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

*** Gets on soap box ***

I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time reading folks takes on this and man is it an interesting case of human behavior. Quite a bit of "willful ignorance" that there might be higher fidelity video beyond what comes on a disc. People totally glossing over the potential here because they just don't want to acknowledge it and what that might mean for their paradigm. Don't get me wrong...I have over 1800 4K discs that I've been collecting since the first releases. They are excellent. My issue is these individuals are twisting themselves in knots to not acknowledge that there's now (potentially) something better than disc. I get that it costs more money than they're willing to spend. Just say as much. But to attempt to downplay and ignore that for the first time in 10 years there is a new version of "best" for home viewing is insincere (at best).

While the perceptible differences in picture quality with "4K Cinematic" content remain to be seen, there is no question that when it comes to specifications discs are no longer cutting edge.

These guys are likely the same ones running a plex server or Zapitti/Zidoo full of pirated content from unknown sources. Remuxes and bastardized DV grades that have been handbraked within an inch of their lives. I've visited some local enthusiast's 7 figure homes with dedicated theaters where they spent massive wads of cash...HUGE projector screens fed by expensive video processor chains and fully kitted sound systems but everything was run off a media server. Unfortunately, it was VERY obvious that the source was compromised & overly compressed and when asked the host really had no idea where the content he was demoing came from nor what had been done to it previously. But guess what? The movie was free. 😬

Hey, I have a Zidoo 8K...but it's full of disc images I created from my disc that's still sitting on the shelf.

I'm also in awe at how much people are lashing their negative comments to the 8K availability while completely ignoring the refinement of 4K. It's like they read "8K" and completely quit reading. But they feel informed enough to take time out of their day to disparage the product release and encourage people to move along because "8K is dead...what a stupid product". 🥴

Whole lot of people arguing in bad faith in an attempt to convince themselves and others not to purchase a premium product with an admittedly premium price. I honestly saw somebody who wrote that we should let him know when the price was the same as his Blu-ray player. The Strato K not going to be $300 Bob...move along. :rolleyes:

I've got no skin in the game (per say)...I may have got *incredibly* lucky with my announcement prediction but I don't know the crew at KScape. I just read the tea leaves and asked myself what I would do if I were in charge. I'm not in the circle. I'm not a dealer. I'm just a normal customer who likes his hobby and pools his limited resources to make things happen in this (premium) space. It's a choice. But it bugs me when fellow enthusiasts do their best to sabotage something because they obviously have taken personal offense with the price point.

Well anyway...thanks for reading. 😁 My Strato K will be here Tuesday and I'll put it through it's paces on my new Bravia 9 II. Should be fun. Giddy up! Will let you know what I see!
Very well written summary sir.
 
It seems like the bit rate decision is completely arbitrary here. Do we know for a fact the Strato E is incapable of the increased bit rate? Is the 4K non-cinematic version now being reduced in bit quality for the sole purpose of making the Strato K seem more desirable? How is the bit rate of the standard 4K being decided? I understand tech improves over time. I just want to make sure us Strato E owners are still going to get the same level of quality we were promised.
 
For those that don't know Goodwin's High End, they've been in this industry for almost 50 year, IIRC. I remember industry insiders talking about the incredible people that work there and the support provided for all of the higher end equipment they offered at that time, and for me, that was 30 years ago! It's worth a visit by anyone that makes it to that area in MA.

Jim
I will agree, I purchased a CAL DVD 2500 or something like that back in the day from them, it was state of the art DVD. Very nice people there.
 
Sooooo many Strato C’s and V’s on the market right now lmao. The FOMO IS REAL!!!
And there isn't really any side-by-side comparisons as yet to show the differences! I'm going to wait on this potential upgrade for now. The image quality in my cinema is already jaw-dropping, and importantly, I don't find myself feeling I am missing something. Quite honestly, the encodes are the limiting factor for most of what I watch. Id rather see a new 4K encode of the 13th Floor (for example) than Cinematic added to Top Gun........
 
So it's possible that the upgrade path the K offers really isn't a viable option for OLED panels? I mean, if we can use it in PC mode to take advantage of the 444 data, but lose the benefit of calibration, is it really a benefit?

I'm still within my return window in the E and I'm considering a return to exchange it for a K, but only if it truly makes sense. I'm on the G6 in a living room environment, so it will always be a similar situation for me.
As a proud new owner of a LG G6 97 inch oled and a Strato K on order, would there be any advantage to using the K in 4.4.4 pc mode over a panel calibration? With that being said, if not and I calibrate the tv would using 4.2.2 be the better option?
 
Todo, impressive download times. Who is your Internet provider and what speed out of curiosity? (knowing the Terra Primes are limited to 2.5GbE).
XFINITY Turbo Internet Package in Houston TX - average download speeds I see with K downloads are 2.1 GBPS (they advertise 2 GBPS but I see 2.2 GBPS all the time).... HD movie downloads in 2 minutes 4K from 3 to 4 minutes Cinematic from 6 to 9 Minutes...
Not sure if the Terra SSD have better throughput than the Terra Primes even though both are 2.5 Gbe.
I have mentioned on several occasions, I went from rat packing every K Movie on Terra servers to getting a SSD Terra and letting my movies stay in the cloud with quick downloads.
The Cinematic huge files are giving pause to my strategy as files are much bigger but I will see how its goes if I need to add more Terra SSD storage - so far it seems I don't as 8 minutes is not too bad.
 
*** Gets on soap box ***

I've been spending an unhealthy amount of time reading folks takes on this and man is it an interesting case of human behavior. Quite a bit of "willful ignorance" that there might be higher fidelity video beyond what comes on a disc. People totally glossing over the potential here because they just don't want to acknowledge it and what that might mean for their paradigm. Don't get me wrong...I have over 1800 4K discs that I've been collecting since the first releases. They are excellent. My issue is these individuals are twisting themselves in knots to not acknowledge that there's now (potentially) something better than disc. I get that it costs more money than they're willing to spend. Just say as much. But to attempt to downplay and ignore that for the first time in 10 years there is a new version of "best" for home viewing is insincere (at best).

While the perceptible differences in picture quality with "4K Cinematic" content remain to be seen, there is no question that when it comes to specifications discs are no longer cutting edge.

These guys are likely the same ones running a plex server or Zapitti/Zidoo full of pirated content from unknown sources. Remuxes and bastardized DV grades that have been handbraked within an inch of their lives. I've visited some local enthusiast's 7 figure homes with dedicated theaters where they spent massive wads of cash...HUGE projector screens fed by expensive video processor chains and fully kitted sound systems but everything was run off a media server. Unfortunately, it was VERY obvious that the source was compromised & overly compressed and when asked the host really had no idea where the content he was demoing came from nor what had been done to it previously. But guess what? The movie was free. 😬

Hey, I have a Zidoo 8K...but it's full of disc images I created from my disc that's still sitting on the shelf.

I'm also in awe at how much people are lashing their negative comments to the 8K availability while completely ignoring the refinement of 4K. It's like they read "8K" and completely quit reading. But they feel informed enough to take time out of their day to disparage the product release and encourage people to move along because "8K is dead...what a stupid product". 🥴

Whole lot of people arguing in bad faith in an attempt to convince themselves and others not to purchase a premium product with an admittedly premium price. I honestly saw somebody who wrote that we should let him know when the price was the same as his Blu-ray player. The Strato K not going to be $300 Bob...move along. :rolleyes:

I've got no skin in the game (per say)...I may have got *incredibly* lucky with my announcement prediction but I don't know the crew at KScape. I just read the tea leaves and asked myself what I would do if I were in charge. I'm not in the circle. I'm not a dealer. I'm just a normal customer who likes his hobby and pools his limited resources to make things happen in this (premium) space. It's a choice. But it bugs me when fellow enthusiasts do their best to sabotage something because they obviously have taken personal offense with the price point.

Well anyway...thanks for reading. 😁 My Strato K will be here Tuesday and I'll put it through its paces on my new Bravia 9 II. Should be fun. Giddy up! Will let you know what I see!

I agree, should be fun!

While I made at least 4 guesses, one of mine was also right! And very much appreciated, since it was what I’m actually interested in. Specifically, having the platform lean into its structural advantages to delivery higher fidelity, more cinematic film experiences.

I remember one of the bigger proof points of K’s superior quality, before getting a K, was that Avengers Infinity War was 138GB, so we infer that it must be better than the disc. Discerning this in real life was tricky, and as Rmarci’s work showed, not actually a reliable benchmark across the board, especially with older files.

The 4K Cinematic format appears to be an effort to put substance behind inference. I for one welcome that effort. It’s the K platform working to keep advancing its vision of going beyond.

Reports from independents like Popsci and Josh’s direct observations are meaningful validation for me. So getting a Strato K on launch makes sense to me. And the timing is ideal since I’m starting my Dad’s Summer Film Festival #7 next Saturday. I’m looking forward to getting my Strato K up and running during the week and wowing the kids with some real movies!
 
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I know K-scape said the 4K Cinematic files will be 4:2:2 or 4:4:4 depending on studio but have they said if they are 10 or 12 bit?
 
I just hope they keep supporting the Premiere system. My M700 produces a better picture on my JVC DLA-X999BE projector than my Strato C with 4K content. And I did the Apollo 13 4K update yesterday (video and audio improvements) and it's got lip sync issues for the first 10 minutes or so. Never had lip sync issues with my M-class players.
 
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