scape storage. $300-500/TB is a tough pill for me to swallow. Maybe some day I can make it happen. For now I'll live through you guys Hahaha

It's definitely not inexpensive, that's for sure. But man...imagine a PLEX setup with a disc sherpa who obtained all the physical media, ripped them all for you, dealt with system maintenance, library management, disc storage, and could do it all in 10 minutes. That's Kaleidescape.

 

[Michael Boeker]

While I love the product and everything it offers, I still cannot get past the extremely high cost for K-scape storage. $300-500/TB is a tough pill for me to swallow. Maybe some day I can make it happen. For now I'll live through you guys Hahaha

Rather than storage space, you should just consider the total cost per movie. With 665 movies I'm around a total cost of $22 per movie. If I was to have a enough storage for all my movies I'd still be <$30/movie. This compares very favorably with those who buy the latest disc version of UHD movies.

 

[VJM]

Of course. Why did I even ask???

I blew it - BIG TIME - during our recent home renos by not pulling ethernet. I do have ethernet into the theater room rack, but I should have pulled that stuff everywhere.

You might want to consider Ethernet Powerline adapters, I've used them a couple times helping friends out and they work pretty well.

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-powerline-networking-kit/