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

[Sasquatch]

Well, I’m seeing multiple JVC NZ900 owners running into this issue. The NZ900 is 8K capable, so K-scape better get to work. The handshake/2.1 stability is certainly fixable. K-scape may be spread thin at the moment (production, file conversions, other updates) and want to “kick the can down the road” on 2.1 interoperability, but I don’t think it will fly with customers expecting the advertised 2.1 capability.

Yea, I got annoyed that they kept falling back on the you only have a 4K display excuse rather than going with yes we need to fix that. As a result, I got a good deal on an open box Samsung 8K TV at BBY and am picking it up tomorrow. Fully 8K capable, no e-shift, so they can't take the current deflection approach after I get it hooked up.

I guess it's always possibly it could work in which case it would prove them right, but I guess time will tell.

 

[todo]

The various 4K Cinematic file formats (SDR, 4:4:4 HDR10, 4:2:2 DV) being offered by K-scape do raise questions for consumers. I think it’s generally considered that SDR is best for projection and if a flatpanel supports DV then use DV. I’m wondering now if that’s true? I know you compared 4K DV vs 4K Cinematic DV on your TCL QM9K, but I wonder how SDR and HDR10 files compare?

@Techthusiasm But if one has a bright projector and can get 300 Nits Plus on the screen would then SDR will be the best choice also?
@Imakeller There is nothing wrong with living with HDMI 2.0a/b if it gets you the frame rates chroma and bit depth - it can do 24 fps movies HDR 10 4:4:4 !0 bit and you have stable handshake.
I tried all kind of expensive long HDMI active fiber cables in my setup and finally a 1/2 inch think 2017 HDMI 2.0 cable gives me excellent results - my only interest is movies and not games - so best not dwell on what technology but the final result - my two cents.

 

[Imakeller]

@Techthusiasm But if one has a bright projector and can get 300 Nits Plus on the screen would then SDR will be the best choice also?
@Imakeller There is nothing wrong with living with HDMI 2.0a/b if it gets you the frame rates chroma and bit depth - it can do 24 fps movies HDR 10 4:4:4 !0 bit and you have stable handshake.
I tried all kind of expensive long HDMI active fiber cables in my setup and finally a 1/2 inch think 2017 HDMI 2.0 cable gives me excellent results - my only interest is movies and not games - so best not dwell on what technology but the final result - my two cents.

I totally get the perspective regarding 2.1 and 4K Cinematic — “does it really matter?” I will happily enjoy 4K Cinematic with 2.0 for a time while K-scape sorts out the issue, but my eye is firmly on 8K. However, if you promote a 2.1 device, it should support 2.1 interoperability between other 2.1 devices. 4K or 8K shouldn’t really matter. It could turn into false advertising unless K-scape wants to add a big asterisk that states 2.1 is only for native 8K devices.

I have an 85” Sony Z9K 8K capable flatpanel and am setting up to make a big expenditure to move to front projection. If the Strato K doesn’t do 2.1 with the JVC NZ900’s 8K/60p input, I will be very disappointed. K-scape should have done 2.1 validation with the JVC 800/900, Trinnov with 2.1 board, MadVR EE MK3, Denon AVR-A1H, etc. If that didn’t happen, shame on them.

I really believe K-scape can and will sort this out. Being on the bleeding edge is not without bumps in the road. Their response to @Sasquatch wasn’t the right approach though IMHO.

 

[KDeering]

I watched BR 2049 last night and took a screenshot of what the Strato V is doing in my system. As Attached. This is: Strato V > Lumagen Radiance Pro > Barco Bragi CS Projector.
Can clearly see that K is sending 4:2:0 and the Lumagen is doing its thing and outputting 4:2:2 to the projector.
There 'should' be a noticeable increase in quality using a new Strato K if its outputing 4:4:4 even with a Lumagen Radiance Pro and not an Artisan that will handle 4:4:4 since its starting with a better source. Adding an Artisan should be a straight 4:4:4 solution.
Ill probably have to order a K in the near future.....
Note my system does not support DV.

Not sure why you downloaded the DV version, just use HDR10. Also, the output of your player is 422, not 420. The Kscape is already doing chroma scaling here as expected. So the question becomes is there a difference in perceived chroma resolution between native or an upscale.

 

[ht guy]

Now that’s one I’ve not seen before, “We’ll add a delivery date as soon as your package starts moving.” …and I only learned this by thinking, “Hey what happened to my expected K delivery yesterday?” Only 500 miles to go. Prime Day indeed.

 

[Nathan28]

Has anyone ordered their K through Best Buy and received it? I placed my order a week ago Monday for delivery last Wednesday and I'm still waiting for it. BB says Kaleidescape is still processing orders, but it seems a little slower than usual. My past orders of Kaleidescape equipment through BB have always been fast, so I'm not sure what to think.

I ordered mine through BB as well and waiting. I tried to go through Dream media… they didn’t call me back until two days later, I tried to go through Audio Advice and the same thing, a day later, I didn’t get a call back but a message… Best Buy answered their phone unlike the other two, I know Ill have a hassle Free return policy if need be.

 

[RAGJr]

I ordered mine through BB as well and waiting. I tried to go through Dream media… they didn’t call me back until two days later, I tried to go through Audio Advice and the same thing, a day later, I didn’t get a call back but a message… Best Buy answered their phone unlike the other two, I know Ill have a hassle Free return policy if need be.

Ironman1718 of Woodlands Home Theater was gracious enough to sell and overnight a brand new, unopened Strato K to me that he just received yesterday (THANK YOU!!). Since I still haven't received any update from BB, I went ahead and cancelled the order through the app. If it shows up, I'll just return it down the street. I don't know what's going on with BB, but they appear to be at the back of the line with K products at the moment.

 

[HiFiHippie]

I ordered mine through BB as well and waiting. I tried to go through Dream media… they didn’t call me back until two days later, I tried to go through Audio Advice and the same thing, a day later, I didn’t get a call back but a message… Best Buy answered their phone unlike the other two, I know Ill have a hassle Free return policy if need be.

I placed my order through Best Buy in store the day after the Strato K was released, it was sold out on the BB website. The expected delivery date was 6/27. I received it this past Monday 6/29. I don’t have a local dealer who sells Kscape in my area, I’m hoping to get it installed today

 

[HarperVision]

Ok, good! I am powering my Strato S with a FARAD Super10, which made a huge difference, and finally brought the video quality up to ATV-X standards, perhaps a bit better.
I am curious to hear how the K compares to the Strato you had before, powered by a FARAD.

Quick recap for anyone who has missed this topic:
I will not get into a debate here, but the summary is:
You do NOT get "bit perfect" playback on ANY digital device. When the 1s and 0s move from the HD (in this case) to the display, they are send in analog form through the cables. You cannot send a "1" or a "0" along a cable. This analog format is susceptible to distortion from a myriad of sources - for example: the power supply, the CPU, the cooling fan (note that it is right on the PCB on the K -- bad design).
There is no check-sum to ensure the bits were delivered because you are playing the file in real-time. There is no buffer in a display.
If you don't believe this, you ought to find a place where you can demo a Strato on the included PSU for example, and an upgraded LPS. You may still NOT see a difference -- if your noise floor is too high (e.g., because you have unfiltered AC powering your display, etc.), you likely will see no difference.
I can tell you when noise floor is lowered, the difference is absolutely Stunning.

I can concur with this. I used to be the transmitter engineer for our local NBC affiliate during the ATSC transition. As we all know, broadcast transmission is inherently analog in nature. You use an ATSC signal analyzer to look at the eye pattern. The more "open and clear" the eye was, the better that signal quality and presentation.

Added noise and distortion would in turn close the eye and result in poor reception and signal quality.

You know they’re going to do a K Mini, right?!

As an owner of a JVC NZ 900 and a V player. I really want to make sure upgrading to the K makes sense. I realize the improvements will be small but if there are issues with DV conversion to HDR 10 on some titles and they are not making HDR 10 cinematic versions of a film unless the file is in 4:4:4 I am worried about films that are not in that format not getting the HDR 10 treatment even though the DV to HDR 10 conversion has issues. Any idea how many films are having the DV to HDR 10 conversion issues?

You can follow this thread for some of the ongoing discussion. Below are 2 recent posts from MikeKobb regarding the issue.

"First of all, let me apologize, because I did not understand all of the details of this when I posted about the fix to the black level issue. I would have added more detail had I known.

Anyway, as previously noted, in kOS 26.1.0, we corrected the issue with black levels in the converted playback.

We were also aware that sometimes converted Dolby Vision content was appearing a bit muted, with lower dynamic range than would be expected. We were able to make a change to partially address this issue and improve the dynamic range rendering in converted content. This change was included in 26.1 because it produced a net improvement in how the content looks subjectively when played (it's no longer muted), but it's not the fully correct solution as it can cause over-brightening.

We have a follow-on release coming shortly (26.1.1) that will fix several issues that couldn't be resolved in time for 26.1.0, and that release will include an additional change recommended by Dolby that will more closely match the HDR10 dynamics. That change is already in testing."


"We definitely noticed it, although not on all titles. I'm sorry I don't have a list of affected titles (I was not directly involved in the evaluation).

In our testing with the fix that's slated for 26.1.1, we're seeing an extremely close match to the native HDR10 files -- no over brightening but also no muted dynamics, and also of course the proper black level. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to get that fully implemented and tested in time to make it into 26.1.0, but as with most hardware launches, we were anticipating that there would be a patch release so it wouldn't be a long wait."

Note my system does not support DV.

An alternative is to get an HDFury device to spoof LLDV/DV which will then also add an HDR10 flag to kick your non-DV display into its appropriate HDR PQ mode.

A much cheaper EZCoo device can also do this, but without the capability to add an HDR10 flag, so you'd have to have a display that can manually be put into its HDR10 mode, or a video processor that can receive and recognize an LLDV signal as a PQ signal and process it as HDR, such as the Lumagen and Envy and the upcoming affordable Luma video processors.

 

[Completely Lawless]

I placed my order through Best Buy in store the day after the Strato K was released, it was sold out on the BB website. The expected delivery date was 6/27. I received it this past Monday 6/29. I don’t have a local dealer who sells Kscape in my area, I’m hoping to get it installed today

People on here are using Best Buy? Please support the dealers that participate in the forum.

I know at least one that is very responsive and had orders placed on launch day. He has a lot of Kaleidescape en-thusiasm! But many good dealers on here so let's support them when we can!

 

[lujan]

People on here are using Best Buy? Please support the dealers that participate in the forum.

I know at least one that is very responsive and had orders placed on launch day. He has a lot of Kaleidescape en-thusiasm! But many good dealers on here so let's support them when we can!

He's my dealer and my K is currently "Out for delivery" today.

 

[by96]

People on here are using Best Buy? Please support the dealers that participate in the forum.

I 100% agree and buy through my dealer. If he was not around, I would buy from a dealer on this forum.

However, Best Buy does offer amazing interest-free financing. I have bought mostly TVs from them before, and two or three years interest free financing may be easier to swing for people on a budget. A few hundred a month can be easier than thousands up front.

 

[txfeinbergs]

People on here are using Best Buy? Please support the dealers that participate in the forum.

I know at least one that is very responsive and had orders placed on launch day. He has a lot of Kaleidescape en-thusiasm! But many good dealers on here so let's support them when we can!

Some of us on here are/were not really aware that dealers are available to do business here (a know a lot of websites actually forbid that sort of thing like AVS Forums). As a result, I originally went with Best Buy for my Strato E and posted what I thought was a good price I had gotten. One of the dealers on here was responsive enough to send me a PM with a heads up that he would love my business in the future and although I got a great price at BestBuy, he could have done even better. This dealer got my Strato K order and all future business (minus very large TVs as I ain't hanging that shit - BestBuy still gets that especially after a failed 77 inch panel during COVID that they had to come out, replace, and rehang)

 

[Imakeller]

Meh, I think brick-and-mortar deserves support too, or we won’t have them. It’s whatever benefits the customer and that they’re comfortable with. I’m happy to do business with places like BB and Crutchfield, but I love my K-scape dealer. He’s great to deal with and had a Strato K on my doorstep Monday, which I thought was outstanding.

 

[rafaelsmith]

However, Best Buy does offer amazing interest-free financing. I have bought mostly TVs from them before, and two or three years interest free financing may be easier to swing for people on a budget. A few hundred a month can be easier than thousands up front.

That is a good point. I have bought gear from independent dealers as well as BB...all depends on budget at the time...sometimes the 24 mo no interest is just too good to pass up. ALso a matter of lack of patience =P....sure I suppose could put away $$ for 24 mo then go buy from a independent dealer but then a newer Strato will be available....FOMO rears its ugly head.

 

[Neighbor]

Another K scape Strato K review. This one is by JoeRod
hstrial-jrodriguez996.homestead.com

 

[Nathan28]

People on here are using Best Buy? Please support the dealers that participate in the forum.

I know at least one that is very responsive and had orders placed on launch day. He has a lot of Kaleidescape en-thusiasm! But many good dealers on here so let's support them when we can!

I agree…but I tired two other dealers to purchase from before Best Buy… they didn’t answer their phone, one didn’t call me back but messaged. Then with their added 24 mo financing, made it hard to pass up.

 

[Neighbor]

Also www.joerodhometheater.com

 

[RAGJr]

I agree…but I tired two other dealers to purchase from before Best Buy… they didn’t answer their phone, one didn’t call me back but messaged. Then with their added 24 mo financing, made it hard to pass up.

I've not used BB's financing, but their member benefits with extended returns, warranty, etc. are solid. Plus AMEX usually has perks associated with BB purchases. That said, I'm also pro-dealers and relationships and support where I can.

 

[RobT]

JVC NZ800 / Screen innovation maestro ii 160” 16:9. I will test drive this on my 77” A95L QD-Oled
in a day or two.

Now this is interesting! So you saw a substantial difference with the K in a projected image with a JVC. Do you have a video processor in your chain as well?