NEWS: Kaleidescape Testing Movie Downloads!

[eschmidt]

Moderator note: This thread was originally a part of a larger thread discussing the September 2011 announcements of Cinemascape and the Kaleidescape iPad app. It's been separated into its own thread for ease of followup discussion.

Um isn't there something else to add

 

[Croptop]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned anything about movie downloads.

 

[Mr.Poindexter]

Did you see something announced about movie downloads or is that a wish/feature request?

This thread was just announcing the new features that Kaleidescape is rolling out in their systems.

 

[sbutter]

Um isn't there something else to add

From Eric's blog.
http://www.soundandvision.net/blog/

Breaking news-Kaleidescape 1st to offer Bluray Downloads!

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Eric Schmidt


After months of speculation on what Kaleidescape had up its sleeve, they*let the proverbial cat out of the bag today-Bluray downloads from its’ own store! “This is amazing news for our clients with Kaleidescape systems,” said Eric Schmidt. “We have been on the sidelines when it came to streaming and downloadable content. This is largely due to poor quality and limited selection.* Our clients have unbelievably high resolution systems capable of reproducing the true cinematic experience.* While Bluray certainly delivers everything the director intended, it’s really a tragedy to watch any less!” Kaleidescape promises a vast catalog of content available early in the 1st quarter.
Contact us today for more information and a hands on demo of the amazing Kaleidescape system .

Posted in CEDIA 2011 | Tagged bluray, Download, Kaleidescape

 

[cinelife]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned anything about movie downloads.

I did not know we could talk about this yet.


Jim

 

[cinelife]

It looks like we can, so...

Yes, downloads are being worked on and will eventually be available at a K "store."

Very simple process and works very well, although my system took quite awhile to download a BR documentary, in beta. K is reviewing the reason for my slower than normal download time. The "ordering" part is super easy, very intuitive, and progress can be viewed as usual in the import's page. The resulting download's image and audio were superb, as usual for K they were bit-for-bit BR transfers. It shows up in the movie guides just like every other movie. An obvious positive is buying through download will eliminate the need for a physical disk.

Questions I asked along the way:
Cost of downloads has not been determined yet.
Yes, there will be some mechanism in place that will enable K to repopulate your Server for purchased downloads if ever lost to a component failure (fortunately not really an issue with a K system!).
No, currently you cannot send the download to more than one owned Server (i.e. two separate locations).

Jim

 

[JerryL]

WOW!!! DOWNLOADS IS A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

So its the exact same data as on the disc but without the physical disc. I wonder how they get around the requirement that a disc be physically present to play the movie? Id be curious to know this. Maybe its a special license they have? Also what will the price be for the downloads? I assume this can't be given out but Im just asking rhetorical questions.

While this would eliminate the need for a vault, I wonder how this might work for someone who has BR discs. Would it be possible to get a credit for the BRs discs owned so then one could avoid paying for the same disc twice if one wanted to download it.......

As to the CIH stuff- its very cool but as I said before I prefer to move the lens. I suppose my way to opt out is to tell it I have a 16:9 setup as opposed to 21:9 (2.35). I wonder how this might affect subtitles...

 

[cinelife]

WOW!!! DOWNLOADS IS A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!!

So its the exact same data as on the disc but without the physical disc. I wonder how they get around the requirement that a disc be physically present to play the movie? Id be curious to know this. Maybe its a special license they have? Also what will the price be for the downloads? I assume this can't be given out but Im just asking rhetorical questions.

While this would eliminate the need for a vault, I wonder how this might work for someone who has BR discs. Would it be possible to get a credit for the BRs discs owned so then one could avoid paying for the same disc twice if one wanted to download it.......

As to the CIH stuff- its very cool but as I said before I prefer to move the lens. I suppose my way to opt out is to tell it I have a 16:9 setup as opposed to 21:9 (2.35). I wonder how this might affect subtitles...

I'm suspect the benefit to the manufacturer is not needing to manufacture a physical disc and move it through the stream of commerce. That benefit, coupled with K's "closed system," may make them comfortable with the sale. Just a thought.

No. we will not be able to turn in our collections for the right to download, at least not currently. This service is to generate "new" income streams, not support prior sales. But who knows, maybe someday they'll come up with a plan........

I'm sure you can opt out of the Cinemascape. BR subtitle placement in the 2.35 image is probably universal and not attached to the Cinemascape function, but I'm not sure.

As mentioned above, no pricing available at this point.

Jim

 

[cinelife]

And now I'm glad I resisted buying the vault (either of them)

That may be logical if you don't already have a BR collection, or it is so small you don't mind paying again for the download version, but for those of us with moderate to large collections the vaults are the only way to incorporate BR into the K experience without re-buying the titles. That will not change. (I've got nearly 900 BR titles, which would be a bit pricey, but I guess the question is "Given the price of the M700's, is it cheaper to just re-buy the titles?" We can't answer that yet.)

Also agree with Mike's comment about what will be available to buy once the "store" is up and running. It might be quite awhile before what is currently available in BR becomes available for download. In any case, the ability to download BR content (and I assume the DVD version as well) is a welcome addition to the K system.


Jim

 

[DigitalStudioWerks]

. . . .
Yes, downloads are being worked on and will eventually be available at a K "store."

Very simple process and works very well, although my system took quite awhile to download a BR documentary, in beta.
Jim

This is where you are going to want to make sure you or your client not only has a high speed connection (I would suggest 25 Mbits MINIMUM) but also a well designed and engineered network.

The beta Blu-ray, Grey Eagles which is 30 min. in length, took 20 min. to download to our system during our peak internet usage. When kaleidescape starts offering full Blu-ray movies that are 30/40/50/ or more GB in size you will really need to make sure your clients connection can handle it. Especially if they are buying 2 or 3 movies at a time.

This also brings up the issues of data usage and if you or your clients ISP has a data usage clause in their TOS. Again if a client downloads 3 or 4 movies a month that can add up to 100GB plus in addition to their normal usage.

Just something to think about.

 

[Mr.Poindexter]

And some of us don't have super fat pipes. I have AT&T uVerse and on the basic package it is easily fast enough for anything except apparently BluRay downloads. I am at 8 hours so far and only 60% downloaded. I suppose I am going to have to spring for the faster connection speed when this the store comes online.

 

[MikeG]

Wow, incredible news!

It was reported "in the first quarter" is that calendar or fiscal? Really looking forward to this and I'm very curious of the size of the library they'll offer, which studios they have agreements with, etc. Also are these full purchases or timed rentals?

 

[cinelife]

This is where you are going to want to make sure you or your client not only has a high speed connection (I would suggest 25 Mbits MINIMUM) but also a well designed and engineered network.

The beta Blu-ray, Grey Eagles which is 30 min. in length, took 20 min. to download to our system during our peak internet usage. When kaleidescape starts offering full Blu-ray movies that are 30/40/50/ or more GB in size you will really need to make sure your clients connection can handle it. Especially if they are buying 2 or 3 movies at a time.

This also brings up the issues of data usage and if you or your clients ISP has a data usage clause in their TOS. Again if a client downloads 3 or 4 movies a month that can add up to 100GB plus in addition to their normal usage.

Just something to think about.

Thanks James, I agree, and all good points! I'm sure the slowness was on my side, not K's.

Jim

 

[cinelife]

Wow, incredible news!

It was reported "in the first quarter" is that calendar or fiscal? Really looking forward to this and I'm very curious of the size of the library they'll offer, which studios they have agreements with, etc. Also are these full purchases or timed rentals?

First quarter (calendar), still working on the content providers, and these are planned to be full purchases that remain on your Server until you delete them (to be clear, I did not ask the question directly as I didn't feel the need given that the conversations I had implied a permanent copy on the Server).


Jim

 

[brodricj]

I'm in no hurry for the BR download service, it's not something I would ever use. With a monthly ISP download limit of 12GB per month I'd burn up 4 months worth of my internet for just one movie, and it would probably take a few days to download. I'd rather buy the movie from the video store for $20 and load it in the vault; quick, simple and easy.

 

[cinelife]

Hey, Brodric, just curious, what ISP are you using? (I have not heard of a "monthly limit.")


Jim

 

[brodricj]

In Australia just about everybody has a monthly up/download limit as standard. For me that started out as 2GB/month, but since I've bought the kids an iPad each I've had to upgrade my plan to 12GB/month. If I go over the limit I'm charged 15 cents/MB. So to download just a single BR would consume the whole of my monthly data quota, plus incur excess download charges of about $6000. Hence why I'd rather go to the video store and buy the disc for $20 and drop it into the Vault.

To put the Kaleidescape download service into perspective, for what it would cost me to download just a single BR I could easily pay to upgrade all four discs in my 1U server to brand new 2TB's. Go figure...

There are internet plans here that allow unlimited downloads but they are very expensive (The 12GB plan costs me about $79/month in a plan bundled with my home phone).

 

[AnOutsider]

That may be logical if you don't already have a BR collection, or it is so small you don't mind paying again for the download version, but for those of us with moderate to large collections the vaults are the only way to incorporate BR into the K experience without re-buying the titles. That will not change. (I've got nearly 900 BR titles, which would be a bit pricey, but I guess the question is "Given the price of the M700's, is it cheaper to just re-buy the titles?" We can't answer that yet.)

Correct, that's my situation. Since K didn't support it (and I only saw a difference when watching in the home theater for many movies) we didn't invest too heavily into BR other than titles like Planet Earth etc that just HAD to be in BR.

I agree that those who have the discs will need the vault. I didn't say the vault was useless, I said I was glad I resisted the urge to buy it. I'd much rather get the downloaded copy personally than to have to store the discs, so this will end up being a better solution.

Will be interesting to see just how full (or spartan) the catalog is when it launches, but since I don't exactly go out of my way for BR as it is, grabbing the physical DVD copy of a movie we really want to see won't be a problem.

I'm in no hurry for the BR download service, it's not something I would ever use. With a monthly ISP download limit of 12GB per month I'd burn up 4 months worth of my internet for just one movie, and it would probably take a few days to download. I'd rather buy the movie from the video store for $20 and load it in the vault; quick, simple and easy.

Ouch on those BW caps. You sir are definitely a candidate for the vault

 

[Joe]

I wonder what kind of pipes / bandwidth are available on kscape's side. A few simultaneous customer BR downloads could be pretty taxing. I have Fios 50/20 Mbps, so should be OK. Anyone have the Fios 150/35 package? Assuming ample bandwidth on kscape's side, those downloads would scream!

 

[brodricj]

... Assuming ample bandwidth on kscape's side, those downloads would scream!

Lucky everyone who has the hardware for this. When I'm at work I'm lucky to get 20kbps download speed. I haven't worked the math on that, but I'd guess it would take about a year to download a single BR title...