If I have two 6TB Strato players, can I download a completely different subset of my UV library to each player and then watch any title on either player? I assume that counts as one downloaded copy, not two? If I have a Terra server, how does the UV download limit come into play?
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Encore Line FAQ from K
- Thread starter cinelife
- Start date
It all depends on how you activate them. If you group the two 6TB Strato players and the Terra server together, they are considered 1 system and content downloaded to any of the devices would be playable on any player in the system. Grouped systems intelligently spread the content across the hard disks to avoid filling one device all at once.
If you ungroup the Stratos, the content on each player would only by viewable by that player.
To illustrate what I mean:
Movie A is downloaded to Strato 1
Movie B is downloaded to Strato 2
Movie C is downloaded to Terra
If all three devices are grouped together, Movies A, B, and C are playable on either Strato 1 or 2 and only 1 download of each movie has been used.
If Strato 1 was removed from the group and activated as a separate system, then Movie A is playable on Strato 1 and Movies B and C are playable on Strato 2. If you wanted to view Movie A on Strato 2, you would have to download it again (to either Strato 2 or Terra) using up a second of your 5 downloads.
Hope this was helpful.
One of the things holding me back is that I have a really bit UV library and do not have anywhere near the budget required to store the movies I already have ($17k, minimum). What I am toying with is starting out with just one Strato and swapping movies in and out based on what I am likely to watch in the near future. The rest of my library would just have to be left to Vudu and Roku boxes. This is not ideal at all, but at least I could get back to Blu-Ray quality in my main system.
The question I have is, "How hard would this be to do in practice?" Is there a limit to the number of times I can download the same movie? How easy is it to remove movies from local storage and download new ones?
The question I have is, "How hard would this be to do in practice?" Is there a limit to the number of times I can download the same movie? How easy is it to remove movies from local storage and download new ones?
There is no limit to the number of times you can download a movie. Just a limit to the number of systems (5). So you can delete a movie from your system and download it again in the future should you so desire.
Deleting a movie from an Alto or Strato is a simple as selecting it on the OSD, and choosing "Delete movie" from the "More Options" menu on the detail sheet. Movie downloads are queued from the store's web interface.
Power tip: On the store's "My Library" page, you can enable a filter to only show content that you own that is not currently downloaded to your system. Then just pick and choose what you want to download.
The wind blows faster and more reliably here than Internet traveling down the pipe. Not only are we south of the equator here in Perth, we are west of everything else. Obviously that is not good for Internet, but very good for wind.
Hypothetical question for the forum brains trust.
If I were to buy a Strato player, and I was lucky enough to find a generous "uncle" in the US, would I be able to send uncle the player, download all the 4K movies I want from the K store using my store account, and then he sends the player back to me loaded with playable content?
If said generous "uncle" is in California, is CA tax payable on downloads from the K store? If generous uncle in OR or FL, any tax payable?
In this hypothetical case, if said generous uncle also had a Strato player, could I just send him the HDD from my player and instal this in his player to do this, or would I need to send him the player?
If I were to buy a Strato player, and I was lucky enough to find a generous "uncle" in the US, would I be able to send uncle the player, download all the 4K movies I want from the K store using my store account, and then he sends the player back to me loaded with playable content?
If said generous "uncle" is in California, is CA tax payable on downloads from the K store? If generous uncle in OR or FL, any tax payable?
In this hypothetical case, if said generous uncle also had a Strato player, could I just send him the HDD from my player and instal this in his player to do this, or would I need to send him the player?
I am in CA (10 minutes from K) and no tax on downloads, but you pay tax on the player.
I think you pay no tax on player as well if from Fl or Or
Cheers
eldosebabu
Active member
I think ultimately most of us simply want one interface. Yes we will buy the 4K player (preferably with 4k disc access in case Kaleidescape does not cover all studios), we'll also buy the terra server as we need more space for sure. We simply want one window to see all our content. Why not have some kind of adaptor that allows the 4k players to see the premier line content?
I was all set to buy the terra server to prepare for 4K content but I'm holding back as things look too complicated considering the lack of access to Premeire systems.
I was all set to buy the terra server to prepare for 4K content but I'm holding back as things look too complicated considering the lack of access to Premeire systems.
Hi Mike and John,
If I use a Strato player with my current HD display and purchase a 4K title, once available, will the player be able to down-res it for my display (and will the quality be good) or am I better downloading the HD version only? I am just trying to think about saving bandwidth and not having to download a title twice if I don't have to.
Thanks,
Wayne
If I use a Strato player with my current HD display and purchase a 4K title, once available, will the player be able to down-res it for my display (and will the quality be good) or am I better downloading the HD version only? I am just trying to think about saving bandwidth and not having to download a title twice if I don't have to.
Thanks,
Wayne
Yes. The Strato will output the 4K UltraHD title at 108op to match the display you have it connected to.
In my opinion, the picture quality is fantastic. But I might be considered biased.
John
Hi Wayne,
To add to what John wrote, 4K Ultra HD titles are going to be somewhere around 50% larger than their Blu-ray quality HD counterpart. (That might seem like not much of a difference, but they're also using a different compression technology, which accounts for the reduced size.) So, there's not a huge space penalty for downloading that version if you expect that you'll be upgrading your display to 4K.
To add to what John wrote, 4K Ultra HD titles are going to be somewhere around 50% larger than their Blu-ray quality HD counterpart. (That might seem like not much of a difference, but they're also using a different compression technology, which accounts for the reduced size.) So, there's not a huge space penalty for downloading that version if you expect that you'll be upgrading your display to 4K.
The higher bitrate might help a little bit, but it probably won't be that noticeable.
For cinemascape users, the difference would be more noticeable. Instead of scaling 810 lines up to 1080, it would scale 1620 down to 1080. At least, that's how I would expect it to work.
Mike,
Is there any information on trade-in options, yet? I have two Cinema Ones that I would like to convert to the Encore line.
Thanks,
Adam
For cinemascape users, the difference would be more noticeable. Instead of scaling 810 lines up to 1080, it would scale 1620 down to 1080. At least, that's how I would expect it to work.
Mike,
Is there any information on trade-in options, yet? I have two Cinema Ones that I would like to convert to the Encore line.
Thanks,
Adam
Hello again, Wayne!
I apologize for the belated reply to your list of questions. I have an answer nearly ready to post for you here, but I had to check on a couple of details and I'm waiting for an answer back from a colleague. I'll be posting a reply soon!
I apologize for the belated reply to your list of questions. I have an answer nearly ready to post for you here, but I had to check on a couple of details and I'm waiting for an answer back from a colleague. I'll be posting a reply soon!
cinelife
Administrator
Staff member
Forum Administrator
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Authorized Kaleidescape Dealer
K has indicated they plan to offer an upgrade path for anyone wanting to move from Premiere to Encore, and they are still working on the details. An announcement will be made when K releases additional info.
Jim
Jim
Hello again, Wayne!
Thanks for your patience in awaiting answers to your questions. John has already answered some of them, so I will focus on the ones that he has not already addressed.
Most customers output lossless audio in bitstream format to their audio processor for decoding, and Strato will support bitstream output of lossless formats (including Atmos) at launch.
As you're probably aware, the selection of movies available on the Movie Store differs depending upon the country (US, Canada or UK). That content region is enforced based upon several factors, including the address of the billing credit card and the geographic location of the system.
For optical discs, it's important to understand that DVDs and Blu-ray discs handle this differently. DVD region is enforced by the actual disc drive mechanism. On Premiere systems that have DVD import ability, this happens when the disc is imported. Once imported, any player in the system can play a DVD from any region. On systems that do not import DVDs, they are played from the optical disc, so region enforcement happens at playback time. The region of the optical disc mechanism in an Alto or a Disc Server may only be changed a limited number of times. For practical purposes, this means that a Disc Server can only contain DVDs of a single region. For example, you might have a Region 1 Disc Server. If you had any Region 2 DVDs, the Disc Server could not play them, but you could play such a DVD in the optical drive of a Region 2 Alto. That same Alto could play any disc in the Region 1 Disc Server, because it's the region of the optical drive that matters.
Blu-ray region is enforced by the player, at playback time. If you had a Region A and a Region B player in the same system, then you could have both Region A and B discs in a single Disc Server, and either player could play them. For more information on Blu-ray region handling, you can see this article.
Thanks for your patience in awaiting answers to your questions. John has already answered some of them, so I will focus on the ones that he has not already addressed.
At this time, we plan to release the in-player decoding of lossless audio formats in a follow-on release. I can't discuss timing of that release yet, except to say that we do understand that this is an important feature for customers with certain audio equipment like Meridian, so we're doing our best to have it as soon as we can.
Most customers output lossless audio in bitstream format to their audio processor for decoding, and Strato will support bitstream output of lossless formats (including Atmos) at launch.
To expand just slightly on John's answer, I want to clarify that the Kaleidescape IR remote can only transmit a single code set. As John said, the players are able to respond to either of two code sets. You would need to use a programmable remote or a control system in order to generate the other set of signals.
This is a complicated topic!
As you're probably aware, the selection of movies available on the Movie Store differs depending upon the country (US, Canada or UK). That content region is enforced based upon several factors, including the address of the billing credit card and the geographic location of the system.
For optical discs, it's important to understand that DVDs and Blu-ray discs handle this differently. DVD region is enforced by the actual disc drive mechanism. On Premiere systems that have DVD import ability, this happens when the disc is imported. Once imported, any player in the system can play a DVD from any region. On systems that do not import DVDs, they are played from the optical disc, so region enforcement happens at playback time. The region of the optical disc mechanism in an Alto or a Disc Server may only be changed a limited number of times. For practical purposes, this means that a Disc Server can only contain DVDs of a single region. For example, you might have a Region 1 Disc Server. If you had any Region 2 DVDs, the Disc Server could not play them, but you could play such a DVD in the optical drive of a Region 2 Alto. That same Alto could play any disc in the Region 1 Disc Server, because it's the region of the optical drive that matters.
Blu-ray region is enforced by the player, at playback time. If you had a Region A and a Region B player in the same system, then you could have both Region A and B discs in a single Disc Server, and either player could play them. For more information on Blu-ray region handling, you can see this article.
Apart from the 6TB drive, I can't comment on future plans for the Premiere line at this point, sorry!
It's our intention that you will be able to migrate your downloaded movies from your Premiere system to an Encore system, so that you won't have to download them again. We don't plan to have that replication feature available at initial launch, but expect it to be in a later release.
I do appreciate your understanding regarding things we're not able to disclose yet, but rest assured we're working hard on all of these topics and more!
A big thank you, Mike, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to look into various matters and answer these questions.
Some answers I expected, such as region coding issues. I think as downloads become more common this will hopefully become less of an issue. (It really is an outdated protection scheme in this day and age of worldwide online products and services. The marketing and distribution of software titles needs an intelligent revamp for the 21st century.) For those of us with large libraries of imported discs, especially if not available as downloads or recognized by the K. system, it remains an annoyance more than anything. Unfortunately, the cost of the bookmarking service in such cases has become prohibitive.
Personally, I await to hear more about the in-player decoding, the transition options toward new servers and on how best to maintain 2 separate side-by-side systems.
I think I speak for many of us in that any news you provide is eagerly anticipated and greatly appreciated! Please keep us posted as you are able.
Kindest regards,
Wayne
Some answers I expected, such as region coding issues. I think as downloads become more common this will hopefully become less of an issue. (It really is an outdated protection scheme in this day and age of worldwide online products and services. The marketing and distribution of software titles needs an intelligent revamp for the 21st century.) For those of us with large libraries of imported discs, especially if not available as downloads or recognized by the K. system, it remains an annoyance more than anything. Unfortunately, the cost of the bookmarking service in such cases has become prohibitive.
Personally, I await to hear more about the in-player decoding, the transition options toward new servers and on how best to maintain 2 separate side-by-side systems.
I think I speak for many of us in that any news you provide is eagerly anticipated and greatly appreciated! Please keep us posted as you are able.
Kindest regards,
Wayne
