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Suggest me a system

I am continuing to document my journey here for those who have very large disc collections and considering to transition to Kaleidescape.

I traded my Strato 6TB (2U) towards a new Terra 72TB + Strato C combo. I have had less 24 hours with the new setup but so far I noticed two things.

One, there is a noticeable increase in the audio quality. Kaleidescape previously confirmed, 1U and 2U units have the exact same hardware and runs the same software. So how can this be? The Strato C doesn’t have the hard drive in the same enclosure. This is the first suspect. I have an SOTM nNH-10g audiophile grade network switch with the SOTM clock upgrade ahead of the Strato C. As you know, the Strato C gets the A/V stream from the Terra server via the home network. This is the second suspect. Well, there is also that placebo effect factor but this usually happens when you expect such improvements. I honestly didn‘t even think for a moment that the Strato C was going to outperform my Strato in audio. I made the trade solely because of the multi room benefits.

Two, the Terra+Strato C combo is significantly more responsive. The GUI is much snappier. I often had stutters in the animations while the cover arts reorganized. This no longer happens. When I click on a cover art, the details appear within a second or two. In my Strato, this was also the case but not always. I believe Kscape uses Raid0 on the Terra servers. Raid0 with 4 drives can theoretically yield 4 times the read/write speeds and decreased latency. Although it isn’t explained in detail, Kscape markets the Terra servers to have the highest processing power.

It has been reported many times that the download speeds are up to gigabit speeds now. I can also confirm this. Most HD downloads are around 4 mins and 4K downloads are around 7 mins.


With the recent upgrades, I currently have the following now.

3U Premiere server (purchased used)
14x 6TB drives (purchased new)

1x M700 Disk Vault/Player (purchased used)
3x DV700 Disc Vaults (purchased used)
——
CoStar for Lumagen Radiance Pro (purchased new)
——
Terra 72TB (purchased new)
Strato C (purchased new)

Note: I made all my new items purchases from Jim at Cinelife. I couldn’t be happier. Jim is an excellent Kscape dealer. He is a great friend too. %110 trustworthy.
 
I am glad I went with the 72TB version Terra. I am already above 48TB :)

I haven’t added anything new to my systems but made some rearrangements. I now have a second Lumagen Radiance ahead of the M700 player on the Costar input of my first Lumagen Radiance Pro. The first Radiance Pro is the 5348 (RP5348) model with 4K capabilities hence the Strato-C is directly connected to its input 2. The second Radiance is the 2144 (R2144) model which can take only 1080p inputs. The M700 is connected to its input 1 and R2144’s output is connected to the input 8 of RP 5348. As to why? Because R2144 processes SD video far better than RP5348. It has a world class dual architecture (FPGA based and Gennum VXP based) deinterlacing, SD to HD scaling and enhancements (mosquito, 2D/3D video noise reduction). As an added bonus, Costar switching is now faster.

If you have a lot of SD content on your Premiere system, I highly recommend an older Lumagen (even a Radiance Mini). I believe this would work on the Kscape branded Costar switch as well.
 
Just getting started, here. Wanted to give you a hugs THANKS!!!

Documenting your journey helped to clarify so many things I have been reading across lots of other threads.

I have a lot of foreign DVDs and BRs which aren't in the store, so your setup is almost exactly what I'll need to aim at. Hopefully, I won't need as many vaults when everything is said and done, but time will tell.
 
I am glad I went with the 72TB version Terra. I am already above 48TB :)

I haven’t added anything new to my systems but made some rearrangements. I now have a second Lumagen Radiance ahead of the M700 player on the Costar input of my first Lumagen Radiance Pro. The first Radiance Pro is the 5348 (RP5348) model with 4K capabilities hence the Strato-C is directly connected to its input 2. The second Radiance is the 2144 (R2144) model which can take only 1080p inputs. The M700 is connected to its input 1 and R2144’s output is connected to the input 8 of RP 5348. As to why? Because R2144 processes SD video far better than RP5348. It has a world class dual architecture (FPGA based and Gennum VXP based) deinterlacing, SD to HD scaling and enhancements (mosquito, 2D/3D video noise reduction). As an added bonus, Costar switching is now faster.

If you have a lot of SD content on your Premiere system, I highly recommend an older Lumagen (even a Radiance Mini). I believe this would work on the Kscape branded Costar switch as well.
I figured I need to make a couple of updates here.

Lumagen Radiance Pro got a few firmware updates since my above post from 2 years ago. The SD processing have been significantly improved with these new firmware updates. Lumagen Radiance Pro now handles SD video better than my Radiance 2144 except very few minor cases. You can ignore my above recommendation and connect your SD sources directly into you Radiance Pro with the latest firmware updates on it.

Updated system details (upgrades in bold:

3U Premiere server (purchased used/currently not in use)
3U Premiere server (purchased used/newer revision logic board than my previous server/ I upgraded RAM and CPU/installed new PSU)

You can see the upgrades and revision details on this link.

Kscape System Specs

14x 6TB drives (purchased new)

2x M300 (purchased used/not in use)
1x M500 (purchased used/region A)

1x M700 Disk Vault/Player (purchased used/region B)
3x DV700 Disc Vaults (purchased used/will sell one of them soon)
——
CoStar license for Lumagen Radiance Pro (purchased new)
CoStar HDMI Switch (purchased new)

I can confirm Lumagen Radiance Pro works as beautifully as the CoStar switch (or vice versa). They are about the same speed. I haven’t had a single glitch or lock up since day one on both.

——
Terra 72TB (purchased new)
Strato C (purchased new)
Strato C (purchased new /new version with the revisioned front fascia which matches the Compact Terra)


Note: I made all my new items purchases from Jim at Cinelife. I couldn’t be happier. Jim is an excellent Kscape dealer. He is a great friend too. %110 trustworthy.

Jim deserves all the praise. Thanks to his help, I put together a killer Kaleidescape system in a very short time while staying within a reasonable budget. I also made a very good friend. Thank you Jim!
 
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