NEWS: New Product: Cinema One

[cinelife]

Kaleidescape Introduces Cinema One at $3,995, Making the Ultimate Movie Experience More Accessible
Easy-to-use, stylish player delivers a more cinematic movie experience at home

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SUNNYVALE, CA – July 23, 2013 – Kaleidescape, Inc., the market leader in movie servers, is bringing its high-end home theater experience to a broader audience with the all-new Cinema One. It comes in a beautiful form factor that is easy to set up in any family room or existing home theater, and is the company’s first product designed for retail distribution.

Cinema One lets consumers store and instantly access up to 100 Blu-ray or 600 DVD-quality movies in the highest audio and video quality available. With this new form factor and price, the renowned Kaleidescape Experience is no longer limited to just high-end custom installations.

“Magnolia has been demonstrating the Kaleidescape System in the theaters of our design centers for years,” said Bill Beverley, VP of Retail Sales, Magnolia Audio/Video. “But until now, Kaleidescape’s products have been installed in large home theaters and whole-home integrated audio/video systems. With Cinema One, we can now offer the same experience in a simple-to-install and easy-to-use movie server to anyone who wants to have a truly theatrical movie experience.”

Easy-to-Use, Yet Powerfully Featured Movie Server

Cinema One provides a better home theater experience by letting viewers watch their Blu-ray and DVD movies without the delays of previews, menus or ads. Thanks to a breakthrough user interface, viewers can browse through hundreds of movies in a snap, no longer having to search through stacks of DVD cases. What’s more, Cinema One connects to any home automation system. So when you press Play, the lights go down, the masking is set, and the movie starts instantly, creating a truly theatrical movie experience. And with the unique CinemaScape video-processing mode, Cinema One is the best source device available for a 2.35 home theater.

A second Cinema One can be added to double the storage capacity and enable viewing of the combined library on a second television. And a three-year standard limited warranty ensures customers can enjoy their movies worry-free.

The Only Store for Blu-ray Quality Movie Downloads

With Cinema One, viewers can download movies directly from the Kaleidescape Store—the only store that offers movie downloads with the same audio/video fidelity of Blu-ray discs. Downloads include all special features, audio tracks and extra content otherwise available only on the physical disc.

“Today, Blu-ray discs are the reference standard for the discerning viewer, but they’re not as convenient as streaming,” said Doug Blackburn of Widescreen Review. “The Kaleidescape Store is currently the only way to download movies with precisely the same audio/video fidelity as Blu-ray. With Cinema One, anyone looking for the ultimate home theater experience without the inconvenience of physical discs will find Kaleidescape to be the best possible option for a theater system that will impress the owner, family and friends.”


The Ultimate Movie Guide—Changing the Way You Enjoy Your Movies

The Kaleidescape Experience is powered by the company’s comprehensive Movie Guide, which contains nearly a quarter million titles. Movies are presented with gorgeous high-resolution cover art and a short synopsis. As viewers browse their collection, the onscreen user interface highlights similar films based on genre, director, actors and more. Kaleidescape experts have handpicked thousands of the most memorable scenes in films, concerts and musicals so viewers can jump directly to the best parts of their favorite movies.

“The excellent video displays and sound systems found in homes today create a real need for a device that makes it easy to instantly view Blu-ray quality movies,” said Michael Malcolm, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Kaleidescape. “High-capacity hard disk drives, increasing Internet bandwidth, and the new Kaleidescape Store have made it possible to deliver the Kaleidescape Experience to anyone who enjoys watching movies at home.”

Cinema One is the first component in Kaleidescape’s new Cinema line, designed for smaller systems and featuring simple onscreen setup. The flagship Kaleidescape product line—which can serve collections of any size to a virtually unlimited number of rooms using rack-mountable hardware—is now called the Premiere line, and is intended for professional custom installation.

Cinema One is now available to experience and purchase in all of the Magnolia Design Centers. It can also be purchased from any of Kaleidescape’s 1,800 dealers worldwide or directly from store.kaleidescape.com (US only).

ABOUT KALEIDESCAPE

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, Kaleidescape is pioneering the development of movie servers that redefine how film enthusiasts purchase, organize and enjoy their movie collections. Featuring a breakthrough user interface that gives viewers unprecedented flexibility and control over the movies they watch, the Kaleidescape System makes it easy for customers to select and enjoy their DVD, Blu-ray and downloaded movies from any television in the home. Kaleidescape products are available at www.kaleidescape.com, and through custom installation dealers and fine audio/video retailers throughout the world.

Kaleidescape and the Kaleidescape logo are trademarks of Kaleidescape, Inc., and are registered in the United States and certain other jurisdictions. Cinema and Premiere are trademarks of Kaleidescape, Inc. Other trademarks and trade names are owned by third parties and may be registered in some jurisdictions.


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Here is a link to the K product page: http://www.kaleidescape.com/products/cinema-one/




Jim

 

[cinelife]

I like the new look of this component, perhaps it will be a new direction for all K components.......(speculating)




Jim

 

[jmdls]

My take on the new Cinema One...

http://johnsciacca.webs.com/apps/bl...descape-for-the-price-of-your-daily-starbucks

Best,
John Sciacca

 

[SAVAndy]

I've just received the email and checked the updated website and this looks like a great product. Its something we've been asking for for a while now and Kaleidescape have recognised the need for this product at this price point. It looks really cool. Cant wait to get my hands on one....

 

[MikeG]

Holy cow! A slot loading disc player!!

Seriously, it's about time. The price of admission to the K club is the biggest drawback to seeing this great system in more homes. Now my extended family can join the fun. Great job

 

[cinelife]

I've been getting several questions about integrating into a current 1U or 3U System, and the answer is "NO," you cannot add one of these to an existing 1U or 3U system, and they do not work with M-Class Players (M300, M500, M700), but they do work with a DV700 (for storing BR discs), and you can link to another Cinema One.

These are intended to be completely separate systems, not connected to the higher-end premium lines.

Still, very nice component, and priced at a level to allow more folks to share in part of the K experience.



Jim

 

[MikeG]

Jim, do you know if the hard drives are upgradeable?

 

[LJG]

This would imply that the K store will offer rentals shortly as the hard drive space is limited..Just my guess. Does anyone know if the player outputs native content unaltered? For example 1080P 23.796 4:2:2?

 

[ptrubey]

So to watch blu-rays you either have to download it from the limited Kscape store or keep a stack of blu-rays and put the one into the slot to watch and then take it out and put another one to watch? ie. it doesn't look like it has an internal blu-ray carrousel? I'm assuming blu-rays still need to be physically present?

 

[cinelife]

Jim, do you know if the hard drives are upgradeable?

Not upgradeable (at least not as we currently do, the internal drive is a single 4TB much like a laptop HD).


Jim

 

[cinelife]

This would imply that the K store will offer rentals shortly as the hard drive space is limited..Just my guess. Does anyone know if the player outputs native content unaltered? For example 1080P 23.796 4:2:2?

The internal Player has the same playback capabilities as current K Players, so it's still 1080p24.


Jim

 

[cinelife]

So to watch blu-rays you either have to download it from the limited Kscape store or keep a stack of blu-rays and put the one into the slot to watch and then take it out and put another one to watch? ie. it doesn't look like it has an internal blu-ray carrousel? I'm assuming blu-rays still need to be physically present?

That's correct, still need the BR disc present during playback, unless you purchase thru the K Store. No, there is no internal carousel, but you can add a DV700 for BR disc storage.


Jim

 

[cinelife]

Thanks Josh for cleaning up the first page!




Jim

 

[MikeG]

Sorry I wasn't clear. Will K allow the drive to be upgraded (by authorized personal) as larger drives are produced? Any drive can be changed, just curious if it will void the warranty as larger drives will certainly become available during the warranty period of three years.

Bluray drives will need to be present to play the content, that's why they display the vault on the new player's webpage. No internal carrousel from what I've read:

"The optional DV700 Disc Vault uses its rotating carousel to copy the contents of Blu-ray discs to Cinema One. You no longer have to load a Blu-ray disc to play the movie—the presence of the disc in the vault enables the copy on Cinema One to be played instantly. What’s more, the disc vault makes it easy to automatically import large numbers of DVDs and CDs."

 

[cinelife]

The only comment made to me regarding upgrading the disk drive was "no, it is not upgradeable."

As you correctly noted, any drive under normal conditions can be upgraded, BUT when dealing with K products we have to factor in the proprietary software operating between the drive and actual Server that provides the K "experience," and that likely means we need K's assistance in upgrading at some future point.


Jim

 

[MikeG]

Ok Jim. Thanks.

 

[josh]

This would imply that the K store will offer rentals shortly as the hard drive space is limited..Just my guess. Does anyone know if the player outputs native content unaltered? For example 1080P 23.796 4:2:2?

Hmmm... that's a very interesting guess. Would be smart.

 

[justingn]

So as a member of the target demographic here (DIYers who want the K experience but don't have $15k to drop on a starter system), I've gotta admit that while I appreciate the Cinema One's premise, I find the execution a little...half-baked. I mean, I really, really want to love the Cinema One, and to put an end to my manual ripping of discs into iTunes, but there's some design problems standing in my way here:

1. Single disk storage; for $4000, a basic, user-serviceable RAID 1 array should be mandatory, especially considering I can build a RAID5 or RAID6 NAS with thrice the storage for less (and the K experience, while phenomenal, isn't $2500 phenomenal atop hardware costs)
2. DC Power; I get it, high-end users have some method of DC distribution so they don't have to use Wall Warts. I don't. Most in my market segment don't, either. Why can't you pop a standard AC power supply in there with a standard detachable cord?
3. Lack of expansion; I get that the Premiere Line is the basis of the entire K experience, but seriously, there's no way to format a NAS into RAID-K as external storage? No USB3 for local disk arrays? And I can't use it with the Premiere line, either? Pretty glaring oversight for people who get addicted and want to expand.
4. Overpriced BD Changer; I get it, for the Premiere Series it's a bargain at $6000, but to me it's a glorified carousel with a BD-ROM drive. Why not produce a scaled down version (100 discs?) for $1500 or so, just for the Cinema Series (prevent it from working with the Premiere line, to minimize cannibalized sales)? Considering the lack of RAID in the players or a backup solution, this seems like the next best approach to cut down re-rip times in the event of an (inevitable) disk failure.

I want the Cinema One so very badly, but the IT guy in me is screaming "bad deal, bad deal!" Guess I'll have to wait for one second-hand from someone who expands, or for a hardware update/refresh. Everything else seems perfect for single-room/small home installs, but there's too many issues hidden under that glossy exterior that make this a bad buy.

 

[Mr. Integration]

This is not a perfect product especially compared to other Kscape products, It does serve its purpose. This will fill the need of most home theater owners. They don't have hundreds of favorite BR movies. This also could be a nice way to get into Kscape for a smaller upfront cost. If they really like it they can always trade up. The most important part it is the chicken before the egg. I don't see the other hardware price dropping until they see promising returns in investing in the economies of scale. Keeping the entry level at 15K blows almost all potential customers out of the water. I would hope we would eventually see a reduction in cost or new less expensive product additions once they see there is a market for them. There is a market that is above Cinema One and below traditional Kscape. That market will be the
"sweet spot" once we get there. We have been asking for a product like this for years. Compare it to ANY music server out there and it is a great deal

I understand your concerns and who is to say they cannot release an add on server over GB network?

 

[justingn]

This is not a perfect product especially compared to other Kscape products, It does serve its purpose. This will fill the need of most home theater owners. They don't have hundreds of favorite BR movies. This also could be a nice way to get into Kscape for a smaller upfront cost. If they really like it they can always trade up. The most important part it is the chicken before the egg. I don't see the other hardware price dropping until they see promising returns in investing in the economies of scale. Keeping the entry level at 15K blows almost all potential customers out of the water. I would hope we would eventually see a reduction in cost or new less expensive product additions once they see there is a market for them. There is a market that is above Cinema One and below traditional Kscape. That market will be the
"sweet spot" once we get there. We have been asking for a product like this for years. Compare it to ANY music server out there and it is a great deal

I understand your concerns and who is to say they cannot release an add on server over GB network?

But it's more than just a music server, and again, while the K experience is unmatched, it's just not worth the price premium they're asking for, especially considering the hardware being offered. I get that they'd like to build out a different but similar ecosystem at a lower price point, but you're not going to convince this market segment to buy a $4000 single disc player just because it can store our DVDs (as far as I'm concerned, if you don't have the carousel, then BD ripping is not a valid selling point for this product).

Adding a 2nd hard disk in some sort of user-accessible enclosure would hardly dent their profit margin here, and go a long, LONG way to selling this product to its target audiences. The rest is icing, since its DVD server capabilities and metadata alone are worth the asking price with suitable hardware that won't require me to reinvest hours of time re-ripping my entire collection when (not if, WHEN) the hard disk fails. I'd buy it on the spot if there was a RAID 1 array inside, otherwise? Pass. My time is more valuable than that.