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Kaleidescape, DVD Regions and Bluray Zones

richard

Well-known member
⭐️⭐️PATRON⭐️⭐️
As one of those not living in USA/North America, and having recently been asked about different regions and zones and Kaleidescape a few times, I thought i'd brain-dump my experiences here.

I hope it will help others, and please feel free to correct any mistakes I make.

Most of this is well covered in the excellent Kaleidescape FAQs, but I will also cover how I have set up my system as it may be useful to others trying to work out how to do multi-region systems.

Firstly, what are regions/zones: - For some reason, the DVD and Bluray designers decided to split the world into areas, so that films/content could be released in different parts of the world at different times and not work in the wrong parts of the world.

There are 6 DVD regions (Region 1 to 6). USA is 1, Europe is 2, - you can find the full list on wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code

There are 3 Bluray Zones, A, B and C. USA is covered in A, and Europe in B - again, covered in the above wiki, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_region_code#Blu-ray_Disc_region_codes

I am in UK, so Region 2 and Zone B.

With respect to DVD and Blu-ray, Kaleidescape systems behave differently, so I will cover them separately.

DVD regions. The players will play back any content that is stored on the server, no matter what region the content was originally or what region the DVD drive in the player (if the player has a drive) is set to. A DVD drive can only read in content (onto the server) for the region it is set to. If a player is playing back a DVD straight from a drive (i.e not from server content), again the DVD region setting of that drive must match the DVD.
The DVD region code on a player can be changed 4 times from the installer interface. Note that Bluray drives have DVD region codes as-well as Blu-ray zone codes, and the DVD region code can be changed 4 times on a Blu-ray drive.

So, in summary, to make a multi-region DVD playing system, you need a DVD drive in each region you want to import from or you can't get the content onto the system! If you have stopped buying anything but your local region DVD, and are trying to import a large collection, you could sort it all out into Regions and change the Region code on a player each time, but chances are you'll run out of region code changes and stuff yourself.

Blu-ray Zones. Kaleidescape Blu-ray players (even those without drives) come set to a single Bluray Zone and can never be changed. All players with drives (i.e M500, M700) will import content from a disk of ANY zone.
If you want to playback a Blu-ray disk direct from the blu-ray drive in a player (i.e not yet imported to the server), that player MUST be the same Zone as the Blu-ray disk you are trying to play.
However, a player will play stored Blu-ray content from a different zone to whatever it is as long as there is a player in the content's Blu-ray zone somewhere in the system.

So, in summary, you can import any Blu-ray content, but to play back mult-region, you need a player *anywhere* in the system that is in the Blu-ray zone that you want to play back.

It is also worth pointing out, that Blu-ray disks must be present somewhere in the system for the system to play the content (even though the content is on the servers hard disk). This means Blu-ray disks end up in a 'Vault' which the system then knows the disk is in the system. DVD disks are not the same, they do not need to be "in the system" physically after they have been scanned in.


So. how did i build my multi-region system? My requirement was as follows
a) to be able to play / store DVDs of Region 1 or Region 2
b) To be able to play / store Bluray of Zone A and Zone B, but occasionally to play back a new Zone B disk before it is scanned into the server.

My initial Blu-Ray mult-region/zone system was therefore setup as follows

a) 1U server with 4x2TB drives
b) M500-B with KVAULT-10 attached, set to DVD Region 2. (I.e Zone B, Region 2).
c) M300-A
d) KMUSIC-4000 with DVD set to Region 1.
e) KPLAYER-5000 with DVD set to Region 2.

The M500 was bought as Zone B because of my requirement to play disks before they had been scanned in occasional. It was also set to DVD Region 2 for the same reason.

The M300 was in Zone A, because it has no drive, so no need for playback ever, it was just enabling the whole system to play Zone A Blu-ray content.

The KMUSIC4000 is used to import my Region 1 content, or any Region 1 DVDs I happen to purchased

The KPLAYER5000 was a spare player, so was just there for extra importing ability, since the system can import multple disks at once as a result.

What are the limitations? I can't do anything with Zone C blu-ray content (well, I can import it, but can't play it), And I can't even import DVD Region 3-6 content.

Richard
 
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One more addition. For the Kaleidescape to regard a M series player as "part of the system" it needs to be powered up and connected to the ethernet/server. So, in my original system described above, if the M300-A has been disconnected, then I can not play Zone A imported movies on my M500-B.

(And, that is the reason I now have 2 x M300-A rather than a M300-A and a M300-C since I have no Zone C content, but lots of Zone A and Zone B)

Richard
 
Hi Richard,As a fellow Brit i too have a 2 zone system for my dvds(Regions 1 & 2) and i'm currently saving up for a M700-B & more HD space.

My current setup is:
1- 1u Server with 3.25TB
2- Cinema 1 with 2TB (Region 1)
3- 2 x K5000 Players (Region 2)

I don't require zone A so i think i'm sorted for now.
Ian.
 
Out of interest, are you using the Cinema 1 as players aswell as storage ?
 
Yes,The Cinema 1 is in my lounge with the 1U server & the 2 K5000s are for my master bedroom and my daughters room.
Does anyone else have their server where they watch tv/movies?
I was hoping to move the 1U server out of my lounge but unsure of what's the best way to control it remotely?
 
Theres nothing to control on the 1U server (apart from of course via the ethernet and web-browser) - so you can put it anywhere on the ethernet.

R
 
What about being able to turn it on & off remotely.Is that possible? Or does everyone keep their servers running 24/7 ?
 
K recommend that the server runs 24/7. I only turn mine off if I going away for an extended period.
 
I have not turned my servers or players off in several years.
 
What about being able to turn it on & off remotely.Is that possible? Or does everyone keep their servers running 24/7 ?

I put my servers on a Belkin Wemo power outlet which let's me remotely power them on or off via an iOS application. Works very well.
 
My server stays on, unless i'm going to be away for more than a week. Players are almost all permanently powered up, although notionally switched on/off via the ethernet control interface.

R
 
Multi-region systems rely on discs being recognized in K's database

I ran into a recent problem with one of my clients that I would like to share. He has a continually increasing collection of movies from several regions, and many of them are unique and not recognized by Kaleidescape's metadata service. All of Kaleidescape's multi-region compatibility assumes the discs are recognized.

Typically, I use the region 2 player to import a (recognized) disc, and then as long as that player is powered on and connected, I can play that title back on any other player in the system, regardless of the region. HOWEVER, if that disc is not recognized, and even if you enter all the relevant metadata, it will ONLY play back FROM THE SERVER on a region 2 player, as if it were disc-in-tray. The same applies to unrecognized Blu-ray discs.

There is no good workaround for my client. After a discussion with K, I have the following options:
1.) Convince him to be without access to his Blu-ray movies at all for up to 2 weeks while K processes them
2.) Change his existing -A players to -B players, which just moves the problem so that unrecognized region A discs will have this problem, but there are less of those than unrecognized B discs
3.) Add a -B to each location and set it programmatically as the primary player and flip to the region A player in the case of an unrecognized A disc. This of course ignores C and the multiple DVD regions as well.

Summary - if your client has discs from multiple regions, it will only play nicely if they are in Kaleidescape's database!
 
The behaviour you describe above is expected for Blu-ray Disc content but not for DVD. For DVD, region coding is enforced (by the optical drive's firmware) at import time. So (using Region 2 as the example content), a player with Region 2 drive must be used to import the DVD. Once that content is imported onto the server, however, any player of any DVD region code that is capable of playing DVD content is able to play that content (regardless of whether or not it is recognised) *as long as that player is connected to a display device capable of displaying the video format that is contained on that disc* (i.e. if the disc is PAL, the display device must be capable of PAL).

You do not need to have the Region 2 player powered on in order to play Region 2 content that has been imported to the system.

If you are encountering behaviour to the contrary, it should be reported to Kaleidescape.
 
Croptop, that is the behavior I am encountering, and it has been reported to Kaleidescape as I noted above with solutions as discussed ad nauseam with them. Unrecognized content behaves as if it were disc-in-tray.
 
I am able to play imported Region 2 (recognised and unrecognised) content using the various Region 1 players (M700, M500, KPLAYER-5000 & KPLAYER-6000) grouped with my system. I am able to do so even when I power off the region 2 player (by completely unplugging it). I am at a loss to explain why you are not able to do so as well.
 
Croptop, region 1, 2 etc are DVD regions and DVD only checks region when it is loaded. As long as you are able to load it, any player will play the DVD content.

Region A, B, C are BluRay region settings and they are checked at playback, not at loading, so the player needs to be able to play that region. The Kaleidescape system gets around that for titles that are in the database, but not for unrecognized titles.
 
Croptop, region 1, 2 etc are DVD regions and DVD only checks region when it is loaded. As long as you are able to load it, any player will play the DVD content.

Region A, B, C are BluRay region settings and they are checked at playback, not at loading, so the player needs to be able to play that region. The Kaleidescape system gets around that for titles that are in the database, but not for unrecognized titles.

Agreed. I was responding to the situation that parishboy is reporting that he cannot play unrecognised Region 2 (which implies DVD not Blu-ray Disc) imported content. It should work -- and indeed, in my lab, it does work. I was merely confirming that fact.
 
I put my servers on a Belkin Wemo power outlet which let's me remotely power them on or off via an iOS application. Works very well.

Does the server power back on after remotely being switched on or does it go back into standby?
 
Does the server power back on after remotely being switched on or does it go back into standby?

The servers (3U and a CinemaOne) and Vault all power back on when the WeMo switch is activated. I have not tested this setup with a 5U server to verify that it powers on but I believe that it will.
 
The servers (3U and a CinemaOne) and Vault all power back on when the WeMo switch is activated. I have not tested this setup with a 5U server to verify that it powers on but I believe that it will.

I tested my 1U server last night and it powered back on after being switched off at the wall.I also checked out the WeMo switch and it's exactly what i'm looking for.

Thanks for the link Croptop.

Cheers Ian.(Edinburgh).
 
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