NEWS: New Kaleidescape Mini System Announcement!

[cinelife]

Hi,

I just signed a contract to buy a system yesterday, and my dealer didn't say anything about license fees??

Thanks, Steven

That's because they are now (have been for awhile) included in the price of the system.

Jim

 

[Mars]

All fair points I know and it was probably my knee-jerk reaction when I see how much less expensive the mini-player and storage drives are versus what I just paid. I also know that the early-adopters paid much more than I did and the whole benefit to lowering the price point means more of a consumer base to spread those R&D costs across and therefore less expensive products without reduction in quality. But just because I understand all this doesn't mean a guy can't complain just a little

I am just glad I held off on the mini-player for the bedroom and now that I am at 99% capacity on my 1U, that less expensive storage is a very good thing.

I saw the new pricing on the 1080p players and the 1TB cartridges. Does anyone know what the 1U servers will be retailing at now?

 

[cinelife]

Absolutely nothing wrong with complaining.

An empty 1U Server's msrp is $7,495. Dealer's are permitted to price any component according to their market and the services they provide, so always best to check with your dealer regarding actual pricing.

Jim

All fair points I know and it was probably my knee-jerk reaction when I see how much less expensive the mini-player and storage drives are versus what I just paid. I also know that the early-adopters paid much more than I did and the whole benefit to lowering the price point means more of a consumer base to spread those R&D costs across and therefore less expensive products without reduction in quality. But just because I understand all this doesn't mean a guy can't complain just a little

I am just glad I held off on the mini-player for the bedroom and now that I am at 99% capacity on my 1U, that less expensive storage is a very good thing.

I saw the new pricing on the 1080p players and the 1TB cartridges. Does anyone know what the 1U servers will be retailing at now?

 

[Mars]

OK - so if memory serves me, that was the retail price when I got mine, so, for now, no change in MSRP for the server, just the cartridges themselves.

 

[cinelife]

OK - so if memory serves me, that was the retail price when I got mine, so, for now, no change in MSRP for the server, just the cartridges themselves.

Correct. The only price changes announced are for the two 1080p Players and for storage disks.

Jim

 

[Thorpeedo]

That's because they are now (have been for awhile) included in the price of the system.

Jim

There still is a licensing fee for the All Music Guide subscription, right? I bought recently and paid that fee (a couple grand). If I hear that was dropped and I paid it, I'm going to get pretty excited as I also bought a number of the new players prior to the price drop.

Somebody let me know on the music lifetime license fee. Thanks!

Sam

 

[cinelife]

There still is a licensing fee for the All Music Guide subscription, right? I bought recently and paid that fee (a couple grand). If I hear that was dropped and I paid it, I'm going to get pretty excited as I also bought a number of the new players prior to the price drop.

Somebody let me know on the music lifetime license fee. Thanks!

Sam

This is how it works:

If you are buying a system today (meaning currently as opposed to the past), the appropriate lifetime licenses and guide service are included.

If in the past you purchased a sytem for Movies or Music, or both, you had a choice to purchase either a "lifetime" subscription, or an "annually renewable" subscription, to the appropriate Guide Service (The "playback" lifetime license was included).

For those that elected to go with the annually renewable subscription, if you now want the "lifetime" Guide Service, there is a fee to add that to your system.

Likewise, anyone that purchased only a Movie Playback license, or only a Music Playback license, that now want to add Movies or Music (as appropriate) to their systems will pay a fee to do so, and a fee for the appropriate Guide Service (Lifetime).

Hope that explains it.

Jim

 

[Thorpeedo]

This is how it works:

If you are buying a system today (meaning currently as opposed to the past), the appropriate lifetime licenses and guide service are included.

If in the past you purchased a sytem for Movies or Music, or both, you had a choice to purchase either a "lifetime" subscription, or an "annually renewable" subscription, to the appropriate Guide Service (The "playback" lifetime license was included).

For those that elected to go with the annually renewable subscription, if you now want the "lifetime" Guide Service, there is a fee to add that to your system.

Likewise, anyone that purchased only a Movie Playback license, or only a Music Playback license, that now want to add Movies or Music (as appropriate) to their systems will pay a fee to do so, and a fee for the appropriate Guide Service (Lifetime).

Hope that explains it.

Jim

Thanks Jim. That's helpful and I'm following you. Do you know when became today vs. the past? If I buy today (literally), then both the music and movie licenses would be included, as you say.

So my question is, when to "today" start? I bought around 6 months ago and paid the music license, so I'm trying to figure out at what date this became included?

Thanks for the help.

As an aside, the lower disk cartridge costs are good news for people hoping to store BR discs!

 

[cinelife]

Thanks Jim. That's helpful and I'm following you. Do you know when became today vs. the past? If I buy today (literally), then both the music and movie licenses would be included, as you say.

So my question is, when to "today" start? I bought around 6 months ago and paid the music license, so I'm trying to figure out at what date this became included?

Thanks for the help.

As an aside, the lower disk cartridge costs are good news for people hoping to store BR discs!

Sorry Sam, I do not have the exact timing on the change, but is was probably around that period of time (honestly could have been earlier). I suggest contacting your dealer about these concerns and get their take on it. In fairness to the dealer (on my part), I don't know the situation, or timing, and given that dealers are free to charge what they want for K products, it is better to speak with them directly.

Regarding storage prices coming down, I agree we all benefit, and especially those of us wanting to import out BR content.

Jim

 

[Beoliving]

The new Mini-System is definitely a smart move for Kaleidescape and I am very interesting in it! I was close to purchase a 1U server ex-demo model, but glad I didn't. For my setup the Mini is just perfect as I just need DVD access in my media room and music distribution is handeld by my B&O gear.

What about power handling? Any difference to the other server model? My system will be used max 1 hour per day.

Hopefully 1GB mini drives will be made available in the future by the disc manufactors.

Karsten

 

[josh]

I don't think anyone yet knows power consumption (and a word to the wise that discussing power usage inexplicably became a very controversial subject here!) but just so you know, all K servers (including mini system) are designed to ALWAYS stay on... so the fact that you'd actually use it 1 hour a day doesn't really save you much power. You could turn it off when not in use, but this will likely cause problems with data updates, system updates, log reporting, etc.

--josh

 

[Beoliving]

I have followed the other thread with great interrest, so green IT is more than just plugging green cables in One 3U server would double (!!!) my current bill for my house

This might be an opportunity for K. to develop this a litte bit further, they are very clever at all stuff related to storage and networking. So a "wake up for service" function does not sound like rocket sciense to me or just a "sleep" modus would be fine.

I will call my dealer today the see when the Mini will be shipped in Europe.

 

[josh]

...a "wake up for service" function does not sound like rocket sciense to me or just a "sleep" modus would be fine

Yep... agree. Already suggested it in this thread here... feel free to add your voice.

 

[Riskky]

Wanted to add a further foot note to the Mini System thing, we've installed the Mini System now 4 times and it is an absolute dream to fit, on a purely professional level I'd have preferd to keep the BNC connectors on the back just for cable security, but I'm strugging to find fault (other than limited disc space).

We just got back into the office now having put one onto an Opus system, and I kid you not... we were on site for 15 minutes! The unit is integrated, working and the client happily navigating their way through it.

Kris

 

[cinelife]

Thanks for posting Kris, sounds like you guys are having fun as well. (Did you get one for yourself yet?)


Jim