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Strato K - latest backlog status & shipping info

mkozlows said:
Kaleidescape doesn't specify what kind of hardware they use, and there are no teardowns that I can find. But it seems significant that they use the phrase "enterprise-class" to describe the storage in their Terra drives, but not to describe the drives in their players (which would not, after all, have the usage patterns that server hardware is designed for).
Click to expand...

Partial correction here! The Strato K doesn't say "enterprise" about its storage, but the Strato E product image does. It also shows a B+M keyed SSD, which would imply a SATA drive. ChatGPT notes that there is a 480/960GB SATA SSD product line that matches the illustration they use, which is an Intel/Solidigm thing. It's since been discontinued, but you can pick up a refurb for $150. I suspect they did in fact use that at some point in the past, but probably they use normal, faster NVMe SSDs now.
 
mkozlows said:
Kaleidescape doesn't specify what kind of hardware they use, and there are no teardowns that I can find. But it seems significant that they use the phrase "enterprise-class" to describe the storage in their Terra drives, but not to describe the drives in their players (which would not, after all, have the usage patterns that server hardware is designed for).

I'd be thrilled if someone would do an actual teardown of one of these boxes and post some components, but my strong suspicion is that the Strato players are extremely normal consumer hardware -- a normal consumer SSD and an SoC that's slower than the Apple TV's -- and that the price is about sales channels and business models.
Click to expand...
I’ll consider a tear down whenever I get mine. I played around with ChatGPT to estimate pricing and received the below, with an incredibly low SSD cost for a non enterprise grade system. Sure it’s AI but this company isn’t buying an off the shelf PC either. If that SSD is actually an enterprise level this would easily be a 3k system for the hardware alone. If the main PCB is truly proprietary then the cost can absolutely be justified. I’ve purchased for my personal work intel mini computers with a fraction of the specs and made of plastic for $2k.

I wonder, why would a company intentionally inflate pricing to exclude customers? If they could price this at 2k I’d imagine target and Best Buy would consider selling it in store. I know some Best Buy stores do sell it but usually only the ones in affluent areas.

960 GB enterprise-grade SSD$300–$600
8K/video decoding SoC$200–$400
RAM$40–$80
HDMI 2.1 / HDCP / video circuitry$75–$150
Main PCB$200–$350
Ethernet/networking$15–$30
Power supply$25–$50
Custom aluminum chassis$100–$200
Cooling/fan/heatsink$30–$60
Audio circuitry$30–$75
USB/IR/connectors/etc.$30–$60
Remote~$50 retail
Assembly/testing$100–$200
Estimated hardware + assembly~$1,195–$2,255
 
ConnorG said:
I wonder, why would a company intentionally inflate pricing to exclude customers?
Click to expand...

They price appropriately for their business model and distribution channel. They could try to sell these things at a small margin, hoping that they'd sell in volume, so that the engineering and other fixed costs would amortize over a large number of units. But the reality is that there is literally no price at which these would be big sellers. If they sold for $199, most reviews would say "this is really cool if you're obsessive about video quality, but it's overkill for most people, your TV's built-in apps are good enough."

Given that reality, they need to amortize their fixed costs over a smaller number of units, which means that their margins need to be high. And given that reality, they need to sell via specialty retailers, who add their own markup, which means that the cost needs to be higher. It's not a scam or anything, it's just the reality of making this kind of product: The per-unit hardware costs aren't going to be nearly as close to the sales price as they would be with a mass-market product.
 
swhmetta said:
I ordered mine on July 10.. Nothing yet. Very frustrating. I am happy for Kaleidescape that they have such a great product that is in demand. However, at the same time, shame on them for not being able to handle it. New orders today, will be lucky to get theirs by Christmas.
Click to expand...
Me too... ordered on July 10, nothing yet. Not driving me crazy yet... my needle is still pointing more towards "eager but still being patient" rather than "frustrated". I knew I was "late" getting an order in and already knew it would be a pretty long wait.
 
This thread is meant to be just about backorder status and delay times. let's keep it on that topic and discuss future player predictions and SSD prices in separate threads.
 
Afro said:
Just to get back on track - the most recent update we have here is someone had an order processed back on 7/6 and were told that Kaleidescape was shipping their unit to their dealer.
Click to expand...
My most recent shipped order was secured with K on 7/6. That shipped from Kscape about a week or so ago.
 
Imakeller said:
Just as an aside, it’s incredible what has happened to physical memory and chip prices! … to the Moon!
Click to expand...
That and Apple's boost, in their pricing, portend a K price adjustment - very likely in the K player, especially with the enthusiasm for the player exceeding K's expectations. At some point, K will likely have to source components at a higher price point than currently contracted...

Fence sitters might consider the above as well. The reports of ordered and shipped dates only add to the above.

Thank you very much

FURY
 
I fall into the category of those that "do not buy things on backorder...or even pre-order" which in this case is saving me $$$$ :) And as time goes on actually lessening my FOMO. All good!
 
The Servers are not a problem, they tend to ship within a day or two.

The next batch of Strato-K's is in manufacturing. If you are waiting for one, be patient with your dealer, I doubt any more will ship this month, it will likely be early September for the next release.

Jim
 
cinelife said:
The Servers are not a problem, they tend to ship within a day or two.

The next batch of Strato-K's is in manufacturing. If you are waiting for one, be patient with your dealer, I doubt any more will ship this month, it will likely be early September for the next release.

Jim
Click to expand...
Thank you for the update, would it be reasonable to expect early August / all existing orders to be included in that batch or would the latest orders be more true to the 3-4 month estimate?
 
I cannot say for certain how many K orders will be shipped from this next batch, it should be a good number, but not likely close to the number of pending orders, and there are still many July orders waiting to be shipped. I do know that Kaleidescape is doing everything they can to manufacturer more K's as quickly as possible, but they made it clear that quality will not be sacrificed in this process.

Jim
 
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