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

[cinelife]

Wow, I was upset that my recent test last year had gone from 20/10 to 20/15 in both eyes, guess I shouldn’t complain!

That's excellent eyesight! I always thought my eyes were fine, had to be 20/20 when I was a military pilot (Cobra and Apache), and always tested at 20/20, so I just assumed all was good and was surprised after embarrassing myself at the theater. Obviously I posted above because of comments indicating some people can't see a difference between Cinematic and standard 4K. That said, I don't really question what someone is or isn't seeing, we all see what we see.....

Of the many. many Strato-K's I've sold since the release, to my knowledge based on comments I received directly, or through posts in the forum, every one of those owners can see the improvements, and is satisfied with the purchase. These owners live in various states, and they were not at the "Kool-Aid" party.....

Jim

 

[Furnace Inferno]

That's excellent eyesight! I always thought my eyes were fine, had to be 20/20 when I was a military pilot (Cobra and Apache), and always tested at 20/20, so I just assumed all was good and was surprised after embarrassing myself at the theater. Obviously I posted above because of comments indicating some people can't see a difference between Cinematic and standard 4K. That said, I don't really question what someone is or isn't seeing, we all see what we see.....

Of the many. many Strato-K's I've sold since the release, to my knowledge based on comments I received directly, or through posts in the forum, every one of those owners can see the improvements, and is satisfied with the purchase. These owners live in various states, and they were not at the "Kool-Aid" party.....

Jim

I’m choosing to assume the difference is minimal so I’m not paying out for another player! Until there is irrefutable evidence and then I will reassess .

 

[Nathan28]

I’m choosing to assume the difference is minimal so I’m not paying out for another player! Until there is irrefutable evidence and then I will reassess .

I’m sure it is minimal… if I notice the minimal difference I’ll be satisfied and I’ll know I’ll have the best source possible. To some… streaming compared to K 4k and disc is minimal, the difference between cinematic and K 4k will be much less than the difference in streaming compared to the other two… I do not have unrealistic expectations… but I do have that minimum expectation.. I can’t wait until this week to get my player

 

[lujan]

I’m sure it is minimal… if I notice the minimal difference I’ll be satisfied and I’ll know I’ll have the best source possible. To some… streaming compared to K 4k and disc is minimal, the difference between cinematic and K 4k will be much less than the difference in streaming compared to the other two… I do not have unrealistic expectations… but I do have that minimum expectation.. I can’t wait until this week to get my player

Also, the larger your display, the larger the difference. I'm sure if someone compares the 4K vs. 4K Cinematic on a 75" display, the difference would not be nearly as noticeable. I've also noticed that it depends on the movie. For instance, it was very noticeable on "Gladiator II" but didn't notice a huge difference on the first Harry Potter movie. I may have not given it enough time though because I only watched the first few minutes of that one.

 

[Imakeller]

I’m choosing to assume the difference is minimal so I’m not paying out for another player! Until there is irrefutable evidence and then I will reassess .

It’s modest, but real, and totally worth it IMHO.

 

[Furnace Inferno]

I’m sure it is minimal… if I notice the minimal difference I’ll be satisfied and I’ll know I’ll have the best source possible. To some… streaming compared to K 4k and disc is minimal, the difference between cinematic and K 4k will be much less than the difference in streaming compared to the other two… I do not have unrealistic expectations… but I do have that minimum expectation.. I can’t wait until this week to get my player

Hmmm, that is an interesting thought I hadn’t considered. I actually don’t think a good 4K stream is enough different that I would mind if it weren’t for the fact the audio sucks balls.

And yet why do I still secretly want a K .

 

[Furnace Inferno]

It’s modest, but real, and totally worth it IMHO.

Stop trying to tempt me in .

The other issue I have is I currently have nearly 900 movies in my download list, I’d have to go back through the whole thing changing them and getting them back in order. I bought the Kaleidescape for convenience so that idea doesn’t really excite me!

 

[Nd3799754]

I watched Empire Strikes Back the other night in C-HDR10 and it was truly stunning. As my favorite movie, I've watched thousands of times so my eye is pretty critical, and I was just in awe. There are some soft shots from the 97 edits, but that has nothing to do with K. The detail and lack of compression artifacts is just next level. Just put my UB820 up for sale, can't go back.

Shout out to @cinelife for his help with the purchase. Great guy to work with.

Gear: 133" Stewart ST130 Screen, Sony XW5000 Projector, HDFury Vertex 2, Marantz SR6016 Receiver

 

[Nathan28]

I watched Empire Strikes Back the other night in C-HDR10 and it was truly stunning. As my favorite movie, I've watched thousands of times so my eye is pretty critical, and I was just in awe. There are some soft shots from the 97 edits, but that has nothing to do with K. The detail and lack of compression artifacts is just next level. Just put my UB820 up for sale, can't go back.

Shout out to @cinelife for his help with the purchase. Great guy to work with.

Gear: 133" Stewart ST130 Screen, Sony XW5000 Projector, HDFury Vertex 2, Marantz SR6016 Receiver

Rockin..That’s exactly why I purchased one….

 

[swhmetta]

Waiting a few minutes for a download is fine for me. I have a JVC NZ800. I like to give the laser a few minutes to warm up before watching anyways. I think the 8TB HDD is the best bang for the buck though. You get the infamous K wall. It holds enough to have new releases on it and maybe some old favs or demos. The rest can hang in the cloud.

 

[kscape360]

I do think in general a lot depends on the individual if the Strato K is “worth it.” I have a 77” screen at the moment and I can see a difference, but I will admit I tend to be more sensitive to visual updates than most. I know people with perfect vision that think DVD is fine and only rent digital in SD to save a dollar because they can’t tell a difference. True, the jump from 4K to Cinematic 4K is subtle; it’s not as dramatic as SD to HD or adding HDR, but it is there and makes the viewing better. I never thought I’d need an update on a 4K disc with Dolby Vision, but it just looks better on Cinematic on many titles and is worth the upgrade for me.

 

[Patches Pal]

Can any one suggest a Cinematic movie I can watch and compare with the 4K Disk version and see a clear difference? I have over 1,200 4K's on my Zidoo, so chances are I will have it. I am new to Kscape and just got my Strato K a week ago. I have purchased a few movies in C and tried comparing them to the Same movies in 4K on my Zidoo and can not see any difference. It takes about 30 seconds to switch back and forth so it might be that. The first few where in Dolby vision so they where converted to 4:2:2 but did try Batman Begins in HDR and got the full 4:4:4 but still could not see the difference. I have a NZ900 through a Madvr Envy Core MK2 on a 162" screen that was recently professionally calibrated. Maybe some one will do a true side by side blind test with Non home theater people to convince me there really is a difference and it's just me?

 

[kscape360]

Can any one suggest a Cinematic movie I can watch and compare with the 4K Disk version and see a clear difference? I have over 1,200 4K's on my Zidoo, so chances are I will have it. I am new to Kscape and just got my Strato K a week ago. I have purchased a few movies in C and tried comparing them to the Same movies in 4K on my Zidoo and can not see any difference. It takes about 30 seconds to switch back and forth so it might be that. The first few where in Dolby vision so they where converted to 4:2:2 but did try Batman Begins in HDR and got the full 4:4:4 but still could not see the difference. I have a NZ900 through a Madvr Envy Core MK2 on a 162" screen that was recently professionally calibrated. Maybe some one will do a true side by side blind test with Non home theater people to convince me there really is a difference and it's just me?

The Greatest Showman, Dune Part Two, Mad Men were a few with obvious differences for me.

 

[sanfor]

@Patches Pal you are correct, Zidoo z9x 8k here and a K. Not all movies look better on the K.

 

[wilson]

Can any one suggest a Cinematic movie I can watch and compare with the 4K Disk version and see a clear difference? I have over 1,200 4K's on my Zidoo, so chances are I will have it. I am new to Kscape and just got my Strato K a week ago. I have purchased a few movies in C and tried comparing them to the Same movies in 4K on my Zidoo and can not see any difference. It takes about 30 seconds to switch back and forth so it might be that. The first few where in Dolby vision so they where converted to 4:2:2 but did try Batman Begins in HDR and got the full 4:4:4 but still could not see the difference. I have a NZ900 through a Madvr Envy Core MK2 on a 162" screen that was recently professionally calibrated. Maybe some one will do a true side by side blind test with Non home theater people to convince me there really is a difference and it's just me?

How many nits are you getting on that large screen? Perhaps it's hard to tell the difference if it's <100 nits.

 

[stanrozenfeld]

I got my Strato K last Friday. I have LG 83" G5 Oled TV and KEF XIO Soundbar. I compared opening scene from Lord of The Rings Fellowship of the Rings Dolbyvision version vs. Cinematic Dolbyvision version. The difference was clear. I did not switch back and forth, just watched the entire opening sequence. The Cinematic picture was more vibrant, had more oomph to it. I don't know how else to describe.

Since then I compared others and that confirmed it. There is one exception ... for some reason, I couldn't see much of a difference in the opening sequence of Iron Man. Maybe others can chime in as to why that would be.

Anyway, I have been rewatching Harry Potter movies, and enjoying the presentation more this time around.

 

[cardsdoc]

I watched Empire Strikes Back the other night in C-HDR10 and it was truly stunning. As my favorite movie, I've watched thousands of times so my eye is pretty critical, and I was just in awe. There are some soft shots from the 97 edits, but that has nothing to do with K. The detail and lack of compression artifacts is just next level. Just put my UB820 up for sale, can't go back.

Shout out to @cinelife for his help with the purchase. Great guy to work with.

Gear: 133" Stewart ST130 Screen, Sony XW5000 Projector, HDFury Vertex 2, Marantz SR6016 Receiver

Oh crap. I’m a sucker for Star Wars. I see a K in my future. Probably have to wait until 2027 if I want to stay married though.

 

[Htjinus]

Sharing some photo shots I took from my 140 inch Seymour with automatic masking screen through JVC NZ800. My eyes can’t see the improvement on Strato K 4k cinematic, for those who own both Strato K and Strato V, you should be able to tell which image is from Strato K and which is from Strato V by looking at the position of the “Pause” displayed on the screen. There are movies where my eyes can see the difference, such as Moana as you can see the immediate difference from the photos,but as far as my understanding goes, those are not because of full chroma sample, but rather tone mapping color difference or issues in the specific movie.

ChatGPT also explains why my eyes are not sensitive to 4K Cinematic 4:4:4

Apparently, my eyes are scientifically optimized: completely blind to my “5K upgrade” and 4K Cinematic 4:4:4, yet instantly impressed by a free JVC tonemapping firmware update.

Turns out my vision responds better to tone mapping than marketing.

 

[kscape360]

For Moana, it's still a bit off color-wise in C_DV. It was one of the first titles I looked at and I thought the difference was due to the Cinematic, but it just had an error with it. It looked very colorful in the bright scenes, but in scenes that weren't as bright you could clearly see it was wrong. I don't believe they have fixed it yet. I don't think the subtle improvement of Cinematic would really be obvious in photos of the screen. We will have to wait for screencaps.

 

[Trevor]

Kind of interesting that those of us with short/simple signal chains and high-end flat panels seem to be having an easier time seeing the nuanced increase in fidelity offered by Cinematic.

That's not an indictment of video processors and projectors...just an observation that goes counter to the "you need a huge screen to see the difference" line.

And just to be clear, I'm (still) not saying that every Cinematic title is a revelation (see my earlier post).