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Questions about the Alto vs Premiere & UV

M

mgoode20061

New member
I'm considering buying a Kaleidescape. I was looking at the Alto as a possibility. I think the company's website is kind of bare when it comes to documentation. Can anyone here answer a few questions about the system for me.

1. I have a large Ultraviolet library. How do the systems handle UV integration? If I have a movie in HD from another service like Vudu or Flixster will it be added as blu ray when it imports? Will SD movies be treated like DVD purchases? Or, is it treated like a separate library?

2. I noticed the store is missing a few big name studios. If I choose the Alto will I have to keep using my DVDs for studios like MGM and Fox? What about other movies from Sony, etc... that aren't in the store. Will the Alto allow me to still match those movies or would I need a model with the servers for those movies?


Thanks for any help.
 
Welcome to the Kaleidescape Owners Forum!

It sounds like you have checked out documentation for the store on the K site. But just make sure, here is a link to the Store help info:

https://store.kaleidescape.com/help

Here are answers to your questions:

1. Once your UV library is linked to the K store, all of your UV titles should show up inthe store as ready to download at "no charge". If you own the Rights to the HD version you will have access to both the HD and SD version for download. If you only have SD version then you will only be able to download the SD verizon for free. You can upgrade within the store to HD for a $5.99 charge. I have purchased movies from Vudu in the past and always show up in the K store ready for download.
Both your SD and HD movies are mixed together on the system. There is, however, a separate "tab" for "Blu-Ray & HD" in the collections view. I think this is what you are asking with this part of your question.

2. Kaleidescape has said publicly (Cedia last September) that they are going to be adding "more" studios but have been vague on timing and have never stated which studios are coming. On studios they currently have, they are adding more titles periodically. When I have found titles that I want that are missing I notified K and the title has been added within a week of my request. Of course, I could have been lucky on the titles.

My understanding is that the Alto only plays downloaded movies (no trey) at this time although I have seen comments that a vault was going to be available but I have never heard this directly from Kaleidescape.

Good luck!

John
 
The Alto will playback BR and DVD from its built-in optical drive (acts like any other BR/DVD Player).

As John noted, if a studio has released a digital copy (UV, etc.) of a movie it can theoretically be made available in the K Store. Availability is based on other factors as well. There is labor and time involved in getting content into the store, especially given the treatment K gives to the content to allow for the full user experience we all enjoy with our collections. They are also continually working to add new studios, and additional content from those studios currently supported. This may delay the addition of some content you expect to see in the store, but the goal is to eventually make most, if not all, digital copy content available. There are additional studios coming to the store for sure, and although K has not officially stated a timeframe, it is likely that we will see new studios over the coming months, and certainly this year.





Jim
 
Last edited:
Jim, thanks for the correction on the optical drive. I don't know what I was thinking...

John
 
No big deal, not many of these new Alto's available for reference yet. (I still have my Beta unit.:))



Jim
 
Thanks for the replies. I guess I should clarify my first question. Does the store differentiate between Blu Ray quality via the store and something imported via UV? I guess what I mean is does the store have just Blu Ray and DVD quality regardless of where it was purchased or does it have Blu Ray and DVD for store stuff and different qualities if you import it?
 
Having a UV entitlement gives you access to the title from the store at the same quality-level(s) as your UV rights. In that regard, any source of that UV entitlement is the same as another. [To your original phrasing, I generally use Flixster for my UV redemptions, and if in the store, they usually show as free to download within a minute to hour later.]

Import is bit-for-bit off the disc via an optical drive, is dependent on the disc and content therein, and has nothing to do with the store other than possibly providing for a discounted disc-to-digital path for buying from the store (and thus acquiring UV rights.)
 
I guess my phrasing is a bit off. Let me ask it a different way. Does the kscape store only have Blu ray and DVD quality regardless of if I purchased through their store or Vudu (my main source of UV purchases so far)? I guess the simplest way I can put it is does the kscape store only have 2 qualities or 4. Does it have Blu Ray and DVD quality if you buy it in the store and a separate lower HD and SD if you purchased elsewhere. Say I buy Theory of Everything in HDX on Vudu. Does that port over to the Kstore as Blu Ray quality since I now own the HD rights in my UV account?


Another question I now have is seeing as the new models don't import bit for bit DVDs anymore what is the build quality on these things if I buy an older Cinema One model that still does DVDs? How long should I expect something like that to last?
 
The store only has 2 qualities - Blu-Ray and DVD. If you have purchased any HD type movie that has UV rights you get access to the Blu-ray and DVD version in the store. For instance, with Vudu I can purchase HD or HDX versions. If I purchase either of these I get access to the Blu-ray version on the store (and the DVD version also).

Your example of Theory of Everything in HDX would port over as to the store as Blu-Ray quality. But as I said above you also get access to the DVD version. This can come in handy later on when you need to save space or on older movies where there is not a big difference in video quality between the two.

Concerning the Alto vs. Cinema one, I personally don't see much advantages to the C1. You can import BR to the hard drive and if you find a legacy one you would be able to import DVD's also. With the alto you get capability to expand the system to four as you grow your collection while the C1 can only connect two together. The other big difference is the price. It looks to me that Kaleidescape is going to be adding more and more studios over time. As long as that happens, you should eventually have "most" of your DVD collection covered.

It would be good if others would chime in on Alto vs. C1. I am only going off of reviews that I have read on the Alto and latest C1.

John
 
The C1 has the ability to import and catalog audio CDs and does so bit for bit. The Alto cannot import CDs. Not sure if it can play them but I assume it can. That may or may not be important to the original poster. However, I happen to enjoy that functionality.

Expansion options for the C1 are limited to 1 additional unit whereas the Alto can connect to 3 additional Altos. To my knowledge one cannot mix and match Altos and C1s.
 
PrimeGeek said:
The C1 has the ability to import and catalog audio CDs and does so bit for bit. The Alto cannot import CDs. Not sure if it can play them but I assume it can.
Click to expand...

Alto does not support music playback from CDs at all. The music side of the interface does not exist on Alto. It is strictly a movie system.

To my knowledge one cannot mix and match Altos and C1s.
Click to expand...

This is correct. While the units look identical, Alto and Cinema One are two different product lines and cannot be grouped together.
 
Part of that would depend on which Cinema One you got. If it was the first generation (and a half,) that only have a built-in DVD drive, then those should have the same full expansion capabilities of any other Premier-line device. I think it's only the second-gen Cinema One with Blu-ray capabilities (M1) that are limited in their expansion capacity.
 
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