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Help - Opinion on Strato S - Would appreciate feedback

Hnupe

Active member
All,

I have been lurking around this forum for a while as I am going back and forth on purchasing a Kaleidescape. I currently have a Sony Projector 295ES with 11 speakers and 2 subs along with a new Anthem MRX 1140 Receiver. In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best difference. How much better is the Kaleidescape Strato S better than a solid 4k Player(Sony UBP X800). I appreciate everyone's opinion and thoughts, I have been putting money aside and before I pull the trigger I would like everyone's feedback.
 
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Kaleidescape offers close to 500 more titles in 4k now digitally than are available on disc and titles (HD and UHD) are often encoded in a larger bit rate/file size than disc which can correlate to better fidelity. In addition, Kaleidescape content can be updated with improvements and fixes whereas a disc release is static. The platform offers a ton of convenience and quality benefits over discs. To me, I rate it very highly as I've long been done wanting to buy, store, and use physical media. Kaleidescape is a cornerstone element of my theater space.

You will need more than a Strato C though. A C is a storage-less player. With a C, you will want a Terra server. Or opt for a Strato S (player and storage in one).
 
I'm biased in favor of Kaleidescape so would rather other non-dealer owners comment, but I do agree with TrackZ's comments, and will add that I have, or have had, the best players from Oppo, Sony, and Panny, and still prefer the playback from my Kaleidescape players.

Jim
 
I think you may want to share more on what you consider important factors for rating. At this time I can't comment on quality of the picture/sound as I haven't yet pulled the trigger on upgrading my Kscape system to a Strato/Terra and everything else to distribute 4K video. But, I do have a couple 4K panels in different rooms and the Sony UBP-X1100 and UBP-X700 for serving those rooms with 4K. Those rooms also have KScape players (1080p only). I've got about 80 4K titles on disc and I'd guess that I've only played around 10 movies total on my 4K disc players in the past year. I've loaded the bluray versions of all my 4K discs into the Kscape system and that wins out from a convenience perspective. With the exception of myself, no one else in the household is going to go to the media closet and select a 4K disc when they can just pull the movie up and press play on the Kscape system. And even when I know that I've got the 4K disc, I'm usually put off by the inconvenience of going to grab the disc and loading it up to watch in 4K. From a convenience perspective I rate Kscape a 10 and handling discs with a player as a 2. As you can see, in my household the convenience factor of using Kscape to browse and select movies has trumped the quality factor. At present I've got about ~1500 titles in the Kscape system and can't imagine trying to enjoy movies without it. If you have a small movie collection this convenience may not be as important to you, but its really changed how my household enjoys movies.
 
What I discovered after purchasing a Strato S 12TB is that the convenience and picture and sound quality have eliminated my willingness to deal with discs.

I was not expecting such a complete transformation in my valuation of discs, from being ok with them to not wanting anything to do with them. Ultimately, the 13 speakers, 12 ft screen, etc. are all for the purpose of reproducing sound and images, and K 4K is the finest source you can feed them.
 
They are generally equal in AV performance. There are a few titles (not very many) with higher bitrates on Kscape but there are some titles lacking immersive audio soundtracks. There is a big list of 4K titles lacking a disc release but there is also a small list of 4K discs that aren’t on Kscape. I think you need a great disc player and a Strato.
 
I have an Oppo 205 and a Panasonic UB9000 plus the Strato S. There is no scale number that makes it better. They are all outstanding players. The Strato is just a different way of viewing quality content. A quality Blu Ray Player will also be fantastic. I am hoping that the shiny disc will continue to be made made but if not I have my Kaleidescape.
 
Hello Hnupe. Welcome!

I thought I might chip in an opinion here, but understand my bias - I am a Kaleidescape Fan Boy (LOL)! I’ve been a customer for so many years, I’m not even sure how long. Let’s just say it not only goes back to the Premiere days, but the 5U server days.

I don’t think my opinion is unique though. I believe Kaleidescape possesses one of the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any luxury brand.

I can’t comment on a comparison of your Sony UBP X800, as I do not own one. I can say reliably that both the audio and video quality of a Strato player is second to none. That sentiment is shared by pretty much all industry experts as well.

But it’s not just the quality of the video and audio that make Kaleidescape sing. It’s the experience. I remember when I was contemplating buying into Kaleidescape, my dealer told me they were the coolest of all the pieces in the home theater chain. Now, two decades later, I still agree with him.

I’d say the experience could be categorized in three arenas: the ecosystem, the company’s dedication and success of being the absolute best at what they do, and the user experience.

The ecosystem has no real competition in the marketplace. There is no other brand where you can purchase or rent almost any title, and enjoy it in a lossless experience. For those of us older customers, you can also enjoy any DVD or Blu Ray as well.

Over the years, Kaleidescape has dedicated itself to staying in the forefront of the movie content arena. I’ve witnessed so many example of this, from ongoing improvements in its hardware, keeping up with all of the new formats over the years, ongoing software updates, and ongoing legacy hardware support. As well, their customer support is unique, as it’s not off-sourced to lands far away.

The experience of using Kaleidescape is definitely the crown jewel of all of this. Sophisticated ways to manage and organize all of your content, ease of finding what you want to watch for the night, no annoying FBI warnings are just a few examples. You can have players in multiple rooms of your house, start a movie in say the theater room, pause it, and pick up seamlessly in the living room.

As I understand, it is a rare occurrence for a new Kaleidescape customer to experience buyer’s remorse. Most, like me, become Fan Boys.

Dave Little
 
If you are not running a video processor of any kind, then the stratos will provide you with a better quality video overall. The only thing I don't know 100% sure is, which one has the better audio. I use an outboard processor as do most probably on this forum. I would give it between a 5 and 7 for video difference as you mentioned above but a 9 based on convenience and experience. Nothing is absolute but for the most part, the transfers are better quality on the K. The only reason I don't give a full 10 because I am still scared to buy media that isn't on a disc. I still do it all of the time because I like the K ecosystem, but the future is always up in the air. I read about a concert of Bruce Springsteen on there that is no longer available to purchase. A member has the download on a server of his but he can't buy or sell that again. So out of print items could be an issue to obtain without the physical media.

I digress from your original post, but thought I would answer your question and give you food for thought.
 
Lots of excellent comments about Kaleidescape quality. It is excellent!!! But there are some down sides which surprisingly you'll seldom see anywhere. But know this, despite these down sides, I love the Kaleidescape Strato S and immediately switched from a wall of discs to the incredible convenience and quality that you get from Kaleidescape products. Still, here are the down sides:

1. I have Blu-rays that are only available from the Kaleidescape in DVD quality. That was a shocker to me. There may be good reasons for that situation, but it surprised me.

2. If you already own lots of Blu-rays and DVD's, Kaleidescape has a way, called "Disc to Digital" to get discounted prices for movies that you already own, though that does not include any 4K movies. No discount on 4K movies. BUT, and this is a big but, you'll need one of their discontinued products to be able to demonstrate/prove that you already own the discs that you own. Sometimes you can borrow one of these discontinued products (known as, if memory serves, the Alto, the M-700, and the DVD-700) from this dealer or that, or maybe even from Kaleidescape if you play your cards right. I told one dealer, who initially told me that they didn't have access to one of those products to loan, that I needed a Terra server but that I'd only buy from a dealer who would loan me an Alto. Suddenly he was able to "find" an Alto for me to borrow!
The Alto catalogs each of your discs to where a discounted price, if available, will appear in your Movie Store. And please note that I'm told that it will likely take between 2 to 12 minutes for the Alto to catalog a disc once inserted. Multiply the number of movies you own times maybe 8 minutes to find out how long it'll take you to calalog all your movies.

3. A very sketchy rumor has it that Kaleidescape will reveal an 18 TB Strato S at Cedia in September, 2021. I bought the 12 TB and am almost out of room. If you plan on buying lots of movies, wait and buy the 18 TB Strato S. It would have been the perfect size for me.

4. Kaleidescape has a ton of movies to buy and rent. But they are lacking some movies that I love. I'll conclude with a list of movies that I have in my own disc collection, but that Kaleidescape doesn't carry at all. Mind you, if you have the money, you'll still want to own a Strato S and maybe a server as well. Don't make a decision not to buy just because a movie you like, Kaleidescape doesn't offer. Still, I like to know going in what the situation is, so here is a list of movies that I've noticed that Kaleidescape doesn't presently offer (if I've erred with a movie that actually is offered by Kaleidescape, hopefully others will correct me):

African Queen, The

All That Jazz

Another Woman

Anything Else

Apocalypto

April Fools, The

Bad Medicine

Bicycle Thieves, The

Blame It On Rio

Born In East L.A.

Broadway Danny Rose

‘Burbs, The

Catch 22

Clifford (Grodin)

Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Crash (1996)

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Curse Of The Jade Scorpion

Deconstructing Harry

Doctor Detroit

Down Periscope

Edge Of Tomorrow, The

Electric Dreams

Elmer Gantry

Everyone Says I Love You

Fantastiks, The

Flight Of The Phoenix, The (Jimmy Stewart version)

Flower Drum Song

Get A Life (TV)

Grand Canyon

Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, The

Hammer, The (2007-Corolla)

Hanky Panky

Hatty Tracy

Henry And June

Hopscotch

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying

Interiors

In The Cut

Jumping Jack Flash

Ladies Man, The

Last Resort, The (1986 Grodin)

Love Stinks

Man’s Favorite Sport

Melinda And Melinda

Mighty Aphrodite

Miss Sloane

Mr Hobbs Takes A Vacation

Name Of The Rose, The

Nanny Diaries, The

New Leaf, A

Night Of The Comet

Nobody’s Fool (1994 Newman)

Out-Of-Towners, The (1970 Lemon)

Outsourced (Movie-2006)

Paint Your Wagon

Paper Moon

Plaza Suite

Pretty Baby

Promises Promises

Pushing Tin

Reds (1981)

Revenge Of The Nerds

Rocketman (1997 Harland Williams)

Saving Silverman

September (1987 Woody Allen)

Serial

Shirley Valentine

Sleeper (1973 Woody Allen)

Small Time Crooks

Straw Dogs (1971 Hoffman)

Summer Lovers

Summer Rental

Thousand Clowns, A

To Sir With Love

Three Amigos, The (1986)

Videodrome

Volunteers

War Games

Woman In Red, The

Yellow Submarine, The

Young Frankenstein

Zelig
 
Some points I wanted to point out as well.

I will do it within the original post below.



Lots of excellent comments about Kaleidescape quality. It is excellent!!! But there are some down sides which surprisingly you'll seldom see anywhere. But know this, despite these down sides, I love the Kaleidescape Strato S and immediately switched from a wall of discs to the incredible convenience and quality that you get from Kaleidescape products. Still, here are the down sides:

1. I have Blu-rays that are only available from the Kaleidescape in DVD quality. That was a shocker to me. There may be good reasons for that situation, but it surprised me.
Most of this is copyright issues or a staff overtaxed and will get to the movies but it takes time. I have over 200 movies cataloged that are not available to be purchased. And other ms are only available in dvd quality.

2. If you already own lots of Blu-rays and DVD's, Kaleidescape has a way, called "Disc to Digital" to get discounted prices for movies that you already own, though that does not include any 4K movies. No discount on 4K movies. BUT, and this is a big but, you'll need one of their discontinued products to be able to demonstrate/prove that you already own the discs that you own. Sometimes you can borrow one of these discontinued products (known as, if memory serves, the Alto, the M-700, and the DVD-700) from this dealer or that, or maybe even from Kaleidescape if you play your cards right. I told one dealer, who initially told me that they didn't have access to one of those products to loan, that I needed a Terra server but that I'd only buy from a dealer who would loan me an Alto. Suddenly he was able to "find" an Alto for me to borrow!
The Alto catalogs each of your discs to where a discounted price, if available, will appear in your Movie Store. And please note that I'm told that it will likely take between 2 to 12 minutes for the Alto to catalog a disc once inserted. Multiply the number of movies you own times maybe 8 minutes to find out how long it'll take you to calalog all your movies.

It only takes me 12-15 seconds to catalog a disc. Never heard of 2 minutes let alone the 12 minutes. That’s crazy.

THE BIG PROBLEM is the disc to digital setup. If you catalog a blu ray and upgrade to 4K it is 4.92 but if 4K is not available then the blu ray is 3.14. (Of course some studios want to rip you a new one).
If you buy the blu ray version for 3.14 because the 4K isn’t available, and 2 weeks later they release the 4K, they charge you the 3.14 plus 9.99 for a total of 13.13.
Now if you wait and not buy the blu ray quality, then it will be 4.92.

To me that is poor customer service. If it was 6 months or a year later, sure but not 2 weeks or in one case 3 days.

That is the only thing that leaves a bad taste to me.

Overall, I love the system but that’s crap. No way around it.


3. A very sketchy rumor has it that Kaleidescape will reveal an 18 TB Strato S at Cedia in September, 2021. I bought the 12 TB and am almost out of room. If you plan on buying lots of movies, wait and buy the 18 TB Strato S. It would have been the perfect size for me.

I have not heard that but to be honest, you should get a terra. 6tb more is nothing with 4K out there.


4. Kaleidescape has a ton of movies to buy and rent. But they are lacking some movies that I love. I'll conclude with a list of movies that I have in my own disc collection, but that Kaleidescape doesn't carry at all. Mind you, if you have the money, you'll still want to own a Strato S and maybe a server as well. Don't make a decision not to buy just because a movie you like, Kaleidescape doesn't offer. Still, I like to know going in what the situation is, so here is a list of movies that I've noticed that Kaleidescape doesn't presently offer (if I've erred with a movie that actually is offered by Kaleidescape, hopefully others will correct me):

As stated above, this kind of seems to be the same complaint. If I am missing something let me know.

African Queen, The

All That Jazz

Another Woman

Anything Else

Apocalypto

April Fools, The

Bad Medicine

Bicycle Thieves, The

Blame It On Rio

Born In East L.A.

Broadway Danny Rose

‘Burbs, The

Catch 22

Clifford (Grodin)

Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean

Crash (1996)

Crimes and Misdemeanors

Curse Of The Jade Scorpion

Deconstructing Harry

Doctor Detroit

Down Periscope

Edge Of Tomorrow, The

Electric Dreams

Elmer Gantry

Everyone Says I Love You

Fantastiks, The

Flight Of The Phoenix, The (Jimmy Stewart version)

Flower Drum Song

Get A Life (TV)

Grand Canyon

Great Northfield Minnesota Raid, The

Hammer, The (2007-Corolla)

Hanky Panky

Hatty Tracy

Henry And June

Hopscotch

How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying

Interiors

In The Cut

Jumping Jack Flash

Ladies Man, The

Last Resort, The (1986 Grodin)

Love Stinks

Man’s Favorite Sport

Melinda And Melinda

Mighty Aphrodite

Miss Sloane

Mr Hobbs Takes A Vacation

Name Of The Rose, The

Nanny Diaries, The

New Leaf, A

Night Of The Comet

Nobody’s Fool (1994 Newman)

Out-Of-Towners, The (1970 Lemon)

Outsourced (Movie-2006)

Paint Your Wagon

Paper Moon

Plaza Suite

Pretty Baby

Promises Promises

Pushing Tin

Reds (1981)

Revenge Of The Nerds

Rocketman (1997 Harland Williams)

Saving Silverman

September (1987 Woody Allen)

Serial

Shirley Valentine

Sleeper (1973 Woody Allen)

Small Time Crooks

Straw Dogs (1971 Hoffman)

Summer Lovers

Summer Rental

Thousand Clowns, A

To Sir With Love

Three Amigos, The (1986)

Videodrome

Volunteers

War Games

Woman In Red, The

Yellow Submarine, The

Young Frankenstein

Zelig
 
All,

I have been lurking around this forum for a while as I am going back and forth on purchasing a Kaleidescape. I currently have a Sony Projector 295ES with 11 speakers and 2 subs along with a new Anthem MRX 1140 Receiver. In your opinion, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best difference. How much better is the Kaleidescape Strato S better than a solid 4k Player(Sony UBP X800). I appreciate everyone's opinion and thoughts, I have been putting money aside and before I pull the trigger I would like everyone's feedback.
do you mean 4K to 4K or quality of blu rays vs your player?

I would say 4K a 6 and blu ray a 7or 8 depending on title.

I do wish they would add a high quality power supply in the unit so we could take advantage of better power cords.
 
do you mean 4K to 4K or quality of blu rays vs your player?

I would say 4K a 6 and blu ray a 7or 8 depending on title.

I do wish they would add a high quality power supply in the unit so we could take advantage of better power cords.
Most 4K discs come with 2K disc bundled in. You can catalog that and upgrade to 4K for $4.92.

You can upgrade the power supplies on all Encore players and Premiere M300 easily. Look into Keces P8 single output at 12V and Uptone Audio JS-2. Ghent Audio makes custom DC cables for these also. I don’t believe you will see a difference on the video but the linear power supplies should help lower the jitter on the audio.
 
Most 4K discs come with 2K disc bundled in. You can catalog that and upgrade to 4K for $4.92.

I realize that but I don’t see how that had anything to do with the question. Most movies are still not in 4K.

You can upgrade the power supplies on all Encore players and Premiere M300 easily. Look into Keces P8 single output at 12V and Uptone Audio JS-2. Ghent Audio makes custom DC cables for these also. I don’t believe you will see a difference on the video but the linear power supplies should help lower the jitter on the audio.

I want something better than those offerings.
Also I’ve seen video drastically affect video quality.
 
Some points I wanted to point out as well.

I will do it within the original post below.




Most of this is copyright issues or a staff overtaxed and will get to the movies but it takes time. I have over 200 movies cataloged that are not available to be purchased. And other ms are only available in dvd quality.



It only takes me 12-15 seconds to catalog a disc. Never heard of 2 minutes let alone the 12 minutes. That’s crazy.

THE BIG PROBLEM is the disc to digital setup. If you catalog a blu ray and upgrade to 4K it is 4.92 but if 4K is not available then the blu ray is 3.14. (Of course some studios want to rip you a new one).
If you buy the blu ray version for 3.14 because the 4K isn’t available, and 2 weeks later they release the 4K, they charge you the 3.14 plus 9.99 for a total of 13.13.
Now if you wait and not buy the blu ray quality, then it will be 4.92.

To me that is poor customer service. If it was 6 months or a year later, sure but not 2 weeks or in one case 3 days.

That is the only thing that leaves a bad taste to me.

Overall, I love the system but that’s crap. No way around it.


3. A very sketchy rumor has it that Kaleidescape will reveal an 18 TB Strato S at Cedia in September, 2021. I bought the 12 TB and am almost out of room. If you plan on buying lots of movies, wait and buy the 18 TB Strato S. It would have been the perfect size for me.

I have not heard that but to be honest, you should get a terra. 6tb more is nothing with 4K out there.




As stated above, this kind of seems to be the same complaint. If I am missing something let me know.
Thanks for your input Swordoflevi! I was especially happy to hear that it only takes seconds as opposed to minutes to catalog each disc we own. I'm gonna hold you to that! I was told 2 to 12 minutes using the Alto by 2 separate dealers. What do they know, right?

I'm pretty picky when it comes to what movies I want in my library, and an 18 TB Strato would have given me almost 6 TB of extra space, which seems good enough for a while. Just buying a Terra is good advice though, providing one has the cash. But I don't easily let $13k-$18k slip through my fingers. Of course, it's all relative, right? If one has many millions, $18k is nothing. On the other hand......

I hope you're correct about K obtaining access to a lot of the movies I listed. Add those to my inventory, and I'd be pretty darn satisfied.
 
I think it's inevitable for the storage sizes of the existing products to increase. The 40TB Terra recently became 48TB, but I don't recall if the price also went up or it stayed constant. I would hope to see existing models increasing in size at the same prices. HDs continually offer more capacity at the former prices points of the smaller drives.

Of course, I also look forward to a future of progressively playable downloads. ;)

I love Kaleidescape, but the price per storage calculation is one of the hardest logistics. Plus I have 1,200+ movies in my account with them and will only buy more over time, so at this point I'm long past ever having enough storage to maintain my entire library locally. Download/watch/delete as needed will serve me.
 
If folks are thinking a "hypothetical" 18TB Strato might cost the same as the 12TB, it will not (hypothetically). Same is true for a hypothetical new larger capacity Terra. That's my hypothetical understanding.;)

Jim
 
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