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Premiere no longer shown on K's website

AlienW

Well-known member
I just noticed that there is no longer any mention of the Premiere product line or Co-Star on the product pages of K's website. :(

I guess one could infer this is another signal about the end of that product line.
 
It was inevitable. They need to move everyone to Encore to reduce fragmentation and support costs.
 
Yup, we all know the Premiere line is going away soon. Although some Premiere products are still available to dealers (1U+, M300, M500, Vaults, 6TB drives), I expect these to sell out in the coming months/year. All products under warranty will continue to be supported during the warranty period, after which we are on our own.


Jim
 
As a Premiere owner I must say I am disappointed that there was no official communication prior to the line being pulled from the K website. I would have thought an official email detailing what I may expect regarding service and availability of replacement drives would have gone out and that this decision is not an indication of a frail financial condition.

I'm not feeling the love.

Hopefully we will receive significant and positive news at CEDIA.
 
^
I agree with this. Did dealers not even get a heads-up?

John
 
I have said it before, but I sure hope they keep the replacement drives available for a good long while. If all we get is an un-official "When they are gone, they are gone*" followed with a silent "tough luck when your drives break"... Well that doesn't really persuade me to upgrade to new equipment.


*except while still under warrenty
 
Yup, we all know the Premiere line is going away soon.

While things have certainly been looking less than rosy for a while, wasn't K swearing up & down just a few months ago (I want to say around the Maritime series launch... which in scrolling through the threads was almost a year ago) that the Premier line was safe and not in jeopardy of being completely sunset anytime soon?

It's been clear for years that my use case/best outcome was not in-line with where K was heading, but it still felt like the rug wouldn't get pulled out and the legacy would remain supported. Seeing this kind of hurts.
 
Just give us an all-in-one server/player for the premiere line that can have grandather’d status transferred to and I will be fine...
 
It might be sign that new hardware is coming in couple of weeks at Cedia 2019. With Dolby vision and HDR10+ support. I am looking to buy Kaleidescape Strato S just waiting on CediaExpo and their latest press release.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
First, I don't speak for Kaleidescape, they can address this on their own, and I expect at some point they will, but they've certainly given indications in the recent past that their product line was shifting based on their current business model (dropping the 1U and 3U server offerings, not offering larger drives (6TB still largest), no longer doing repairs on out-of-warranty products, etc.).

Is this an indication of a "frail financial condition?" Absolutely NOT, and I know this for a fact, it's proper financial planning to maintain the company's business going forward. Premiere sales have been slowing significantly in favor of the Encore line, so it makes no financial sense to replenish inventory on these products given the minimum contract requirements from parts suppliers. I'm personally seeing a 10 to 1 ratio of Encore over Premiere sales, but not sure what other dealers are experiencing.

All of that said, I get it, these are expensive products, so we expect a level of support to be there going forward. I also realize that just because I've seen this coming doesn't mean that all owners have seen it as well. Clearly, the vast majority of Premiere owners out there probably have no idea these changes were coming, so yes, an official statement regarding the future of Premiere would be helpful, and as I said I think we will hear from K on this subject soon.

There may be additional, non-K related, options for "someone" to step up and fill any void in support for Premiere owners (parts, drives, etc.), we'll see.

Jim
 
No Response?

Just back from vacation and saw these posts from 3 - 4 days ago. My understanding was that the KScape CEO was also going to be on this forum in some capacity. I would think by now, seeing Premiere owners miffed about the lack of appropriate communications (e.g., work through the dealership chain, consoling outreach to customers - heck, something befitting the enormous investment we made in these luxury items) would result in *some* kind of response on this forum.

See, this is why I have not taken the plunge to the 4K stuff. My grandfathered 3U, to me, represents the golden age of the company. And I get it, times change, the 4K stuff can't be ripped, yada yada - but there's a way to treat customers who have given you lots of money for luxury items you want to continue selling. It's easier to sell to existing customers than find new ones - especially as broadband bandwidth, in-home networking speeds, and big-company backed streaming will continue to get better over the next few years.
 
Have dealers been notified of this? With all the upgrade offerings offer the last 6 months, seems to have been planned? SJ
 
As the old Premier Line servers become unsupportable can you replicate a Premier Line server to a Terra server / series of Terra servers as a single Terra is too small to hold my library so as to migrate content and at least 'protect' your library?
 
Mark. The migration is basically just to re-download your movies to the terra. In the case where you didn’t buy the title in the k store then you will be offered the movie at a discount
Some dealers offer a loading service of your movies so that the terra arrives with your movies already installed.
 
Why is this such a big deal? The items have been removed from website, but can still be bought. Assuming they are discontinued by end of this year, the warranty is still valid. The drives will probably be available for some more time. There is not much moving parts in the servers other than drives. The worst case is power supply failure, which is an issue even today.

The way I see it, depending on your system size, get a few spare drives and a spare power supply and fans, which will probably prolong the life of these units for a few years.

Worst case, you may have another 5 years, probably a lot longer, for you to switch to Encore. Looking at it this way, it’s not bad to have a 5 years heads-up in the world of technology.

Do I want premiere to go away? Definitely not. I have a premiere system as well, which I use for downloading HD movies in addition to Blu rays that are not available in K store and use my encore for 4k and use a costar to connect the two together.

This is just my way of rationalizing. :)
 
As the systems are entirely proprietary if they fail in the not too distant future you will have a very expensive brick in your rack with nowhere to go and your video library lost. Yes the store is very good (Encore solution) but there are 1000's of titles not available in the store that I have on my system which would potentially be lost.

IT solutions give you a migration path for your data..... there is no such migration path to port your library to Kaleidescape's newer technology unless I have missed something.

The real concern to me and perhaps many others when they rationalise their thinking is how will I port my library to current technology to protect my investment.
 
Thank you, Jim and 20hertz – I appreciate your thoughts and responses to the concerned comments on this thread.
1. New premiere system sales are a single-digit percent of our annual revenues. We need to stop confusing the channel, and prospective buyers with too many products, and the complexities of integrating disc-based Premiere and Strato products. Simple and compelling offerings make good fuel for growth.
2. We have painstakingly procured adequate supply to support our installed base customers whose systems are in-warranty. We also anticipated demand from installed base customers when we announced an end-of-sale on Premiere products. Lastly, we are prepared to serve our marine and overseas customers who may have a compelling need for Premiere products. This is why we continue to offer these products on our price list. Contact your Kaleidescape dealer if you wish to purchase these products.
3. We have spoken with several customers and dealers and sought their direction in how to handle the transition from legacy products over time. Our plan is to rollout a gradual end-of-sale on Premiere products. Removing Premiere products from our website is step one: this stops seeding the market with more new Premiere installations.
4. Demand for Premiere add-on products, replacement or upgrade, and repair for the installed base systems doesn’t necessitate such products to be promoted on our website. Kaleidescape authorized dealers can order these products from our Dealer Extranet.
5. We aren’t perfect, but our actions have shown that we deeply care in assisting our installed base customers to transition to Strato systems over time. Co-Star is a great solution to bridge the two systems for a single integrated experience.
6. There will be no further innovation in Premiere systems other than basic hardware support because Kaleidescape needs to focus on doing a few things well. We encourage our dealers and customers to take advantage of several upgrade programs to migrate or co-exist with our newest products.
7. During the next 12 months, we will provide sufficient notices about Premiere products so you can adequately stock and prepare for transition to Strato as per your interest and convenience.
8. Kaleidescape made the pivot from shiny discs to electronic delivery. We encourage all customers to experience the Strato and feel the difference in how the movies we prepare and deliver contribute to an uncompromised home cinema experience.

I hope this helps.

Cheena
 
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I think it is great that you have clarified Kaleidescape's plans and more importantly the rationale behind those plans!

We've talked a couple of times in the past and I have been tempted to reach out - but instead I will take this opportunity to mention a few things. No response needed or expected!

I think Kaleidescape would truly benefit from a little bit more tending to the fan base. It wouldn't take much to really keep users fired up and focused on the positive. Without that the "negative nellies" tend to create an echo chamber that I fear can potentially influence future purchasers.

Same with the website - more frequent news items would be extremely useful and helpful. I am happy to provide a couple of examples. There have been a lot of small features that collectively add up to big difference in the overall user experience.

I and a few others step in at other sites to clarify and correct - and to point out the many positives. I am confident amplifying this would help Kaleidescape.

Here's wishing to a great future!
 
Thanks Cheena and Thanks Jim,

Jim says the company is fine and Cheena says he has a plan - which I hope includes 6TB drives :). I'm good and look forward to seeing how things shape up going forward.
 
I think it is great that you have clarified Kaleidescape's plans and more importantly the rationale behind those plans!

I think Kaleidescape would truly benefit from a little bit more tending to the fan base. It wouldn't take much to really keep users fired up and focused on the positive. Without that the "negative nellies" tend to create an echo chamber that I fear can potentially influence future purchasers.

Absolutely, yes!
 
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