How long will discs be supported with Encore?

[David23]

I see that the Alto isn't even listed on K's website anymore. Is it manufactured anymore? How much longer will discs be supported, with cover art, and cataloged/bookmarked? This is very sad to me. There are still many, many movies that are not in the K store. And even more important for me is bonus features. I would guess only 10% of bonus feature for movies are available through store downloads.

I just watched Rescue Dawn last night on Blu-ray. Great movie, by the way. And there's nothing better than digging into the bonus features right after finishing a great film. It had wonderful behind the scenes and interviews with director Werner Herzog. It's going to be quite sad to lose that experience.

 

[o0OBillO0o]

Billy- I understand your concern. I have an alto too. This post indicates continued support for even older equipment :NEWS: - Support for Premiere Systems Going Forward

So, I take that as a good sign. Still I am curious to your questions too.

 

[cinelife]

The Alto is no longer manufactured. It was the first Store based component in what was called the "Encore" line (I actually own the first production Alto, serial # 00001.) Encore is no longer the term used by K, it is now Strato and Terra only. Alto was designed and manufactured before 4K, that's the reason it is SD/HD only, so there wasn't really a need to keep them in inventory once 4K (UHD) became available in the store and the Strato was manufactured to take advantage of all three resolutions. The Alto's ability to playback physical BR discs in a vault is the only other benefit to an Alto (Strato is limited to DVD disc playback in a vault). To my knowledge, it will not be returning to inventory, but in-warranty Alto's will obviously be supported, and I assume OOW will as well to the extent parts are available.

I don't know if the answer to the disc metadata availability has changed, but the intent was to continue that support going forward for an unstated period of time. I expect K will announce well in advance if there is a change to disc based metadata.

Jim

 

[sepvis]

The Alto is no longer manufactured. It was the first Store based component in what was called the "Encore" line (I actually own the first production Alto, serial # 00001.) Encore is no longer the term used by K, it is now Strato and Terra only. Alto was designed and manufactured before 4K, that's the reason it is SD/HD only, so there wasn't really a need to keep them in inventory once 4K (UHD) became available in the store and the Strato was manufactured to take advantage of all three resolutions. The Alto's ability to playback physical BR discs in a vault is the only other benefit to an Alto (Strato is limited to DVD disc playback in a vault). To my knowledge, it will not be returning to inventory, but in-warranty Alto's will obviously be supported, and I assume OOW will as well to the extent parts are available.

I don't know if the answer to the disc metadata availability has changed, but the intent was to continue that support going forward for an unstated period of time. I expect K will announce well in advance if there is a change to disc based metadata.

Jim

So if you're migrating from a Premiere system to Encore and you have a DV700 vault which you keep for your discs, you will need an Alto for playback in your system? A Strato won't playback any Blu-ray in that vault?

 

[cinelife]

Correct, only the Alto, paired with a Vault, will playback the physical BR discs in the vault. A Strato is limited to only DVD disc playback.


Jim