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Dumb questions from a prospective buyer

V

VETSINC

Member
Good evening all! Thanks for allowing me to join your forums.

I am in the initial research phase and am trying to determine if this system could meet my needs. Some of my questions may seem a bit odd, and most likely have been answered previously.

First off, how "portable" is the equipment? I am not looking for something to just toss in a bag and carry around every day. I run a non-profit to assist combat Veterans and significantly disabled Veterans through entertainment. Many have significant anxiety in large crowds like in stadiums, arenas and even movie theaters. My thought is, if I could get this equipment, I could load up all of my dvds and blurays onto the server and take them to various places with a semi-portable projector and have a movie night for my Veterans. Part of our plan is to lease a suite at an arena that would give us daily access to the facility. I would like to keep it set up there but on occasion maybe load it up and take it to a Legion hall or something to show some movies.

If I can disconnect rather easily, is there anything special I need to hook it up? It appears to be mostly "plug and play" if you will.

My hope is that I can disconnect it, carry the servers, the disc vault and/or player, and just reconnect them to a different projector. Any thoughts?

I have tried to create a server type system at my house for years and finally gave up. Using a pc based server with a media player like my Dune or WD Live just doesn't seem as straight forward as the Kaleidescape. I just don't want to carry 500 DVDs with me whenever I go out to visit different groups. Plus the interface is critical to allow my clients to easily sort through the movies and select a show.

Now, I still have to get my accountant to approve the significant expenditure once we have raised the needed funds but if I can be fairly confident that this will suit our needs, I feel the purchase would be justified. Of course, I will also try a few "local" dealers to see if they have older floor models to donate.

Anyway, that is my story. As I do more research I may have more questions. I appreciate your thoughts and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Jason Correll
President
Veterans Entertainment for Trauma Survivors, Inc. (VETS, Inc.)
www.vetsinc.net
 
Firstly I commend you for what you are doing.

Some might think a K-scape is a bit over kill for what you are doing but it does have by far the best user interface around.

Regarding carrying it around if you have a player and a server or a disc vault you might need to setup a network to get everything to talk. And remember this is all high end equipment, with high end components. When carrying from one place to another you will probably want to get a flight case or something similar to add protection when transporting around.
I am in the uk and would like to say that k-scape is for residential use. I don't know what laws are out there for showing a film to an audience in a hall or something similar. You might want to look into that so you don't get into trouble. As in the states you guys are pretty hard on copying and showing copied films hence the whole change at k-scape on how movies are copied, where in the uk you are allowed to copy films for personal use.
 
Thanks Diskreet!

I know it is overkill to an extent but just seems like the best setup.

I had not really thought about how to transport. That is a good suggestion.

I also had not given much thought to the law regarding playing the movies to an audience. I will have to have our lawyer research that. I figure since we aren't charging admission, just showing to those who we are providing charitable services to, we would be ok. My original plan was to just keep it at my house and have a movie night on occasion, but not sure the wife wants a basement full of Veterans while she and the kids are upstairs!

Thanks again, this is why I wanted to post here and get some others' thoughts.
 
I just sent a PM to you, but you can also reach me by email or phone (below). Happy to answer questions, and support your efforts in any way I'm able.

Jim
CineLife
808-721-7839 (I'm in Florida, call anytime.)
CINELIFELLC@gmail.com
 
If you are transporting the system, you would probably want to avoid having a vault. That means you will need a legacy server that can import DVD and for any HD content, download it from the K-scape store.

A Cinema One (HD version) would be ideal if your library can be kept to 4TB or less, or 8TB if you use two of them. They would also be the easiest to transport. Also, if you have two of them, you would have redundancy in the event something breaks (although rare, all equipment eventually breaks).

8TB is actually a lot of content - Figure 100 Blu's and about 600 DVDs - easily enough to provide a good menu to select from.
 
Thanks Mr. Poindexter!

These are the reasons I asked the questions here. You guys are great with lots of knowledge and various ideas.

I cannot thank you enough for your help!

Jason
 
What a few folks have done is buy a portable rack-mount box typically used by deejays for their mixing equipment and amplifiers. You can install a 1U or 3U server and a player in it and you have a semi-protected environment for it.

But as pointed out, avoid Blu-Ray and use a legacy server supporting DVD playback. Then just rip all your DVDs to it and go. You'll need sound equipment as well, so you could potentially integrate that into your box solution.

I think if it were me I'd get a rack mount box that was on wheels and big enough to hold my server/player combo and an audio receiver. Then get three PA speakers and do three channel audio. And whatever projector/screen combo that works best for your application. You could get it where you only had to connect an HDMI cable to your projector and plug the speakers in and do power and you're set.


--Donnie
 
Thanks Donnie! That is a great idea! I have a few buddies who are DJs so I can check out their equipment.
 
I'd like to join the commendations- you are doing a good thing. Excellent suggestions.

I think you should make sure re: copy right issues and also the terms of the Kaleidescape user agreement.

As to the physical equipment- the servers are hard drive based and I'd be worried about subjecting it to constant shocks. You really want to find something that has damping/ shock absorbing built in. And you will want to find out from Kaleidescape how they handle warranty issues.

Im also sure they have a few clients who have installed these products into cars, planes, boats. So they might have a good sense about this.

I think the smaller players like the M300, which is all solid state, should be fine.

You should really reach out to Kaleidescape, maybe they can work something out with you seeing as you are a charity. You never know until you ask.

You might also like to check in with Musicians on Call.. Not for Kaleidescape gear and advice but maybe to work with your charity.

http://www.musiciansoncall.org/
 
Thanks Jerry!

I appreciate all of your suggestions. I will check out Musicians on Call and maybe we can work together on something in the future.

Regards,

Jason
 
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