CoStar and DV-700 Disc Vault Question

[Steve Bruzonsky]

My theater renovation upgrade is progressing.

Meanwhile, I was told a few weeks ago it would probably be another then 6-8 weeks before I would get my remanufactured DV-700 disc vault from Kaleidescape. And if my understanding is correct I must have an Alto HDMI output to view any disc played from the vault.

For my theater, I have a Lumagen 5348 with a Costar license, a Strato C, and an Alto 6TB, so I will be able to play from the disc vault in my theater.

If I want to play from the disc vault in either my family room or basement av rooms, both which have a Strato C, my understanding is that I need to have both an Alto and a physical Costar in each of those rooms. Is this understanding correct?

 

[Transepoch]

Are you looking to spin DVDs, BDs, or a combination?

 

[Ksalno]

I don’t have your exact setup but it’s close. I started many years ago with a DV-700, 1U server w/ 8TB, and an M500 (theater) and M300 player (family room). This handled DVD and BluRay (1080p and below) only. DVDs were ripped to the server using the drive on the M500 (the M300 has no disc drawer). BluRays were also ripped to the 1U server but had to remain in the DV-700 so that the Kscape could check to make sure I still had the physical disc before it would play from the 1U server. This was some weird form of copyright protection that Kscape had to agree to with the studios in order to legally play BluRay discs. When 4K came along, I upgraded my system with two Strato S (player + server) and two Costars to connect the Strato and the Mx00 players in each room. The Stratos only store and play 4K. I was able to get rid of my DV-700 (it failed) by simply doing a disc to digital conversion with Kscape. The few BluRays I have that aren’t in the Kscape library I just ripped to my NAS and play with Plex (not sure I have actually watched one but it’s there just in case).

So my current setup is I have an M player and a Strato in each room, joined by a Costar. Everything <4K is still stored on my 1U server. All 4K and only 4K is stored on my two Strato S.

In your case, the Alto is both a player and a server for <4K only. However, you will still need another Alto or M player for your other two rooms to play anything <4K. The Strato C is a player only, so you need to get a Terra server or a Strato S to store your 4K movies. If you get a Terra, you’ll also need a Strato C for the other two rooms. If you get a Strato S 12TB for one room, you can avoid buying the Terra and then get a Strato C for the third room.

 

[Transepoch]

However, you will still need another Alto or M player for your other two rooms to play anything <4K.

I don't think the M-class players can pull from the Altos, since it is also on the Encore line (and may not even need the Alto if only planning to spin BDs... but I'm not quickly finding the breakdown on when a vault is a server.) If Steve was using a premiere server, then it'd be a different story.

 

[Ksalno]

I don't think the M-class players can pull from the Altos, since it is also on the Encore line (and may not even need the Alto if only planning to spin BDs... but I'm not quickly finding the breakdown on when a vault is a server.) If Steve was using a premiere server, then it'd be a different story.

Probably right, M-class was part of Premiere line and I skipped the Alto line and went to Strato when 4K came out, so I’m not that familiar with it. The DV-700 was also part of the Premiere line, which is why I thought the Premiere and Alto stuff might be compatible. In any case, this is how Kscape describes how the DV-700 works. The DV-700 only plays “protected” DVDs (whatever that means). BluRays and CDs are ripped to a hard drive for playback. In the case of BluRay, the physical disc needs to be kept in the vault to provide proof of ownership each time it is played.

THE KALEIDESCAPE DV700 DISC VAULT AUTOMATICALLY IMPORTS YOUR BLU-RAY DISCS AND CDS, AND ALLOW YOU TO PLAY YOUR PROTECTED DVDS WITHOUT TOUCHING A PHYSICAL DISC.

Insert your Blu-ray discs and CDs and the DV700 Disc Vault automatically copies them onto your Kaleidescape System. Protected DVDs are not imported, but are played directly from the disc vault’s optical drive to any Kaleidescape movie player. Up to 320 discs can be loaded into the vault making it easy to import or play your collection of movies and music on disc.

Discs in the vault remain organized and easy to find. To retrieve one, simply navigate to the title using the onscreen display of any player, and select Eject Disc.

The presence of a Blu-ray disc in the vault enables instant playback of the copy on the server by any M-Class player in the system. If a Blu-ray disc is ejected, the system cannot play the movie until it is reinserted.

The DV700 Disc Vault connects to your home network with an Ethernet cable and can be used with Kaleidescape Premiere systems.

 

[Steve Bruzonsky]

Are you looking to spin DVDs, BDs, or a combination?

A combination, mostly blu ray discs, but some concert DVDs as well. I got a real good price on a used Alto 6TB on Ebay (my 2nd Alto) and a great price on a new under warranty CoStar switch here at this forum (my first Alto and CoStar software goes in my theater with Lumagen 5348, and a Strato C in each room, with 2 Terra Servers and a DV-700 disc vault located in my master bedroom (everything hardwired ethernet). Its been confirmed that I can use multiple Altos and CoStars in my sytem to use the DV-700 blu rays and DVDs in each room.

Over at AVS Forum KScape thread I also got some good info:

Steve

Another solution for you to see your Alto around the house is to use Crestron NVX - it will distribute 4K HDR and lower resolutions to any display in the house with an NVX decoder. I have a StrAto in my equipment room that distributes to all TVs in the house. Could be a way to get your entire K library around the house. Just plug the HDMI output from a single co-star into an NVX encoder and distribute to as many TVs as you like that have NVX decoders. .

Here for, example, is my bedroom TV and NVX tucked behind it.
View attachment 3190092


View attachment 3190088





I have found NVX to be bullet proof and connects to TVs almost instantly. I’ve had it for over 2 years now. It will also distribute Dolby Vision. Awesome stuff!!

There are two ways to play a BluRay with Kscape system. One, is a vault, which is required for proof of ownership to avoid people buying or borrowing a disc to rip and then getting rid of it. The other is to use an Alto or M player with a disc drive to do a disc to digital upgrade. In this case for a small up charge on the Kscape movie store, you get a legit digital copy of the BluRay that can be downloaded to an Alto (not Strato or Terra) or Premiere server for storage. In this case, playback requires an Alto or M player for the BluRay/DVD content, a Strato will only play 4K. You also need a Costar to link the Strato and the Alto so they function as one unified system.

 

[MikeKobb]

Quick comment on the NVX -- Crestron matrix switches, including the NVX, are a supported alternative to the Co-Star switch. It requires some setup from your Crestron programmer (but we have sample code that they can use).

So, instead of having two players feeding into a Co-Star switch, with the switch output into the NVX, you can have the two players going into two NVX inputs. I use this configuration at home and it works great. It does "cost" an NVX input. However, the NVX encoders I'm using have two HDMI inputs, where you can only use one input at a time. This is not normally super useful in a true matrix application, but it's perfect in the Co-Star case, where you're only ever using one player or the other.