NEWS: Strato K Movie Player with 8K capability and new "4K Cinematic" full-chroma & higher bitrate support

[Broncowrangler]

I got a zero….yikes. But then I read lower score is better. Go figure.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

Here's another one: Farnsworth Munsell 100 Hue Test

Neither of these are the ones I took years ago. I'll have to find that....

Interesting so normally 100 colours but these are limited to 40. Looking at the colour wheel it looks like they are just removing colours from either end rather than it being easier from gradients being removed so should be fairly accurate provided it’s not the more saturated colours you can’t see!

Got 0 again in that one, was much harder to do on my phone as it was so zoomed out and couldn’t move them zoomed in but seems I’m good.

That one also says this for numbers:

The diagram shows the regions of the color spectrum where color discrimination is low. The lower the score, the better the result. 0 points is the perfect score. Error points from 1 to 4 are almost normal results, with 1-2 small errors. If your error score is more than 4, than you may have color vision deficiency.

 

[thrawn997]

Right, and many of those higher-bitrate encodes will just end up being bloated. Two-pass bitrate encoding, like Kaleidescape uses, is mostly a waste of time and storage. You'll see once I get mine and start doing lossless screenshot comparisons.

Anyone with encoding experience who isn't constrained by file size or bitrate knows that a single-pass CRF (constant quality) encode is the way to go. Maximum file size efficiency and consistent quality, every time. The only thing that can vary is the bitrate, never the quality.

It's interesting to me that K feels this is an area they should be spending their innovation tokens, instead of idk like better QA tech. Like encoding is the boring part, use best practices to exactly reproduce the source and don't try to "enhance" it with grain and different colors.

 

[thrawn997]

I am stoked that Kscape is offering something that is objectively better video than you can get anywhere else.

Have we seen objective comparisons yet?

 

[Imakeller]

And? What do you see? Or don,t..

Have we seen objective comparisons yet?

I certainly respect @KDeering ‘s perspective, and look forward to his thoughts when he gets a chance to compare some familiar content. However, Kris has previously damped expectations of 4K Cinematic and 8K, so a self-fulfilling prophecy is likely.

 

[OCD2]

There is more hysteria on this forum than on AVS over the new Chinese DLP projectors. Here are some of the takeaways:

1. K has better audio - not correct (see above)
2. Women have better color vision because they have 2 X chromosomes - doesn't work like that
3. You should buy a K because my 11 and 14 year olds can see an improvement - there's a recommendation that would drive me to spend thousands of dollars!
4. Endless buyer bias
5. Speculation that a renowned calibrator has self-fulfilling bias because he has asked others to wait for objective data

I fully expect to read that my laundry has better colors when I did the wash while using the K.

I'm not negative on the product but rather on the growing hysteria. For me, determining whether any objective, reproducible improvements are worth the expense is my main goal.

 

[thrawn997]

For me, determining whether any objective, reproducible improvements are worth the expense is my main goal.

Oh but you saw the slider on their website right?

 

[Spooky]

Oh but you saw the slider on their website right?

That’s not comparing a cinematic file to a standard 4K file though. It’s a comparison to streaming.

 

[Golfx]

It's interesting to me that K feels this is an area they should be spending their innovation tokens, instead of idk like better QA tech. Like encoding is the boring part, use best practices to exactly reproduce the source and don't try to "enhance" it with grain and different colors.

They have sold out. Guess you were not on their Board of Directors.

 

[Imakeller]

Speculation that a renowned calibrator has self-fulfilling bias because he has asked others to wait for objective data

Wait for objective data? Was that the message? Kris gave his judgement before viewing a single 4K Cinematic or 8K file with the Strato K.

 

[Broncowrangler]

I've Last year, when I was looking at a Strato V, Kris Deering talked me out of it — good call,

He didn’t talk you out of Strato K?

 

[Golfx]

There is more hysteria on this forum than on AVS over the new Chinese DLP projectors. Here are some of the takeaways:

1. K has better audio - not correct (see above)
2. Women have better color vision because they have 2 X chromosomes - doesn't work like that
3. You should buy a K because my 11 and 14 year olds can see an improvement - there's a recommendation that would drive me to spend thousands of dollars!
4. Endless buyer bias
5. Speculation that a renowned calibrator has self-fulfilling bias because he has asked others to wait for objective data

I fully expect to read that my laundry has better colors when I did the wash while using the K.

I'm not negative on the product but rather on the growing hysteria. For me, determining whether any objective, reproducible improvements are worth the expense is my main goal.

Very smugly said. Rest assured you will always like your decisions.

 

[thrawn997]

That’s not comparing a cinematic file to a standard 4K file though. It’s a comparison to streaming.

Is it even a different example than they had before cinematic? Anyway I don't believe they are giving a real example, they are doing illustration.

 

[KDeering]

What judgement did I give exactly? I was talking about tampering expectations based on what this technically brings to the table vs what we had before. By all means guys, I could just sit there and endless blow rainbows up your arse about how this is the greatest thing ever made and please order a bunch of them from me right? Would that make everyone happier? I'm just trying to set reasonable expectations about what people should probably expect and said that I WILL be doing some side by side blind A/B testing at some point to see if some local people and myself can tell a reasonable difference between the new files and the old ones.

I have already done quite a bit of viewing and testing, but I am not done yet. All the video (except one title that I reported) has looked great, but news flash, all these titles looked pretty damn great before. Shocking.

 

[cardsdoc]

It was pointed out on AVS that some titles (the Indiana Jones series as one example) are now available as DV in 4KC but standard 4K only gets HDR10. Anyone know why that may be? If they can produce a DV file that should mean it’s not a studio restriction, right? Maybe they only recently got access to DV and haven’t updated the standard 4K version yet?

 

[KDeering]

Last year, when I was looking at a Strato V, Kris Deering talked me out of it — good call

I was telling the majority of my clients to skip the E/V depending on their situation as I honestly wasn't a fan from the get go and felt the C was the better player so long as they had plans to get external storage (Terra) at some point. I stand by that position even today. Only reason to get a V/E over a C is if you absolutely need DV (which most don't, but you know, FOMO is a mother) or they had zero plans to ever buy a Terra in the future. No video bugs, no compatibility issues, dual HDMI outputs and a full 4K interface. The hype train on the V/E was insane and I never understood it. Would have been WAY WAY WAY easier for me to just do the typical rah rah rah stuff you see from all the influencers and such and just tried to get people to buy buy buy. Anyone that knows me knows I don't do that at all. I try everything possible to be as honest and straightforward as possible, even when it costs me sales.

 

[thrawn997]

No video bugs

Or it it that Rmarci just didn't have a C to spot the flaws on that one.

 

[Spooky]

What judgement did I give exactly? I was talking about tampering expectations based on what this technically brings to the table vs what we had before. By all means guys, I could just sit there and endless blow rainbows up your arse about how this is the greatest thing ever made and please order a bunch of them from me right? Would that make everyone happier? I'm just trying to set reasonable expectations about what people should probably expect and said that I WILL be doing some side by side blind A/B testing at some point to see if some local people and myself can tell a reasonable difference between the new files and the old ones.

I have already done quite a bit of viewing and testing, but I am not done yet. All the video (except one title that I reported) has looked great, but news flash, all these titles looked pretty damn great before. Shocking.

Tempering…

 

[Spooky]

Only reason to get a V/E over a C is if you absolutely need DV (which most don't, but you know, FOMO is a mother) or they had zero plans to ever buy a Terra in the future.

The V got me into the Kaleidescape system (and more so as it was a used one) and I’m glad I gave it a go. DV is of zero interest to me with my setup.

Now that I know I like the service they provide, I’d get a K without inbuilt storage with a Terra server if it was an option as it seems a shame to pay for storage on the player that won’t be used if you get a Terra, but it is what it is.

 

[OCD2]

They have sold out. Guess you were not on their Board of Directors.

No, but I was clearly not on the BOD at your house when you decided to spend thousands of dollars on a purchase before knowing anything objective about it. That's not the way I ran my business nor is it how I decide on personal purchases whether $5K or $5MM.

And you are incorrect, sometimes I don't enjoy my purchases especially when I violate my rule of evaluating the product before making a decision. I try to avoid buying totally on emotion.

Why are some K buyers so defensive of their decision to purchase? I'm simply stating a contrary view but some people feel personally attacked when others question their decisions. Why not wait until the bugs are worked out or until another more complete version (more options) is released? It's not going away. You can still buy it this fall. What the rush? FOMO?

I've taken the anti-FOMO vaccine otherwise known as the "delayed gratification" infusion. You should consider it, as it works better than the COVID vaccines with fewer side effects.

To each his own.