KEAOS (Software) UPDATES

[MikeKobb]

Great insite. being in Canada, the strata V is $6500. Be nice to get a 4K UI on my big screen if the price was an extra $300-500 so be it

I promise it's really not about cost. As I wrote in that post linked above, the chip that best met our needs in nearly every category does not support rendering the onscreen display at 4K. There was not a "step up" version that could do so, at any cost.

Might be a madVR thing? It loves handshakes. It's like it's running for office.

If you're using a madVR, there's a decent chance that you have the player set to "use external scaler". As mentioned, that will result in more handshakes because the player then outputs everything in its native resolution, including the onscreen display. If you primarily watch 4K, you could select "minimize display mode changes" and I think you'd experience drastically fewer handshake delays with very little impact on the movies themselves. The difference would be that the player would be outputting its onscreen display at 4K/60, and it would also output movies at 4K/60. The only mode changes you'd see would be SDR <-> HDR transitions. I'm not sure how smoothly the madVR handles that.

FWIW, that's how I run my players with my Radiance Pro. This allows the player to do any upscaling (which it does quite well) and leaves the tone mapping to the video processor.

Just something to consider.

 

[RobT]

Anyway, I didn't mean to hijack this thread about OS updates. If I could make a feature request for the mobile app, I'd love it if K brought back the ability to directly launch your rental movie from the movie's info page in the download list instead of having to back out of there and then search for it on your movie wall or in the list.

 

[RobT]

I promise it's really not about cost. As I wrote in that post linked above, the chip that best met our needs in nearly every category does not support rendering the onscreen display at 4K. There was not a "step up" version that could do so, at any cost.


If you're using a madVR, there's a decent chance that you have the player set to "use external scaler". As mentioned, that will result in more handshakes because the player then outputs everything in its native resolution, including the onscreen display. If you primarily watch 4K, you could select "minimize display mode changes" and I think you'd experience drastically fewer handshake delays with very little impact on the movies themselves. The difference would be that the player would be outputting its onscreen display at 4K/60, and it would also output movies at 4K/60. The only mode changes you'd see would be SDR <-> HDR transitions. I'm not sure how smoothly the madVR handles that.

FWIW, that's how I run my players with my Radiance Pro. This allows the player to do any upscaling (which it does quite well) and leaves the tone mapping to the video processor.

Just something to consider.

Interesting tip. Will I get soap opera effect from moving off 4K/24?

 

[MikeKobb]

Tell me a little more about what you use that feature (opening the movie details from the app) for? Our statistics for the app showed that it was almost never used.

When the player outputs 24fps content as 60fps, it's not creating new frames, so there's no soap opera effect. It's just repeating frames in a particular cadence (some repeated 3 times, some repeated twice) to end up at 60. The one drawback of this is that it can produce a "judder" effect, but that depends on the projector or display. For example, my Sony projector detects the pattern of repeated frames and compensates for that as it converts the signal to its native 120fps display rate. So it eliminates the added judder while preserving the benefit of not having to re-sync to different frame rates.

 

[Darin]

I promise it's really not about cost. As I wrote in that post linked above, the chip that best met our needs in nearly every category does not support rendering the onscreen display at 4K. There was not a "step up" version that could do so, at any cost.


If you're using a madVR, there's a decent chance that you have the player set to "use external scaler". As mentioned, that will result in more handshakes because the player then outputs everything in its native resolution, including the onscreen display. If you primarily watch 4K, you could select "minimize display mode changes" and I think you'd experience drastically fewer handshake delays with very little impact on the movies themselves. The difference would be that the player would be outputting its onscreen display at 4K/60, and it would also output movies at 4K/60. The only mode changes you'd see would be SDR <-> HDR transitions. I'm not sure how smoothly the madVR handles that.

FWIW, that's how I run my players with my Radiance Pro. This allows the player to do any upscaling (which it does quite well) and leaves the tone mapping to the video processor.

Just something to consider.

There was a two-part UI resolution improvement in one or more prior KEAOS updates (from November 2024):

Just a friendly reminder to those who may not have seen the "Sneak Preview" thread -- the cover art improvements are actually going to be partly in this new kOS release and partly in the December headend software release.

The kOS side will improve how the player handles scaling cover images for display. The headend side uses a different algorithm for transforming the master images to prepare them to for download to Strato V. Depending upon where you fall in the roll-out cycle, you may notice an initial improvement followed by further improvement in December, or you might see the combined improvements in a single step.

For example, @Techthusiasm, as a dealer, is in the earliest update group, so he will see the kOS piece first followed by the headend piece in December.

Additionally, just to set expectations: library covers will look better immediately after the player updates. Store covers need to be re-downloaded, and so if you rush to the player to look at it right after it updates, you might briefly notice no improvement on covers for unowned content.

Finally, regarding Scripts in the Browser Interface, that's visible on dealer systems to facilitate creating demo scripts for showrooms. It's still available via the direct URL for customer systems.

Have those UI improvements been completed then?

Thanks!

 

[thrillcat]

Tell me a little more about what you use that feature (opening the movie details from the app) for? Our statistics for the app showed that it was almost never used.

I've also requested that feature be re-added. We select something when we're still upstairs. It's a really nice option to have it waiting for us when we get downstairs to the theater and literally just have to press play rather than go hunting for it among 500 movies in the UI. I really like having the shuffle feature active, but that makes it even harder to find what we're looking for when you know exactly what you're looking for, so I've been mostly using the alpha sort since that option was removed.

 

[thrillcat]

As mentioned, that will result in more handshakes because the player then outputs everything in its native resolution, including the onscreen display. If you primarily watch 4K, you could select "minimize display mode changes" and I think you'd experience drastically fewer handshake delays with very little impact on the movies themselves. The difference would be that the player would be outputting its onscreen display at 4K/60, and it would also output movies at 4K/60. The only mode changes you'd see would be SDR <-> HDR transitions. I'm not sure how smoothly the madVR handles that.

I'd love the option to select which mode changes we allow and which we don't, rather than just having a blanket "Let us do it" vs "Let them do it."

 

[StanfieldNC]

@MikeKobb will this update allow "add to wish list" from the UI? If not, is that on the radar?

 

[Techthusiasm]

Here's the video showing the 10.22 UI changes.

 

[MikeKobb]

Have those UI improvements been completed then?

Yes, those were completed some time ago.

 

[MikeKobb]

@MikeKobb will this update allow "add to wish list" from the UI? If not, is that on the radar?

That is not in this release. It's definitely on the list of desired enhancements.

 

[Mike213]

I haven’t seen the update yet?

 

[thrillcat]

I haven’t seen the update yet?

They roll out updates slowly, usually takes about a month to hit all users. This way if any issues are reported, they can catch it before it affects all users.

 

[RobT]

Tell me a little more about what you use that feature (opening the movie details from the app) for? Our statistics for the app showed that it was almost never used.

When the player outputs 24fps content as 60fps, it's not creating new frames, so there's no soap opera effect. It's just repeating frames in a particular cadence (some repeated 3 times, some repeated twice) to end up at 60. The one drawback of this is that it can produce a "judder" effect, but that depends on the projector or display. For example, my Sony projector detects the pattern of repeated frames and compensates for that as it converts the signal to its native 120fps display rate. So it eliminates the added judder while preserving the benefit of not having to re-sync to different frame rates.

It used to be that when I'd get the notification that the download was complete, I'd go to the downloads page on my iOS app, select the movie I had downloaded, and in the area I've circled in yellow, there was a button that let you directly launch the movie without having to go search for it in your movie list.

I bet that the low usage may have been a function of lots of folks simply not realizing the feature was there. It was super convenient.

 

[rafaelsmith]

Everyone has a different opinion on this topic and it has been discussed in several threads on this forum, but in my opinion, the point of the product is to access the highest quality movies in terms of audio and video this side of blu-ray. Now, what you place a value on is up to each person. I just find it mildly interesting that the movie wall is like the highest priority for some that are buying these devices.

I had folks over this past weekend to watch a movie in my theater; it was their first time watching a movie in my theater. Not one person mentioned the movie wall nor did they marvel at it or at what I was using as my movie player. They loved the experience that my theater provided. The experience I get from watching movies on K is of utmost importance. I don't stare at the movie wall nor am I in awe of it. But your mileage may vary.

At first I was a little disappointed in the V UI not being 4k but that quickly faded..now having had the V for a year....and 135 inch screen...countless movies...easily 3-4/week I can could care less...the amount of time I actually spend in the UI beyond selecting a movie and hitting play is minuscule. What matters is the movies/content.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

At first I was a little disappointed in the V UI not being 4k but that quickly faded..now having had the V for a year....and 135 inch screen...countless movies...easily 3-4/week I can could care less...the amount of time I actually spend in the UI beyond selecting a movie and hitting play is minuscule. What matters is the movies/content.

My biggest issue is not being able to see all my movies from the Strato V. I don’t know why when it makes it really easy to pick which film to watch next when you only have 12 or so to choose from, some habits never die but it is going to cost me dearly to rectify.

274 and counting in the download list which is too many to pick from and keeps growing as I can’t watch them quick enough and makes me think maybe the 48TB won’t be big enough if I’m already well over 300 in less than a year… It would be nice if there was a better way to reorder the downloads though as moving them singularly with so many is a bit more effort than I’d like.

My NAS/Disc backlog is down to 163 though so at least one of them is shrinking .

I’ve started making a list as well to work out exactly what I have in UHD and Blu-ray and which is better or worse quality on KScape, I’ve converted all but one DVD because the picture quality is genuinely quite bad on a large screen these days and you forget a lot of them didn’t even have widescreen aspect ratios!

 

[MikeKobb]

It used to be that when I'd get the notification that the download was complete, I'd go to the downloads page on my iOS app, select the movie I had downloaded, and in the area I've circled in yellow, there was a button that let you directly launch the movie without having to go search for it in your movie list.

I bet that the low usage may have been a function of lots of folks simply not realizing the feature was there. It was super convenient.
View attachment 8301

So, just to be sure I'm understanding you, the desired feature is to be able to quickly play the movie, correct? Do you actually need to see the onscreen details view, or is that just an expedient way to get to a Play command?

 

[RobT]

So, just to be sure I'm understanding you, the desired feature is to be able to quickly play the movie, correct? Do you actually need to see the onscreen details view, or is that just an expedient way to get to a Play command?

Correct. Quick play from the download list is the goal. Details are secondary.

 

[erixon1138]

Update to Movie Details Sheet
The movie details sheets in your library of the onscreen display have been updated to align with the onscreen store, including the addition of Rotten Tomatoes and Common Sense Media ratings.

Great update. Both my Premiere and Encore system updated on the 12th and the 11th. But the Common Sense Media ratings and Rotten Tomatoes does not show. Is it a Co-Star issue with this?

 

[J.Green]

Great update. Both my Premiere and Encore system updated on the 12th and the 11th. But the Common Sense Media ratings and Rotten Tomatoes does not show. Is it a Co-Star issue with this?

Shouldn't be. Keep in mind that the detail sheet redesign only applies to kOS 10.22.0 (Encore). So if you are looking at a Premiere-only zone (i.e. kOS 8.15.0) you won't see the RT and CSM ratings.

But in your Co-Star zone(s), you should see the redesigned detail sheet even for content that resides on your Premiere server since it's the Strato displaying the detail sheet.