• Thanks for visiting the Kaleidescape Owners' Forum

    This forum is for the community of Kaleidescape owners, and others interested in learning about the system, equipment, services, and the company itself.

    It is run by a group of enthusiastic Kaleidescape owners and dealers purely as a service to this community.

    This board is not affiliated in any way with Kaleidescape, Inc.
    For official technical support, product information, or customer service, please visit www.kaleidescape.com

  • You are currently in "Guest" mode and not logged in with a registered account.

    The forum is free to use and most of the forum can be used by guests who are not registered....

    ... but we strongly encourage you to register for a full account. There is no cost to register for a full account.

    Benefits of registering for a full account:

    • Participate in the discussions! You must have a registered account to make posts on the forums. You will be able to start your own thread on a topic or question, or you can reply to other threads/discussions.
    • Use the "Conversation" feature (known as "private messaging" on other forums) to communicate directly with any of the other users here.
    • Access the Files area. The "resources" area of the forum contains many "Favorite Scene" and Script files that can dramatically increase the enjoyment of your Kaleidescape system. Go directly to great scenes in your favorite movies, created by other owners, and add automation to playback of your system with Scripts.
    • You won't see this annoying notice at the top of every screen!😊

    It's easy and free to register for the forum. Just click the "Register" button in the upper right corner of this page, and follow the instructions there.

Strato S Front Panel LED Not Working

edoggrc51

Member
A few months back I purchased a used (but with warranty till 2025) Strato S. This was my first dive into the Kscape world and was super excited to get started. Unit functioned perfectly until about a few weeks later (middle of May I believe) when I noticed the front panel display would not light up. I called support, they opened up ticket, and within a few days they said they would send out a replacement. They said the issue was a bad batch of LED’s. Well a few weeks go by and since I hadn’t heard from K I gave them a buzz. They said they were waiting on replacement units to arrive but they would be there shortly. Another week goes by and nothing. I tried reaching them again via phone and email for the next few days but nothing, no response. A few days after that I get a call from the dealer that originally sold the unit. I guess K reached out to him since he’s the one listed as the seller for my serial number. He basically said he’d be my point of contact for the repair. We’ll it’s been close to 3 months now and I’m still waiting. Not sure how much the dealer is doing to help but then again I can’t blame him a whole lot as I technically didn’t buy it from him anyways. The unit still plays and functions perfectly other than the light not working so maybe that’s why there’s not a ton urgency, but from a first time buyer into the K world, it’s a little unsettling. I have plans to possibly upgrade to the newer generation gear or at the very least add a Terra, however the lack of warranty support (especially at this price point) has me kind of taking a step back.
 
Sorry to hear about your experience. I suspect this is mostly a communication issue. Like many companies in the electronics industry the last two years have been challenging when it comes to acquiring parts. Some contract suppliers to the industry have gone out of business, some have staffing issues, and almost all rely on parts that come from outside the US, so international shipping problems have further exacerbated the delays seen across the industry.

What I've found in dealing with various vendors in this industry is communication tends to be more hopeful than realistic given current circumstances. As one example, I've got 6 clients waiting for the JVC NZ series projectors, two of which have been waiting since these were announced last year. I inquire with the JVC Rep weekly (just to be the squeaky wheel), and answers started out as "should be here within a month," then moved to naming specific future months, "should be here in late February", then it became "we're expecting these first week in April," and lately it's been a more honest "I have no idea" answer. (We are back to hearing end of this month, or early September.)

I realize in most cases folks are just repeating what they are told. My point is, people get frustrated when they are given hopeful info that turns out to be wrong, but it's an unfortunate reality in the current world of electronics, be it product, or parts. I deal with a lot of manufacturers in this industry, and many vendors of their products, and Kaleidescape Support has always been the best in the industry. That's not only my opinion, that opinion is shared by many, many custom installers and K owners. I do however recognize someone waiting for support as long as you have been waiting would probably have a different opinion. I believe you were probably given information that I call "hopeful" info by well-intended folks in the info chain, that unfortunately they don't control.

Lastly, Kaleidescape products have long been considered to be of the highest quality available, and with that quality comes an operational recognition that a large Support section is not needed. It's unfortunate that the parts issues I described above have contributed to a slightly higher workload on a small Kaleidescape Support section, and that coupled with the unexpected temporary loss of their Senior support tech has been causing delays for owners and dealers in receiving support. This situation is being corrected, and support is working to be caught up as soon as possible.

As to your specific problem, I hope you get an accurate update soon, but in the meantime at least your system is still performing as expected and you can continue to watch movies of the highest quality available in the industry.:)

Jim
 
I assume this was checked, but for anyone else monitoring this thread, make sure the "Front Panel Lights" setting in the browser interface (IP address of Strato) is not set to "Off"?

Andy
 
@andy, I made the assumption it was based on his direct contact with Support, but always good advice and the first thing to be checked.

Jim
 
Thanks for the advice guys. I did check the settings on the lights and verified it was correct. Also checked it an additional time when I was on the phone with K support. For me personally it was the way I was “handed off” to the dealer that I didn’t think was very cool. The communication just stopped, then a few weeks later I get a call from a random dealer. Just wasn’t expecting that from K. Heck even the dealer was surprised by the whole situation. Currently I have no clue where I stand with the repair. It’s been about a month or so now and the answer I get from the dealer is, “let me check with Support for an update.” :(
 
Funnily enough I had all three of my Strato C (all purchased at the same time) and all three front lights failed at the same time. After various troubleshooting the only solution support came to was to swap out all units. I wonder what happened and if other people have this issue as well. It’s odd they all failed at the same time which suggests some sort of software thing to me.
 
They told me the same thing. Unit has to be replaced. They attributed to a bad batch of LED’s that was used. At least that was the info that was communicated to me.
 
Electronic component supply - especially LEDs and small microprocessors - is still affected by Covid, and now the war in Ukraine. A small buyer like Kaleidescape is probably looking at 12+ month lead-times for new orders. I know first-hand, since I run a company that orders similar components.
If the unit is working fine, who cares? Sure, get it fixed one day, but this is far from urgent. I actually have the front lights set to auto turn-off, to keep the room darker.
I wonder if the supplied power supply is to blame — it‘s absolute garbage and should be replaced (I have posted about this when I first got my unit). You’ll also enjoy better A/V quality.
 
If the unit is working fine, who cares? Sure, get it fixed one day, but this is far from urgent.
It's not so much about the light not working, its more about the lack of support/communication that worries me. To not return calls or emails and to just pawn me off to a dealer is not acceptable.
 
It's not so much about the light not working, its more about the lack of support/communication that worries me. To not return calls or emails and to just pawn me off to a dealer is not acceptable.
Agree - I also much prefer to deal directly with the company. Dealers I find are your best friend until the device is paid for and ships, after that they *mysteriously* don’t get back to you for days/weeks/months. I don’t really blame them - they are there to sell us stuff. After sales service/support is a pain that doesn’t earn them any more money.
 
Agree - I also much prefer to deal directly with the company. Dealers I find are your best friend until the device is paid for and ships, after that they *mysteriously* don’t get back to you for days/weeks/months. I don’t really blame them - they are there to sell us stuff. After sales service/support is a pain that doesn’t earn them any more money.

Speaking only for myself, I certainly don't feel that way, and I know for certain K doesn't feel that way. I'm not, however, arguing with your general comment because I know it's accurate when it comes to some dealers, I've had to help some of those owners over the years.

@edoggrc51, the reason K refers owners to dealers is because of the way Support is setup. A "Case" is created for all support issues. The Case is supposed to originate from the dealer, but K Support also creates the Case if the owner bypassed their dealer (or doesn't have a dealer), and contacted Support directly. We dealers have a section for Support cases on our Dealer Extranet, it is in this section that we keep up with any pending or unresolved Cases. We can provide client updates to Support, and they respond to keep us informed of the Case status. Support is not trying to "pawn you off," the system works better when dealers are involved, BUT, that does assume the dealer is doing their part in the process.

To better illustrate why some Cases may take longer to resolve (separate from the current parts supply issues), I'm sharing the following priority levels that dealers are supposed to use when starting a Case. K Support responds as fast as possible to all Cases, but uses these priority levels to address reported problems.
  • Priority 1
    Affects integrity of imported movies; Limited time to resolve
  • Priority 2
    No Movies may be played back or imported
  • Priority 3
    System is functioning; Some features are not available
  • Priority 4
    System is functioning normally; Questions re: performance, config, or use
All of that said, I do agree that communicating with owners regarding any issues they are experiencing is important to providing proper support.

Jim
 
On my side and despite the absences and well deserved vacations, I can only praise the quick reaction when my brand new Terra's 72TB mother board failed. Despite the absences, the replacement chassis shipped as soon I confirmed that everything I was asked to try didn't work. André Floyd took care personally indicating that employees from other departments stepped in to help. Great support in my case as always since 2012 when I became a K customer. Thank you.
 
Speaking only for myself, I certainly don't feel that way, and I know for certain K doesn't feel that way. I'm not, however, arguing with your general comment because I know it's accurate when it comes to some dealers, I've had to help some of those owners over the years.

@edoggrc51, the reason K refers owners to dealers is because of the way Support is setup. A "Case" is created for all support issues. The Case is supposed to originate from the dealer, but K Support also creates the Case if the owner bypassed their dealer (or doesn't have a dealer), and contacted Support directly. We dealers have a section for Support cases on our Dealer Extranet, it is in this section that we keep up with any pending or unresolved Cases. We can provide client updates to Support, and they respond to keep us informed of the Case status. Support is not trying to "pawn you off," the system works better when dealers are involved, BUT, that does assume the dealer is doing their part in the process.

To better illustrate why some Cases may take longer to resolve (separate from the current parts supply issues), I'm sharing the following priority levels that dealers are supposed to use when starting a Case. K Support responds as fast as possible to all Cases, but uses these priority levels to address reported problems.
  • Priority 1
    Affects integrity of imported movies; Limited time to resolve
  • Priority 2
    No Movies may be played back or imported
  • Priority 3
    System is functioning; Some features are not available
  • Priority 4
    System is functioning normally; Questions re: performance, config, or use
All of that said, I do agree that communicating with owners regarding any issues they are experiencing is important to providing proper support.

Jim
Appreciate the insight Jim. Thank you for that.



Here’s my last few interactions with the dealer handling the case:

July 8th: Dealer says they would reach out to K.

No response

July 14th: I ask dealer for update. Dealer says they’ll contact K.

No response

July 20th: I ask dealer for update. Dealer says they’re waiting on a return call from local rep.

No response

August 3rd: I ask dealer for update. Dealer says no from them yet but he’ll reach out for an update.

No response

As you can see this whole warranty process has been a total shit show. Again at this price point I expect better. I know it’s just an LED light that’s out, but that’s not really the biggest issue anymore. Especially when I’m contemplating adding additional storage. I absolutely love what Kaleidescape adds to my home theater. But I would hate to drop this kind of coin only for something to possibly happen and now I have a $20k paperweight on my hands. Very frustrating experience so far.
 
Please drop me a direct message so I can look into where things are getting dropped here. I know that there are a handful of players with this issue for which RMAs have been issued, but because the players in question (Strato S) are no longer manufactured, we are waiting on refurbished units to be built up. I don't know what the hold-up is there although I'm trying to find out. In the cases that I've seen personally, we have communicated to the customer or dealer that we're waiting for the RMA units, so it seems like a communication breakdown is happening somewhere.

For everyone reading, please understand that we are currently experiencing an unexpected, unavoidable (and temporary!) short-staffing situation within our support team, and this has resulted in slow response times and a backlog of cases. Fortunately, we were already in the process of bringing on an additional support team member, and he started within the past couple of weeks. A number of other folks within the company, myself included, are also pitching in when we are able to help get through that backlog and respond to people as quickly as we can. There is a learning curve for all of us, so we're not as efficient at this as our regular team members.

I would encourage anyone who has a support issue to reach out first to their dealer for assistance. There's a lot of expertise within our dealer base, and they can address many problems without having to escalate to us.

Also, whether you're an end user or a dealer, if you do need to reach out to Kaleidescape Support, please provide as much information as you can up front about the nature of the problem, specific times at which the problem has happened, and the serial numbers of the component or components involved. You'd be surprised by how many cases we get where the initial contact is essentially, "I can't play movies. Why?" If it takes us a week to get to that question in the queue and reply to ask for more information, it may take another week before your reply can be seen and handled. Here's an example of what I would consider a fantastic support request:

Hi, I'm having a problem when I try to play 4K movies on my system. When I press play, the system looks like it's going to start playing, but instead of seeing the movie, the screen just turns red. When I hit stop, I briefly see a message on my screen (see the attached photo), and I'm back in the menus again. When I play HD movies, I don't have this problem. The last time I tried this was on August 8 at 7:55pm Central Daylight time. My Strato C player serial number is ### ######## and my Terra server serial number is ### ########. My player is connected to a 77" LG C2 OLED display using HDMI. I'm using the second HDMI output for audio, connected to a Marantz SR8015.

Now, I made that up, but you get the idea. Don't be afraid to attach a couple of photos or a short video if it helps to describe the problem. But a clear description of the problem, along with a date/time and the serial numbers are the most crucial bits of information to help us help you.
 
Back
Top