Strato V HD Compatibility Analysis

[LoveCinema]

Sharing a quick analysis and some observations of the new Strato V Readiness report available on the K Store.

TLDR: The Strato V Readiness report appears to show the overall compatibility of a movie title, and not the compatibility of the HD version of the title. Therefore, in (at least) the short term, upgrading to a Strato V will remove the ability to view Special Features and Alternate Cuts of some titles not shown as incompatible.

Some quick stats:
802 HD movies downloaded.

Strato V Readiness report states:
104 HD movies not yet compatible.
101 HD movies can be downgraded to SD for compatibility.
408 HD movies ready to play.

On the surface, this looks great. Only 104 movies not compatible out of 802 downloads? That's only 13% incompatible, and "more are coming". However, look at the additional 101 movies that will require an SD downgrade (no bueno), and you're up to 26% incompatible.

But, where are the missing 189 movies? Well, they're movies that I have downloaded a compatible (4K or SD) version in addition to HD due to one of these use cases:

4K movie has Special Features in HD.
4K movie has Alternate Cut in HD.
HD movie has Special Features in SD.
HD movie has Alternate Cut in SD.

A Strato V compatible version of the movie is present, but the HD version (with its Features and Cuts) remains incompatible. Taking everything into account, I'd view my current HD downloads as 51% incompatible.

Obviously, we're hours into the new product announcement and we're going to learn a lot more. The Strato V looks like a tremendous product and we're all trying to sort through the impacts of it to the ecosystem and our own libraries. My hope is that this data contributes to that effort.

I'm including some key notes from @MikeKobb in the main Strato V thread to provide understanding and optimism:

"We're anticipating that the vast majority of (HD) titles will be able to be updated, and this work is ongoing, with tranches of titles being added regularly. It is possible that a small number of titles may not be able to be updated."

"Another thing that I think will be important for some customers to consider is that in some cases, the updated HD versions of titles don't currently have extras, where the original version did. So if the extras are important to you, you may want to double-check before you update the HD version of a movie to ensure that there are still extras available. We are working to re-add those extras as part of this process, but ensuring that the movies themselves were available was given priority over handling the extras."

 

[sbutter]

Also, all user created scenes and scripts will be lost for the updated HD movies.

 

[MovieChef]

Will the newly updated HD versions continue to work with Strato C, or should users not planning to upgrade to Strato V also avoid updating their HD versions?

 

[JWort93]

Will the newly updated HD versions continue to work with Strato C, or should users not planning to upgrade to Strato V also avoid updating their HD versions?

Yes, the updated versions still work with the existing Strato players.

 

[LoveCinema]

"Another thing that I think will be important for some customers to consider is that in some cases, the updated HD versions of titles don't currently have extras, where the original version did. So if the extras are important to you, you may want to double-check before you update the HD version of a movie to ensure that there are still extras available. We are working to re-add those extras as part of this process, but ensuring that the movies themselves were available was given priority over handling the extras."

I'm already seeing this with available updates. If I take the compatibility updates, the HD Special Features downloaded on my Terra will be deleted. Thankfully, these updates are not (yet) appearing in the Movie Updates section and you must seek them out in the Strato V Readiness report. Unless you’re buying a Strato V in the immediate future, I recommend holding off on updates to avoid feature loss.

 

[MikeKobb]

First of all, thanks to @LoveCinema for the thorough analysis and feedback. The Readiness Report tool doesn't show every possible permutation of information, to try to keep things comprehensible for the average user.

Thankfully, these updates are not (yet) appearing in the Movie Updates section and you must seek them out in the Strato V Readiness report.

This is a good point, and let me expand on it a little. If the only update for the HD version of a movie is the updated player compatibility, then the store only shows those movies in the various Movie Updates places if you have a Strato V in your system. This was intended to keep people from unnecessarily churning their content and potentially running into pitfalls like those described.

Do note that if there's some other update, like the addition of an Atmos audio track or whatnot, then the movie will appear in the updates place as usual. Also, if you were to delete the movie and download it again, you will get the updated version.

If you want to know if an update to an HD movie includes compatibility for Strato V, look for the phrase "Player compatibility improvements"

 

[MarvinTheAndroid]

Are there problems updating between stores? I have tried to prioritise UHD films so only have 34 HD downloads and of these 28 are incompatible, 4 require no updates and 1 needed an update. However, the update started but just seemed to hang and never actually began to download anything even when left for an hour or so. This was whilst connecting from the UK for a film purchased in the US store. As soon as I connected from the US the download immediately began and completed fine.

As an aside I hope with a 1 in 7 compatibility ratio that compared to everyone else I am an outlier! On a more positive note after downloading the 1 HD update my storage space was estimated to have an additional Blu-ray quality or 2 DVD quality films extra capacity so extras aside there seems to be a useful side effect even for those not wishing to upgrade. The film I updated as far as I am aware had no extras so there is quite some storage efficiency to be gained when extras are finally converted especially for those with large non-UHD libraries.

 

[Substance]

I have 947 downloaded HD titles that aren’t compatible. I have another 400 or so titles not download at the moment. I don’t know how many of those aren’t compatible.

251 titles not yet compatible.
315 titles need to be downgraded to SD. (In my book, this also means not yet compatible)

No Co-Star support, close to a quarter of my library not yet compatible, my wallet is getting a break

 

[LoveCinema]

Just adding a use case here: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Tim Burton)

This movie had a dozen Special Features available with the HD download, and a single Special Feature for the SD download. I have previously downloaded this to my Terra, and all HD features are present. The Strato V Readiness report shows an available HD update for this title, citing "player compatibility". However, when I look at the details for the title, there are no HD Special Features present. So, I know to back off.

One note I'll call out: Outside of looking at the movie on my Terra, I'd have no real way of knowing that this movie had a dozen HD Special Features in the first place. So, when it comes to tracking what was there and what will/won't return, we're kind of in K's hands.

 

[Oldred]

I have 947 downloaded HD titles that aren’t compatible. I have another 400 or so titles not download at the moment. I don’t know how many of those aren’t compatible.

251 titles not yet compatible.
315 titles need to be downgraded to SD. (In my book, this also means not yet compatible)

No Co-Star support, close to a quarter of my library not yet compatible, my wallet is getting a break

You haven't lost anything though have you? You have everything you had the day before the new announcement, Those issues only impact you if you buy/install the new product. Or am I misunderstanding something.

 

[LoveCinema]

You haven't lost anything though have you? You have everything you had the day before the new announcement, Those issues only impact you if you buy/install the new product. Or am I misunderstanding something.

Nothing was taken off my Terra. As long as you already downloaded the features, and you don’t update the movie until after the features are re-added, you’re fine. This only applies to updates and new downloads.

On a positive note, I see that His Dark Materials Season 1 has a compatibility update and not only maintains all prior Special Features but actually adds one (Making of).

 

[Substance]

You haven't lost anything though have you? You have everything you had the day before the new announcement, Those issues only impact you if you buy/install the new product. Or am I misunderstanding something.

No you aren’t. That’s why I said my wallet is getting a break. I am not spending any money on this.

 

[Broncowrangler]

Couldn’t purchase Gravity (HD) on the V. Only SD version available at this point. Bummer because I was really looking to watching it on this platform.

 

[MikeKobb]

Couldn’t purchase Gravity (HD) on the V. Only SD version available at this point. Bummer because I was really looking to watching it on this platform.

It's in the queue for an update. Hopefully soon.

 

[Broncowrangler]

It's in the queue for an update. Hopefully soon.

Thats great news. Can’t wait.

 

[rafaelsmith]

It's in the queue for an update. Hopefully soon.

Excellent. This is one of my goto for testing out any changes in my sound system.

 

[J.Green]

A quick update for you Strato V owners:

The next tranche of the HD conversions to make older content compatible with Strato V is entering the final qualification and rollout phase starting today. The full rollout is expected to take 4 to 5 weeks to complete (approximately 35 titles per day).

 

[tinboski]

A quick update for you Strato V owners:

The next tranche of the HD conversions to make older content compatible with Strato V is entering the final qualification and rollout phase starting today. The full rollout is expected to take 4 to 5 weeks to complete (approximately 35 titles per day).

I got Tommy Boy this morning so things seem to be churning... Tommy Want Wingy lol

 

[ZeroDarkFuga]

Rise of the Guardians popped up for me today…..my kids thank you and team @J.Green

Patiently waiting on Gravity…..

 

[rafaelsmith]

I have used disc-to-digital catalogued several titles for which there is not a 4k version on K but when looking at them in the digital offers indicate that there not a compatible HD version currently for the Strato V....so I have not bothered to purchase them.

Is there a way to filter on the Digital Offers page and/or Strato V Compatibility page titles that I have catalogued but not purchased yet that have compatible HD versions? THus far the Strato V compatibility page only takes into account movies ive purchased.

Basically I need a way to know which catalogued titles that originally were not compatible have been upgrades so that I can purchase them.

example is Gravity. I catalogued the BluRay/Atmos version but currently will only let me download the SD version which I have no desire for so waiting for it to be available in HD or better.