Announcement: Kaleidescape Mobile App for iOS, v2.0

[MikeKobb]

Hello folks!

I’m very excited today to announce to you the release of the Kaleidescape Mobile App version 2.0 for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. We have added a much-requested new feature to the app in version 2.0: direct browsing and control of your local Kaleidescape system.

When you’re on the same network as your Kaleidescape system, the new My System tab will show you the contents of the system’s library, and you can browse it by title, actor, director, genre, and collection. Open a movie’s details, and you can see the usual information, plus controls to play the movie on your Kaleidescape player. You can also directly play scenes, songs, and extras with just a tap. And, you can add the movie to (or remove it from) your collections.

When you’re away from home, the My System tab remembers a cached copy of your library, so you can quickly check whether a movie is already on your system. (You can’t view the movie’s details when you’re not on your home network, however.)

All collections of movies in the My System tab can be viewed as either a grid, or as a list, whichever you prefer.

Some of you will be familiar with our original mobile application, the Second Screen app for iPad. This release begins a transition for Second Screen. For now, the app is still available exactly as it has been. The new features in Mobile App 2.0 are not at complete parity with the old app yet, but we plan to expand the functionality of the new app significantly over time and it will eventually surpass the functionality of Second Screen. Second Screen will then enter semi-retirement as a music-only control interface for Premiere systems.

Some of you will also be wondering about whether we plan to bring this new functionality to the Android app. We would like to do so, but at this time we don’t have a timetable for when that will happen. The overwhelming majority of our customers use iOS, and so that is where most of our mobile development efforts are focused. We do continue to update the Android application, and we’re working on some ways to allow us to deliver new features more efficiently for both platforms. Stay tuned!

I hope you will enjoy using the new features in Mobile App 2.0! There’s more to come. Feedback is always welcome — I suggest that we use this thread for discussion of the new features.

Here are some screenshots from my home system (which is a Co-Star system, thus the mix of downloaded and disc content).

 

[LoveCinema]

So Lawrence of Arabia is not getting Dolby Vision???

Seriously though, this sounds great and I can’t wait to dig in. Congrats to you and all involved!

 

[joey_corleone]

Really nice new feature add!

 

[Edgar]

It’s got a nice presentation! Like Second Screen, it doesn’t show all my movies though. I think the answer I got then was that it has trouble when the devices are in standby mode. But this is the likely use case, while they’re in standby!

 

[jackuiowa]

Great update. Looks like it works with a disc server and Alto implementation too.

 

[Rituxan]

Looks awesome, great work Kscape team!

I am one of the (apparently few) android users, would love to see this released for android as well, and ideally optimized for foldables. Went to Samsung Z-fold's about 5 years ago, and can't imagine going back to a candy bar phone again.

The current android app is honestly really good as-is, but please let us know if/when there is a timetable for these updates. This is a lot of great extra functionality!

 

[LoveCinema]

It’s got a nice presentation! Like Second Screen, it doesn’t show all my movies though. I think the answer I got then was that it has trouble when the devices are in standby mode. But this is the likely use case, while they’re in standby!

Yes, this was the first thing I checked as well and I'd love to get some feedback from K on whether this can ever be addressed.

K has a built in function to not list movies that your display is not capable of. So, if you have a bunch of 4K HDR titles downloaded but you're attached to a non-HDR TV/Projector, then those movies simply don't show up. This is also happening what Stratos are asleep. There's no active HDMI connection, there's no active EDID hitting the player saying it's HDR capable, so you don't see any of your 4K HDR titles. The moment you wake the Strato all of the additional movies come flooding in. This is on both Second Screen and Kaleidescape 2.0.

Is there anything that can be done here for the future? Can the Strato simply remember the last EDID communicated and apply it to the potential movie list? Or, is it something more complicated than that?

 

[Edgar]

Yes, this was the first thing I checked as well and I'd love to get some feedback from K on whether this can ever be addressed.

K has a built in function to not list movies that your display is not capable of. So, if you have a bunch of 4K HDR titles downloaded but you're attached to a non-HDR TV/Projector, then those movies simply don't show up. This is also happening what Stratos are asleep. There's no active HDMI connection, there's no active EDID hitting the player saying it's HDR capable, so you don't see any of your 4K HDR titles. The moment you wake the Strato all of the additional movies come flooding in. This is on both Second Screen and Kaleidescape 2.0.

Is there anything that can be done here for the future? Can the Strato simply remember the last EDID communicated and apply it to the potential movie list? Or, is it something more complicated than that?

That seems practical, cache the last full connection and store that on the app.

 

[thrillcat]

That seems practical, cache the last full connection and store that on the app.

It's doing that already.

I've been testing this for about a week and it really is a nice improvement. The other night we were able to dig through a collection of movies we've identified that we want to watch soon, while sitting in a restaurant, and pick what we wanted to watch from that curated list, while not on our home network.

The only feature I'd like to see added is the one that was previously available on iOS that allowed me to bring up a title on the Strato player from my phone. The new features allow me to start playing a title, but I can't just bring up the info card. I always liked that effect of being able to power up the system from upstairs and highlight what we were planning to watch so it was already onscreen when we walked into the theater and we could literally just hit play on the remote.

 

[LoveCinema]

It's doing that already.

I've been testing this for about a week and it really is a nice improvement. The other night we were able to dig through a collection of movies we've identified that we want to watch soon, while sitting in a restaurant, and pick what we wanted to watch from that curated list, while not on our home network.

Really? Any tips here? I just checked out the app after the announcement last night, and immediately upon loading I could tell that I was only seeing SD/HD titles. I was in the theater so I went ahead and jumped over to the K and as soon as the UI started loading on my screen the app's movie list suddenly expanded as all of the 4K movies were added. So, for me at least, it's very much still acting like Second Screen even when on the local network. Strato asleep? No 4K for you!

 

[thrillcat]

Really? Any tips here? I just checked out the app after the announcement last night, and immediately upon loading I could tell that I was only seeing SD/HD titles. I was in the theater so I went ahead and jumped over to the K and as soon as the UI started loading on my screen the app's movie list suddenly expanded as all of the 4K movies were added. So, for me at least, it's very much still acting like Second Screen even when on the local network. Strato asleep? No 4K for you!

Now that it's successfully loaded everything, turn off your wifi on the phone and re-open the app. Everything should be there, works on mine.

 

[Edgar]

Now that it's successfully loaded everything, turn off your wifi on the phone and re-open the app. Everything should be there, works on mine.

I'm getting some 4K titles but not all, when my K devices are in standby. When they're on, they all show up in the updated app. Then they disappear when the K devices are back in standby.

 

[Darthbishop79]

So Lawrence of Arabia is not getting Dolby Vision???

Seriously though, this sounds great and I can’t wait to dig in. Congrats to you and all involved!

I thought I was the only one who complained to KS team about Lawrence of Arabia not in HDR/DV when it's that way on the disc version. I think the answer they gave me is that they put out there what the studio gave them.

 

[Christopher]

Any chance we get a android app soon?

 

[MikeKobb]

Hey folks,

Yes, right now, the new functionality in the Mobile App mirrors what is in Second Screen -- namely, the library content that you see in the app exactly mirrors what your chosen player is currently showing on its OSD. Or would be showing if you turned the TV on. That means that if your system is one where when things are shut down, the connected components send a different EDID to the player, you may not see the full view of your library.

The good news is that we absolutely have plans to change this. We couldn't get all the necessary pieces in place in time for this first release, but the aim is to have the app be able to show your entire library regardless of the current state of the player. This adds some complexity, so it will take a bit of time, but that's the trajectory we aim to follow.

 

[LoveCinema]

Thanks for the notes @MikeKobb. I'd say at this point the primary limitation of both apps is the handling of multiple versions of the movie. Both apps still collapse these into a single movie but prevent access to the others. Unless I'm missing something? (To be clear, single titles that include multiple versions are fine as the direct listing has "Play Theatrical" and "Play Extended" options. But, if the cuts are separate listings then only one Play option is present.)

 

[MikeKobb]

Thanks for the notes @MikeKobb. I'd say at this point the primary limitation of both apps is the handling of multiple versions of the movie. Both apps still collapse these into a single movie but prevent access to the others. Unless I'm missing something? (To be clear, single titles that include multiple versions are fine as the direct listing has "Play Theatrical" and "Play Extended" options. But, if the cuts are separate listings then only one Play option is present.)

That's coming as well. Just missed this release.

 

[OUTATIME]

@MikeKobb This is a HUGE improvement for the iOS app! Nice work!

 

[gadgetman]

@MikeKobb : Great release, thank you.

It would be great to be able to sort the movies of the system's library, particularly according to (a) release date and (b) purchase date.

I do see that the first row shows "new" movies, which is extremely useful. So, my question is whether this partially accomplishes the same thing and shows all movies in the system library (playable on the indicated player) arranged by download date.

 

[joey_corleone]

@MikeKobb : Great release, thank you.

It would be great to be able to sort the movies of the system's library, particularly according to (a) release date and (b) purchase date.

I do see that the first row shows "new" movies, which is extremely useful. So, my question is whether this partially accomplishes the same thing and shows all movies in the system library (playable on the indicated player) arranged by download date.

Sort collections by release date (i.e. James Bond) would be fantastic