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NEWS: Strato K Movie Player with 8K capability and new "4K Cinematic" full-chroma & higher bitrate support

I'm absolutely thrilled that the Strato K is finally here!

I just checked my archives and way back on October 1, 2021 I had an in-depth phone conversation with Tayloe in which I made a number of suggestions with regard to hardware as well as the selection and quality of titles in the Kaleidescape Store. One of my suggestions was higher bit rate, higher quality files that would go beyond what 4K Blu-ray was capable of. So my dream in this respect has finally been realized!

I am placing orders for my Strato K store demos today! And eagerly look forward to seeing and hearing the results for myself!

Here are the direct links for more info on Strato K, 4K Cinematic, and 8K downloads:

Strato K Movie Player - Kaleidescape

Strato K Movie Player Technical Specification - Kaleidescape

https://support.kaleidescape.com/support/article/Strato-K-FAQ

https://support.kaleidescape.com/support/article/4K-Cinematic-and-8K-FAQ

Cheers,
Alan
 
God damn, those download sizes, LOTR EE punching 200GB+ per film!

Everyone will need to check all their hardware actually supports 4:4:4 properly. My Lumagen Radiance Pro does all its processing in 4:2:2 so I’d not get the full benefit from this, I’d have to upgrade to the 8K Lumagen Artisan for $13000 first so that isn’t happening!

Yet still I am tempted for future proofing purposes 😬.
 
What's the backstory with the titles that are DV or HDR in normal encodes but only SDR in 4KC?

First few I noticed:
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Life
District 9

I'm going to guess that the HDR/DV mezz is not available in full/uncompressed chroma, but you guys were able to source a (separate) 4:4:4 SDR mezz?

If so, as an HDR/DV display guy I'm a bit disappointed but I understand. If it doesn't exist for distribution, then what are you going to do. Those high end SDR encodes are going to be great for the projector crew!
 
Furnace Inferno said:
Everyone will need to check all their hardware actually supports 4:4:4 properly. My Lumagen Radiance Pro does all its processing in 4:2:2 so I’d not get the full benefit from this, I’d have to upgrade to the 8K Lumagen Artisan for $13000 first so that isn’t happening!
Click to expand...
This was my first thought as well, won’t anyone with a Lumagen Radiance Pro be bottlenecked? I’m currently planning some upgrades and an Artisan isn’t in the plan.
 
I’m just guessing here, but the 4:4:4 is most likely an “up to” thing. I imagine a fair amount of these files are based off the same mezzanine files as before, which were usually 4:2:2 from my understanding, so you’d still see benefit for an existing lumagen system, as they’d have twice the color/chroma resolution as before.
 
JWort93 said:
I’m just guessing here, but the 4:4:4 is most likely an “up to” thing. I imagine a fair amount of these files are based off the same mezzanine files as before, which were usually 4:2:2 from my understanding, so you’d still see benefit for an existing lumagen system, as they’d have twice the color/chroma resolution as before.
Click to expand...
If it explicitely says "4:4:4", I wouldn´t expect it to be "up to". Otherwise, it wouldn´t be rated as "4K Cinematic", but just standard 4K.
 
I'm curious if these new files are still encoded in HEVC or if they are AV1 or VVC.
 
LoveCinema said:
This was my first thought as well, won’t anyone with a Lumagen Radiance Pro be bottlenecked? I’m currently planning some upgrades and an Artisan isn’t in the plan.
Click to expand...
Yes and no, if you use any processing like DTM (one of the main things to use it for) then it will downsample to 4:2:2 but presumably if you turn off all processing it can passthrough 4:4:4 untouched. It is also only HDMI 2.0 max so can’t do 4:4:4 4K/60 and HDR either way.

Interesting reading the specs, the HDMI 2.1 is limited to 24Gbps which seems a bit odd and it notes 8K is HDR10 and SDR only, no Dolby Vision support.

As far as I was aware DV supports up to 8K and limiting the bandwidth means it won’t ever support it as it needs 48Gbps so no 4:4:4 in 8K HDR either?
 
DieZwei said:
If it explicitely says "4:4:4", I wouldn´t expect it to be "up to". Otherwise, it wouldn´t be rated as "4K Cinematic", but just standard 4K.
Click to expand...
The FAQ page confirms what I was thinking. “4K Cinematic is Kaleidescape’s exclusive new video format. 4K movies have been re-transcoded with ultra-high bitrates while preserving full chroma sampling (up to 4:4:4).”

Up to, indeed.
 
I have not seen this really discussed before. The Strato M has 4:2:2: chroma, while the C, V, and E are limited to 4:2:0. Has anyone looked at if this makes any difference, resolution aside. I have one of each player, but have not done any close comparison. I know the M looks quite good.
 
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Furnace Inferno said:
Yes and no, if you use any processing like DTM (one of the main things to use it for) then it will downsample to 4:2:2 but presumably if you turn off all processing it can passthrough 4:4:4 untouched. It is also only HDMI 2.0 max so can’t do 4:4:4 4K/60 and HDR either way.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this info!

Realistically, would downsampled 4:2:2 coming from the LRP be noticeably better than the 4:2:0 of the V passing through the LRP?
 
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cal87 said:
I have not seen this really discussed before. The Strato M has 4:2:2: chroma, while the C, V, and E are limited to 4:2:0. Has anyone looked at if this makes any difference, resolution aside. I have one of each player, but have not done any close comparison. I know the M looks quite good.
Click to expand...
The Strato M/C/E/V can all output at up to 4:4:4 chroma, but the source files they support are only 4:2:0 chroma, so that's just internal chroma upsampling, not actual additional chroma resolution in the file itself (like the new Strato K offers).

When you're referring to the Strato M player supporting 4:2:2 chroma, what's happening is the 4K 4:2:0 chroma source file is being downscaled to 1080p 4:2:2 chroma, so there's a bit of an advantage versus just downscaling to 1080p 4:2:0 chroma, but the other players could do that too, if set to a 1080p output and playing back a 4K file.
 
JWort93 said:
The FAQ page confirms what I was thinking. “4K Cinematic is Kaleidescape’s exclusive new video format. 4K movies have been re-transcoded with ultra-high bitrates while preserving full chroma sampling (up to 4:4:4).”

Up to, indeed.
Click to expand...
Mh, interesting. Would be good to get some 1st hand information from @J.Green on this.
 
Something I’m not clear about.

If I get a K for the home cinema (NZ800), and move the V to the living room TV, can both play from the same single source file that delivers the K benefits to the cinema?
 
gerald.d said:
Something I’m not clear about.

If I get a K for the home cinema (NZ800), and move the V to the living room TV, can both play from the same single source file that delivers the K benefits to the cinema?
Click to expand...
Nope, the V won't be able to playback the 4K Cinematic file, so you'll need both versions of the movie downloaded to watch on the different players.
 
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