KEAOS (Software) UPDATES

[Darthbishop79]

No updates to my Strato K yet, patiently waiting!!!

 

[J.Green]

No updates to my Strato K yet, patiently waiting!!!

Your Strato K should have shipped with 26.1.0 already (which is the latest released version of kOS).

If you're referring to kOS 26.1.1, that hasn't even been released from Engineering yet.

 

[HiFiHippie]

Your Strato K should have shipped with 26.1.0 already (which is the latest released version of kOS).

If you're referring to kOS 26.1.1, that hasn't even been released from Engineering yet.

Awesome, thanks for the clarification on the update. I am currently at 26.1.0 so it looks like I’m good

 

[leo9000]

Hello all,

Yes, kOS 26.1 is scheduled to begin release this week. As usual, the release will deploy in phases, with primarily employee and dealer systems in the initial tranches to ensue that we catch any unexpected issues that did not show up during QA. The release will continue to roll out to all users over the course of a few weeks.

In addition to support for Strato K, kOS 26.1 includes the following changes:

HDMI Capabilities & Diagnostics

• HDR10/DV/DV-LL support per 4K/8K mode - The HDMI Capabilities page now indicates which 4K/8K modes support each HDR/Dolby Vision format, helping diagnose unexpected mode changes. Available on all players which support 4K or higher.

HDMI physical link mode displayed

• The HDMI Capabilities page now shows whether the HDMI link is using TMDS or FRL, and includes the bandwidth supported.

Playback & Audio Improvements (All Platforms)

• Improved playback of Dolby Vision on non-supported displays - The conversion to HDR10 no longer causes a slight increase in black level, and now better preserves the original dynamic range.
• Fixed stereo audio being output as multichannel - Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, and AAC stereo tracks were incorrectly output as multichannel MAT PCM on Strato V and later players. Now correctly outputs stereo.

Fixed audio clicking on Trinnov receivers after leaving standby

• Rapid audio format switches during OSD navigation caused audible clicks. Affected Strato V, E, M, and K.

Other fixes and improvements

• Playback and platform stability improvements.

My KOS is still 26.0.0-26741. Has there been some delay in the roll out?

 

[J.Green]

My KOS is still 26.0.0-26741. Has there been some delay in the roll out?

Yes.

There was an issue with 26.1.0 that only affected older Strato, Strato C, and Strato S players that in rare situations could lead the player to reboot. So the 26.1.0 release was limited to systems that had Strato K, V, E, and M players in them. A fix for the Strato issue is in kOS 26.1.1 which is slated to begin rollout soon.

 

[leo9000]

Yes.

There was an issue with 26.1.0 that only affected older Strato, Strato C, and Strato S players that in rare situations could lead the player to reboot. So the 26.1.0 release was limited to systems that had Strato K, V, E, and M players in them. A fix for the Strato issue is in kOS 26.1.1 which is slated to begin rollout soon.

Thanks for the update! I’m one of those that are waiting for my Strato K to ship - so this probably won’t be an issue, but if the K arrives, can the Strato C and Strato K run simultaneously in the same system with different KOS versions? I’m probably weeks from getting the K since I ordered in mid July.

 

[J.Green]

Thanks for the update! I’m one of those that are waiting for my Strato K to ship - so this probably won’t be an issue, but if the K arrives, can the Strato C and Strato K run simultaneously in the same system with different KOS versions? I’m probably weeks from getting the K since I ordered in mid July.

No. All devices in a system must be running the same kOS version. And devices cannot downgrade. So if your Strato K arrives and you group it with your system, all of the devices in your system will upgrade to kOS 26.1.0 (since that's the version of kOS that Strato K ships with).

I wouldn't fret too much about it though. The Strato unexpected reboot issue is rare and you are unlikely to encounter it if your system does happen to upgrade. But it was non-zero so we avoided pushing the update to any systems that didn't have the newer Strato models in them in an abundance of caution (since the majority of fixes in 26.1.0 were targeted at the Strato V and newer players).

Also, depending on how long you end up having to wait for your Strato K, there's every chance that your system will have been upgraded to 26.1.1 by the time you add the Strato K to it.

 

[leo9000]

No. All devices in a system must be running the same kOS version. And devices cannot downgrade. So if your Strato K arrives and you group it with your system, all of the devices in your system will upgrade to kOS 26.1.0 (since that's the version of kOS that Strato K ships with).

I wouldn't fret too much about it though. The Strato unexpected reboot issue is rare and you are unlikely to encounter it if your system does happen to upgrade. But it was non-zero so we avoided pushing the update to any systems that didn't have the newer Strato models in them in an abundance of caution (since the majority of fixes in 26.1.0 were targeted at the Strato V and newer players).

Also, depending on how long you end up having to wait for your Strato K, there's every chance that your system will have been upgraded to 26.1.1 by the time you add the Strato K to it.

Thanks John! Yes, I assumed the KOS version would need to match on all players in the system, but wasn't 100% certain. It looks like at this point I'll be waiting a while for my Strato K, so 26.1.1 may be out by then.

 

[LoveCinema]

There was an issue with 26.1.0 that only affected older Strato, Strato C, and Strato S players that in rare situations could lead the player to reboot. So the 26.1.0 release was limited to systems that had Strato K, V, E, and M players in them. A fix for the Strato issue is in kOS 26.1.1 which is slated to begin rollout soon.

Aha! I think this happened to me.

I purchased a used Terra from someone that had a Strato K so it came in with kOS 26.1. I added it to my system and everything just kind of hung. From the mykaleidescape.local page I could see Terras come online, but my Strato C would disappear and reappear. When trying to view it onscreen it'd either be completely dead or kick into a reboot cycle, never fully loading. I even started a ticket. However, after an hour or two everything seemed to sort itself out and I was back in business, cancelling my ticket. During that stretch, I was fairly freaked out so I can see why they'd hold it.

 

[J.Green]

A patch release of kOS (version 26.1.1-27063) has been released and will begin rollout this week. This release includes the following changes and improvements:

HDR10/Dolby Vision fixes (Strato K, V, E, M)

• HDR10 content now plays with correct metadata.
• Dolby Vision content output as HDR10 will now preserve the original dynamic range more faithfully, avoiding tone-mapping.

Other notable fixes or improvements

• Devices with static IP configurations should now properly restore internet routing after a network cable is unplugged and reconnected.
• A sporadic crash seen on legacy Strato players has been fixed.
• Strato and Strato S players now enforce a restriction: for UHD content local playback and streaming to another zone cannot happen concurrently in order to improve reliability of playback sessions when one or the other is active.

 

[Jin-X]

A patch release of kOS (version 26.1.1-27063) has been released and will begin rollout this week. This release includes the following changes and improvements:

HDR10/Dolby Vision fixes (Strato K, V, E, M)

• HDR10 content now plays with correct metadata.
• Dolby Vision content output as HDR10 will now preserve the original dynamic range more faithfully, avoiding tone-mapping.

Other notable fixes or improvements

• Devices with static IP configurations should now properly restore internet routing after a network cable is unplugged and reconnected.
• A sporadic crash seen on legacy Strato players has been fixed.
• Strato and Strato S players now enforce a restriction: local playback and streaming to another zone cannot happen concurrently in order to improve reliability of playback sessions when one or the other is active.

Can you elaborate on what more faithfully means? DV to HDR10 conversion should be 100% accurate at the source device, with any difference between the two being whatever the video processor and/or display do differently with a HDR10 vs DV signal.

 

[baltz]

• Strato and Strato S players now enforce a restriction: local playback and streaming to another zone cannot happen concurrently in order to improve reliability of playback sessions when one or the other is active.

And can you elaborate on this part? Does that mean that you are no longer guaranteed 2 concurrent playback streams from those devices?

If I understand that correctly, a system with 2x Strato S players could be limited to 1 stream, depending on where the movies are stored. A system with just a Strato S and Strato C (no Terra) would now always be limited to 1 playback stream instead of 2.

 

[rafaelsmith]

Can you elaborate on what more faithfully means? DV to HDR10 conversion should be 100% accurate at the source device, with any difference between the two being whatever the video processor and/or display do differently with a HDR10 vs DV signal.

Also would like elaboration on what "more faithfully" actually means. Seems to me like this is a correct/not correct type of thing.

 

[Darthbishop79]

Also would like elaboration on what "more faithfully" actually means. Seems to me like this is a correct/not correct type of thing.

From what I understand, this is a give and take situation, it’s very fluid. Mike said something about the team knowing about this issue and trying to fix it by over shooting the dynamic range a bit, but a few here caught on to that. Now I am sure they dialed it back as close to correct as possible, but it’s not 100% which is why they are also giving us the 4K Cinematic HDR versions of films.

 

[rafaelsmith]

From what I understand, this is a give and take situation, it’s very fluid. Mike said something about the team knowing about this issue and trying to fix it by over shooting the dynamic range a bit, but a few here caught on to that. Now I am sure they dialed it back as close to correct as possible, but it’s not 100% which is why they are also giving us the 4K Cinematic HDR versions of films.

Sounds like for those of us with non DV displays and Strato V, its still best practice to just download HDR10 versions.

 

[Rmarci]

The thing about this DV-to-HDR10 mapping is that it's either 100% the same dynamic range and color, or it's not. There’s no in-between. The conversion is straightforward, and the same conversion logic can be used for all content. They probably should just look at the libplacebo source code; they’re doing it correctly, and I’ve converted hundreds of DV5 movies to HDR10 using their algo.

So the wording they used is quite confusing and doesn’t inspire much confidence that the conversion is being done 100% correctly. I wish they just provided HDR10 for everything.

 

[rafaelsmith]

The thing about this DV-to-HDR10 mapping is that it's either 100% the same dynamic range and color, or it's not. There’s no in-between. The conversion is straightforward, and the same conversion logic can be used for all content. They probably should just look at the libplacebo source code; they’re doing it correctly, and I’ve converted hundreds of DV5 movies to HDR10 using their algo.

So the wording they used is quite confusing and doesn’t inspire much confidence that the conversion is being done 100% correctly. I wish they just provided HDR10 for everything.

In general when companies or products use vague buzz wording like "more faithfully" I am immediately concerned.

 

[Darthbishop79]

The thing about this DV-to-HDR10 mapping is that it's either 100% the same dynamic range and color, or it's not. There’s no in-between. The conversion is straightforward, and the same conversion logic can be used for all content. They probably should just look at the libplacebo source code; they’re doing it correctly, and I’ve converted hundreds of DV5 movies to HDR10 using their algo.

So the wording they used is quite confusing and doesn’t inspire much confidence that the conversion is being done 100% correctly. I wish they just provided HDR10 for everything.

I hear you, I use a Zappiti Reference player and I rip all of my UHD discs with the DV layer intact. While I have not measured it scientifically there doesn’t seem to be any issues playing those DV titles in HDR10. I believe the conversion is working 100%. I don’t use LLDV because the Zappiti Player does have issues with DV playback. I was recommended to get an Umigos (wrong name of this I know, I can’t remember exactly lol) but I just don’t care for DV when I am using a projector anyway.

 

[rafaelsmith]

I hear you, I use a Zappiti Reference player and I rip all of my UHD discs with the DV layer intact. While I have not measured it scientifically there doesn’t seem to be any issues playing those DV titles in HDR10. I believe the conversion is working 100%. I don’t use LLDV because the Zappiti Player does have issues with DV playback. I was recommended to get an Umigos (wrong name of this I know, I can’t remember exactly lol) but I just don’t care for DV when I am using a projector anyway.

I have a ZIdoo Z30 Pro and yeah...I have never had any issues with DV RIPS like I have when trying to playback DV titles on the Strato V.

 

[thrawn997]

So the wording they used is quite confusing and doesn’t inspire much confidence that the conversion is being done 100% correctly. I wish they just provided HDR10 for everything.

Hard to differentiate yourself when you use off the shelf software that just works.. gotta add some sparkle, some rizz, some little bits of errors to keep things interesting.