@MikeKobb: But as far as I know, I have downloaded all compatible HD versions. So, in my case the "compatible versions" are either downgrades to SD or upgrades to 4k, correct? I am not trying to be difficult, just making sure I understand.
Thanks!
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Strato V HD Compatibility Analysis
- Thread starter LoveCinema
- Start date
Thanks!
MarvinTheAndroid
Well-known member
I am happy to be proven wrong but I think that the compatible versions are all downgrades to SD even if a 4k version is available. You get the SD for free, since you already own it for want of a better term, but have to pay for 4k. I think it is based on what you own and not what you could own so you are correct in that some of your incompatible and compatible purchases might have 4k upgrades available.
Quite honestly I think given these type of confusions and the fact you may need to download 2 versions of a movie in mixed environments, have to wait for conversions, the fact that some movies might never be compatible even in SD, the whole V rollout is a bit of a mess. That isn't even factoring in extras and the bundling of different cuts of movies into a single download.
I do wonder/worry what will happen to my collection when my C dies and isn't available for purchase when I have to replace it with whatever the current player is at the time.
rafaelsmith
Well-known member
As a new Kaleidescape owner with just a Strato V this has not been much of an issue but I can definitely see where existing customers "upgrading" to a V with an extensive library would be disappointed with so many titles not compatible...or even worse downgraded to SD.
Even for me...I have catalogued about 75+ disc to digital titles....many of which are HD and not compatible....so I have not purchased them...refuse to buy something I can only watch in SD with no idea if/when there will be HD or better version available. Im looking at you Gravity!
In general I agree the whole Strato V compatibility is a bit of a mess.
Moreso for existing customers than new ones.MarvinTheAndroid
Well-known member
Honestly I have little skin in the DV game being a projector owner with a Lumagen processor but as a K owner I have been watching this rollout with interest as I fear it does have wider implications. The way the rollout has seemingly been artificially expedited, despite the apparent compromises the V player has, and given the recent Cinema announcement does make me wonder if K are in desperate need of short term cash.
tinboski
Well-known member
I jumped in headfirst over a year ago when they rolled out the disc to digital since I had a fairly large physical media collection of BD and 4k discs with a Strato C and loved it. I converted all my BD to Kscape as well as rebuying most of my 4k titles (thousands of dollars on top of the hardware) and donating my physical collection to family. Fast forward after I sold my C and converted to V with a large amount of my content I paid for not being compatible to watch... I don't remember the last time I turned on my V maybe Twisters? where i used to use the C almost daily.
rafaelsmith
Well-known member
While I am glad they released the V since its at a price point I was waiting for....I think they should have waited until all the compatability/HD conversions had been taken care off...I can see how upgrading to the V for some existing customers had to be painful with regards to all the sudden large % of your owned library not available.
Jin-X
Well-known member
The V is mainly targeted at new customers, so it makes sense they wouldn’t wait to convert the whole back catalog. The part that is holding me back are the bugs.
tinboski
Well-known member
I wasn’t new. I wanted it for Dolby Vision.
Yikes! These are my frustrations as well. I sold my C and purchased two V's as soon as it was released. It took a few days to realize the issue with titles not all being immediately watchable and in hindsight, I may have proceeded with more caution.
I do have confidence that they are making progress though. I believe the team there is working to take care of us. I only have 22 movies titles remaining with issues.
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Hang in there, things are improving almost everyday with the V. The latest software update fixes many of the issues owners noted, and the content folks are working hard to update the HD titles.
Jim
Jim
The Updates page only shows movies that are currently resident on one of your systems, so it would not show up there. Unfortunately, the same is sort of true of the Strato V Compatibility page. You'd see it appear in the "Update your downloaded HD titles to a compatible HD version" list, but only on the "Downloaded Movies" tab. You'd have to manually check to see if it's no longer on the All My Movies tab.
I'm checking with the team to see if there's something I'm overlooking there.
Thanks. Are you suggesting that it may be of benefit to keep the SD titles downloaded if only for the purpose of receiving an update notification when the HD version is V compatible? Or the HD titles? Or either?
I hope you didn't actually mean "disingenuous," which implies dishonesty and deception.
You're right, though, the current definition of "compatible" does include SD versions. Our focus in designing the Strato V Compatibility page was to show you all of the ways that you could get to a playable version of the movie on your system, including updating to a new HD version, upgrading to 4K, or downloading an SD version that might be an acceptable alternative in case you wanted to revisit a movie while waiting for an updated HD version.
I'll just be perfectly frank here: I think we missed the mark on this feature. Because some of these categories can overlap (e.g. there might be a 4K version available and an SD version), we end up showing numbers that don't appear to add up in any rational way. And really, while an SD version might viable in some cases, nobody is going to watch something like Gravity in SD with Dolby Digital audio.
I would argue that in this respect, you're in better shape than with many previous home movie formats. For example, I still own some LaserDiscs. They're mine for life. I can still play them, because my player still works, but if that player dies, it's not like I can go down to Best Buy and pick up another one. Meanwhile, I have hundreds of movies that I bought on Kaleidescape when the M500 was our flagship player. Most of those are playable on Strato V, and the count of movies that aren't is dropping virtually every day (my count has dropped by three since you posted your question). And the good news is that the new HD format (like our 4K format) is significantly more future-proof than the old HD format.
This is frankly irresponsible speculation. It was time in the product cycle for a new player. We've been working on it for years. We believe it's a compelling offering for new Kaleidescape customers, and that belief has been borne out by enthusiastic sales response. We recognized that it would not necessarily be an immediate fit for current customers because the content conversion process would take time to complete, which is why we (a) continue selling Strato C and (b) have the Strato V Compatibility page so that a new owner considering a purchase can have an understanding of what the content situation is before they buy. We could have done a better job on that page, and I am going to push to update it for increased clarity.
You would need to have the HD version downloaded to see an Update notification.
Hey, as mentioned, I did ask the team if they had other suggestions for how someone might keep an eye out for updated HD content that is not downloaded to their system.
If you go to the Strato V Compatibility page on the store and select the "All My Movies" tab, one of the rows there is "Ready to Download". If you click on the title of that row, it will show all of the movies that are in that category. As discussed earlier in this thread, that may include some SD titles. But if you then click the Video filter option and select HD, you'll see only movies that are ready to download in HD format. You can apply various sorts to that view to make it easier to find the one(s) you're interested in. Unfortunately, we don't have a sort for "recently updated to new HD format" -- that would be perfect for what you need, but this may at least be helpful.
I see what you're saying. My "Ready to Download" shows all of my movies, including those that are downloaded, so I'm not actually sure the purpose of that area.
I've decided to download all movies though, HD compatible or not, SD only for now or not. Hopefully that will allow me to see movie updates. I only have 21. I feel bad for the guys with hundreds, not sure how they'd manually check all of this. Thanks for getting back to me!
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Ah, yeah, that is unfortunate. I will mention that to the team as well. It seems like stuff that is already downloaded really doesn't belong in that row.
rafaelsmith
Well-known member
So taking Gravity as an example. Its only available in SD currently for the Strato V....the only way to know when the HD version is available is to keep checking it manually?
You should be able to download the non-compatible hd version and you will be notified when the update is available.
This is the way I understand it. SD versions don't take up too much real estate on the hard drive.