Is THIS the BEST WAY to WATCH MOVIES? Kaleidescape Strato V Review

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

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[@gkal7217]

My main problem with buying physical media is that I rarely rewatch a movie. I guess that’s why people don’t buy movies and just rent online. I can’t justify paying for a physical media ( with some exceptions of course) …plus the space problem. I can’t have a wall full of cds , dvds, blu rays , vinyl. I prefer a more clean looking space since I live in a small apartment.

[@wishbone1138]

@@gkal7217 nice thing about kscape, you can also rent for less (and then buy at a discount if you really want to own it)

[@bzdtemp]

Interesting to learn about the Strato V. Their pricing for the servers is however just insane, like buying a Mac with more than base storage 🙂 I wonder, how does what the Strato V offer in term of quality compare to the Bravia Core streaming service from Sony? You should have free access to the Bravia Core as it comes as a bonus with their more fancy offerings like TV's, phones and more. The Bravia Core service requires something like 100 Mbps+ to let you stream at max quality and personally I have never seen anything surpass it, although not all movies on their service is that high a quality.

[@DrakonR]

@@gkal7217 bot comment

[@mannyc19]

My 2003 911 Carrera S cost me less, then a full build out of the KScope system. I have a massive library of DVDs and BDs and will never give them up, I cannot ever trust these companies. And we have not gone into the 'stealth' edits of older movies/tv because of 'Problematic' scenes.

[@BloopsnBleeps]

I'll never give up physical media. Unless you have the disc, you're renting the rights to watch your content and it can be removed or edited

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Technically, a disc is merely your license. While I think the studios and record labels "lost" their battles regarding the re-selling of discs by private and third-party re-sellers, such practices were originally and may still be, technically, illegal. But I see your point.

[@BloopsnBleeps]

​​​@@andrewrobinsonreviewsthe difference is my "license" with the disc allows me to watch offline, share with people, unable to edit the content based off societal changes, superior picture and sound, bonus features, etc

[@AndySomething]

​@@BloopsnBleeps I mean there are other options than just streaming vs physical/disc media. You can have digital copies of films and retain the same control as discs, yet have the advantage of less space used and easier backup/playback.

[@BloopsnBleeps]

​@@AndySomethingWhat digital copy would you have that retains as much control as a disc? Also, the audio and video quality suffer, so if you're looking for the truest form of film preservation, it would be physical

[@heftyfunseeker9987]

This is not true with K-scape. You actually purchase the license differently than other digital stores. If k-scape loses the license to sell, you still have the right to play the media and redownload it. I own the Strato V - it’s fantastic

[@stevenmichael7770]

Hard pass. Making storage proprietary so you have to buy it from them at a 10x markup is criminal. You can also only redownload your purchases for as long as they stay in business and keep those servers running. The concept is great, but the execution puts me off.

[@ballstadt]

@@stevenmichael7770 it’s not criminal, it’s how they remain legit with the studios. What’s criminal are “beta” products like MakeMKV providing a resource for users to defeat existing copy protection on discs in order to “backup” their media with other users around the world.

[@ballstadt]

What's criminal is cracking copy protection to "backup" your media.

[@frostman9661]

@@ballstadt what SHOULD be criminal is producers putting that copy protection in the first place. The vast majority of people just want to have their physical media available on other devices and to back it up in case of damage, theft, or fire. Most aren't torrenting it.

[@ballstadt]

@@frostman9661 so producers and studios don’t have the right to protect their intellectual property? Weird. That’s like saying it should be criminal to put locks on your front door or your car. It should be criminal to allow you to have a password on your bank account.

[@frostman9661]

@@ballstadt Not remotely comparable examples my dude... If I bought a painting from an artist the artist doesn't own it any more. I do.

[@Edog1337]

$4000 to hold four 4k movies seems ridiculous. I built my unraid server with over 100TB for 2k, and can run plex over my wifi to tv or Nvidia Shield. Holds my whole collection. My 4k blurays often running at 130mbps. Not sure how this competes with a regular 4k blu ray player or a NAS or server running plex. This seems like off the shelf server rental for millionaires.

[@JFLessard]

I have no doubt the quality is top notch. But in my opinion, physical media is still king in the way of price and “really” owning the movie.

[@PaulOfCreation]

So true

[@Hamza-yu1ur]

If Apple ever introduces a high bit-rate tier for streaming movies on their store, the Kaleidescape business will collapse. And for $4,000 you’re only getting a 1TB storage, so 10 4K files. Kaleidescape doesn’t even carry the criterion collection, which is a massive deal breaker for me.

[@Antimonkat]

@@Hamza-yu1ur better still if you do upgrade to a Terra prime it doesn't even stack with the 1 TB. It just becomes useless and unusable so a complete waste of money for that money. I wish they put in a 10 TB hard drive versus the flash drive would be a better value overall

[@Antimonkat]

@@Hamza-yu1ur as far as Apple or anyone else offering a higher bit rate streaming, I wouldn't count on it. Bandwidth is expensive. Kaleidoscope can do what they do because they're offloading a lot of the networking and bandwidth costs on the hardware. Apple TVs don't cost several thousand dollars so they're not going to be able to do that The same way. You can get high bitrate from Sony Bravia core, but that's only the only content so that's not really an answer

[@stevewright1539]

@@Antimonkat this was an obvious calculation. Even a 4TB drive (these are nvme drives) would allow for the full Kaleidescape GUI. At 4TB there is less motivation to buy more storage. The V is an entry way but they expect you to spend more.

[@flavius6497]

You have access to all your purchases.....until you don't.

[@StevenHemingway1]

Only a 75-inch or above???? Nah. Even on my 65-inch TV, the 4K disc doesn't even TOUCH a 4K stream...... both in terms of visuals and (as you mentioned) audio. Take the original BLADE RUNNER. The 4K disc resolves the grain beautifully. It looks FANTASTIC. The stream is mush.

[@ashliehiggins]

@@StevenHemingway1 I use a 42C2 and going from a 5-10mbps stream to a 85-100mbps disc is night and day just for sharpness, clarity, and importantly colour no dithering or banding and they look like they are printed on the screen.

[@StevenHemingway1]

@@ashliehiggins Exactly. KS is the same thing. To say it's only noticeable at 75-inches is RIDICULOUS. Like I mentioned, older movies (let's take Ridley Scott's ALIEN and BLADE RUNNER) look INSANELY good on 4K disc vs the mushy stream.

[@ballstadt]

@@StevenHemingway1 Kaleidescape isn't a stream, though. How large is the file on your Avengers: Endgame disc? It's under 66GB, compared to Kaleidescape's 111GB. Care to compare?

[@StevenHemingway1]

@@ballstadt Didn't say it was. Sometimes, KS is even BETTER than the disc. My point being, AR said that the difference between a stream and KS isn't noticeable below 75 inches, and I said that's not even remotely true. Seems like you didn't watch the video, so you don't know what I am commenting on.

[@ballstadt]

@@StevenHemingway1 I misinterpreted your post. Too many people believe Kaleidescape is streaming. I watched the video. Your first post says "4K disc doesn't touch a stream" which, I'm still not sure what that is supposed to mean, and immediately positioned your argument as being "Kaleidescape is streaming and isn't as good as 4K disc."

[@typkrft]

The pricing is absurd and exploitative. The price for a 96TB player is ~26k. You can buy 5x20TB hdds for $1890. The only difference I can see between models is space. So the idea of a company charging a 20k premium on a HDDs is enough for me to say thats not a company I'd like to do business with.

[@johnnocanuck]

A good disc player and 4k DVDs are still much cheaper and not really less convenient.

[@GIGyards]

- $9,000 for a Strato V and the cheapest additional storage (8TB) - Never own anything tangible - If the business fails you have a $9,000 paperweight - AV quality compared to 4k UHD discs is a push So for an absurd 30x cost differential compared to a great 4k disc player, and all the inherent risk you take by adopting this format, the pay off is what? A run-of-the-mill UI and no wicked cool physical media collection to show off? You willingly give up ownership and pay 30x all for "convenience". That long grueling slog of opening a case and dropping a disc in a tray, oh the humanity!

[@jbart9309]

I have 100% interest in what Kaleidoscope does as stated by Andrew. I have 0% interest at the current price. The device would have to be no more than $500 to get me on board.

[@Pocketkid2]

I think most people will find better value for the money building a 4K Bluray collection than using Kaleidescape. I know I do. I have no desire to pay a company to do all the work for me, because half of the reason I am into physical media is because I want more direct control over my library and how it is played.

[@shannonhamilton4039]

Not to mention, most of us already have the media, so why repurchase? Plus there is some odd sadistic pleasure in taking the time to rip your CD's and DVD's and organize your media server/network.

[@blazinreviews2393]

No thanks, physical media is way better and I actually own it. For the price of the Strato, I can buy numerous and I do mean numerous 4K movies.

[@steverossman8456]

When you buy movies on that, you don't actually own them. They can remove titles at any time.

[@hellomichaelmohan]

Long time listener, first time caller here-love your channel, Andrew. Gotta correct you on one tiny detail: Kaleidescape doesn’t carry everything. Case in point: my latest film had a legit theatrical run earlier this year and is on Disney+, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon…but not Kaleidescape. No idea why. Anyway, fun fact: Kaleidescape actually shut down in 2016 and laid off pretty much everyone before a last-minute cash infusion revived them. So instead of dropping $4,000 on a single piece of hardware and zero movies, you could buy a Panasonic DP-UB820 and over 100 4K Blu-rays. And unless a cinephile burglar breaks into your home, you’ll always own them.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Regarding the question of why your film, Immaculate (2024), isn't available on the Kaleidescape movie store, that would be a question for your distributor, Neon, as their titles appear on the store regularly; case in point, Longlegs which retails for $17.79. To the best of my knowledge, Kaleidescape doesn't discriminate as to which titles they sell and which titles they don't, so I would encourage you to reach out to Neon to see if something can't be done. I didn't say Kaleidescape had everything, I said, they had everything I searched for comparable to AppleTV and other services. I suppose I could've gone on to say, but your mileage may vary as I can see Immaculate is available on other services but not Kaleidescape. As for the rest, you're right. Kaleidescape almost went out of business years and years ago, but that was due to issues of legality (in the eyes of the studio) with their past business model and products. As things are today, they really are no different in terms of licensing and contracts from that of other streaming platforms, so the threat of going under has less to do with their services and content than it did years ago. With respect to the rest of your argument, as stated in my review, if you want to hang on to physical media, that's great. If you want to build your own K-Scape-like server, more power to you. Different strokes for different folks.

[@Monsux]

I'm here wondering about the cost of everything. I can get a 96TB media server for about 3k + connect that to Nvidia Shield Pro or something like that. I've been running 80GB+ 4k DV movies with DTS X and Atmos for a long time now. Sounds just insane how and why someone would pay that much for some company products that also limits how you can use it. Just ridiculous if you can't connect your own media server storage.

[@ItzLnX]

This, just this..

[@unbanmekoil]

Exactly. I do the same except with Xbox Series X instead of Shield. Atmos or DTSX sound sublime through the HT-A9

[@gingersmedia]

$4,000 for the player itself isnt actually the turn off I thought it would be, but $27,000 to get only another ~100 TB? Yikes, and I thought Apple's storage pricing was insulting lol. The INSANE external storage cost combined with having the same ownership drawbacks as any other digital purchase is enough for me to stray away from this option and continue with my plans to build a plex server from ripped versions of all my discs. Really great review however, very insightful on how the whole operation works!

[@ballstadt]

@gingersmedia The SSD servers are targeted for Kaleidescape's marine installation market, not for typical home installation. Kaleidescape themselves will tell you there is little or no benefit to using SSD storage for a home installation, outside of energy efficiency and operating noise level. The full-size Terra servers have greater storage capacities, and also have user-replaceable hard drives in case of failure, so there's little reason to go with the SSD servers for a home theater.

[@tsemczuk]

...ummmm... Plex, anyone?

[@daveonezero6258]

Does it work for HDR though? I found that part to not be very well fleshed out.

[@Jaholibop]

HDR on Plex works great

[@craigosterberg5045]

I’ll stick to the 4k discs.

[@gina4008]

Same here.

[@davonfranklin5158]

Quality is not better than the disc. It's a marketing ploy.

[@MrCollective]

Unless you've experienced what Kaleidescape offers directly, I'd say you'd be hard press to prove if it's disc media or a server file.

[@DannyLopez-v3j]

I have the Strato V for my apartment theater. At first I was skeptical. I had the original box ready to repack the K-Scape to return it. After calibrating my AVR, I actually threw the packing box away. THE most noticeable difference is with the audio. Especially, Dolby Atmos. The level of detail cannot be matched by any streaming service or even UHD Blu-Ray. I will NOT be replacing this K-Scape anytime soon.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Appreciate you sharing your own experience.

[@RodrigoBarbosaPhotographer]

Absurdly overpriced, for $2500 you get a 60tb Synology NAS, a Nvidia Shiled or a Zidoo player and still have money left for a few movies.

[@MrCollective]

I've played with Kaleidescape since 2015 when I sold them through Magnolia. But while they're amazing products, even if you're willing to spend the money to make the investment, it really isn't worth the cost to benefit unless you've got a media room / theater setup. Yes a large living room TV is nice to run it on, but most people aren't going to spend the time mainly watching movies or even recorded concerts that are offered in their livingroom all the time. 100% an amazing product that I would absolutely own if I've got a said media room setup. But otherwise, spending that money on impervious your audio experience will be much more enjoyed in the long run if that is not the case.

[@Alster763]

The fact you can't connect a NAS or External Drive is a complete deal breaker

[@broskitlove321]

with all due respect, ill stick with physical.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

That's fine. You have to do what makes sense for you. Appreciate you watching all the same!

[@jjnewbold]

I'm a Blu-ray collector and love it

[@janet1fan620]

No thanks ,I rather have a 4K Blu-ray Disc and player nothing beats the quality of the 4K movie disc 😝

[@tfk40]

$5000 and only holds 4 movies at a time? No thanks. I'll stick with physical media and streaming.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

That’s not exactly what I said or how much the Strato V can hold.

[@StevenHemingway1]

Why would you need to watch four movies at the same time? You can still own as many as you want. Just download four at a time.

[@brianhorrorfan]

It has a 1tb SSD drive so it holds a lot more than that depending on movie size and is $3600 if you get it through some places. It holds 10-12 4k Dolby vision/HDR at one time again depending on size (60-100gb each??)and if you have gig internet the servers are great and will get you a movie in 6-12 minutes. It boils down to do you have a theater or something like it (not watching on just a 48" TV using TV speakers or sound bar) where you see the biggest difference in lossless audio on a decent surround sound IMO.

[@iansteventon4221]

Give me a 4k discs all day long. Its mine and nobody can alter or take it away from me. I look forward to me films arriving through the door and checking out the features.

[@gina4008]

As for me, long live physical media. You can't beat the Atmos or Video quality; no buffering, no dropped signals or iffy WiFi or maxing out server space.

[@Maur1c1oQ]

An internal hard drive with a mere 960GB available in 2024 is UTTERLY RIDICULOUS. Quality 4TB SSDs are readily available everywhere for just a few hundred bucks.

[@ballstadt]

You're paying for more than the hardware. They're more than a hardware vendor.

[@daveonezero6258]

Most people interested in this type of technology either have physical media or already have digital copies of the media they want.

[@mustangfred2006]

The puppy was a nice touch. I needed that. lol

[@samd6405]

High cost of entry doesn’t make sense over physical media. And the overly priced storage adds insult to injury. I want to be able to sort through my library of movies to watch and not be limited to ~5 titles simultaneously.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

You want to sort through your library and not be limited to five titles simultaneously? How are you watching five movies simultaneously on a Blu-ray player?

[@samd6405]

@ understood…but for the cost of entry doesn’t make sense to me. I have a wall of BlueRay videos that I can easily pick through. Plus, in 5 yrs can you guarantee this company will still exist? I can’t imagine the mass market is willing to adopt this high level, which is why they are likely having to charge so much. I can buy an awful lot of physical disc movies for $4k. In theory, I love the idea…but again the cost is ridiculous for extra storage…$27k how many TB was that for?? I think that is what irks me the most. If there was an option to add or access a NAS or similar then it would be a bit more enticing.

[@ColoradoKid303]

The huge difference for me is with my physical media library (approx 800 titles), I look through it and make a decision very easily. When I scroll through stuff on a screen it takes way longer to commit and make a decision. The experience of that frankly means a lot less to me. I have stopped movies I wasn’t liking and went on to scroll for another one many times. Never once have I done that with a disk from the collection. It’s that way with all of these services. Music means less now, movies, TV. It’s all in over abundance and disposable.

[@levinile7221]

I’ll stick with my 4K Blu Rays. Love ‘em.

[@yonoerasi]

A big nope....nothing like physical....specially with limits in storing

[@welshtechie6832]

I watch streaming a lot however, 4K Blu Ray you are missing a BIG POINT!!! They are not cheap but the price of extra space on Kaleidescape is ridiculous! If their service dies so does the media! For the price of a decent car you could lose it all! I rip my 4k media on the PC - if the hard drive dies i still have the disc to rip again! I despise streaming and what it does to freedom! Control all the way in wokery and what they do. If you could plug in your own external media it would be fine but I guess the studios will not allow it tossers

[@andrewtufts5301]

I don't understand what the point of this product is. I could achieve the same thing with a decently powerful Plex server. As you stated in the beginning of the video, you had already converted your physical collection to digital. With good enough specs, a Plex server could easily do what this product does and you could own your content.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

All decent points, but not everyone wants to rip every disc in their collection and keep doing that every time a new movie comes out.

[@greenbeginner3353]

The key issue, for me, is content. I haven’t seen a movie in months, YEARS , that had a storyline, script, acting, cinematography, that captured my attention beyond just one viewing. I guess I’m just not a “movie person.”

[@jillbraser9302]

Correct

[@davonfranklin5158]

I’ve watched all, and I do mean all, of the Strato V reviews, by everyone; and not one person mentioned the Dolby Vision black frames. Wonder why? This is why your voice is needed in this community.

[@andrewvenditelli152]

This is simply for a completely different class of buyer. It won’t ever replace physical media for me. The price is astronomical compared to 4k disc player and the storage is incredibly small. I’m someone who often doesn’t know what I’m in the mood to watch until I browse my collection. No way I want to wait that long to download a movie every time.

[@user-gs4oi1fm4l]

Agreed the downloading would drive me nuts

[@newt6639]

I love my 84 TB PLEX server all 4k movies.

[@TuiCatNZ]

Only a single 1TB hdd? Lame

[@richardvacanti9428]

Still way too expensive for the average person are you nuts?

[@dan_hitchman007]

A less than 1TB internal SSD for a $4,000 media player... KScape must think we are all a bunch of saps. You can get a Zidoo or Dune player that does almost the same thing. Throw in a modest NAS storage unit and some patience in archiving your Blu-ray and 4k Blu-ray collection and you can have similar AV quality and instantaneous access to your collection for a fraction of the price.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Something I mention in the video, though, for a lot of folks, the idea of spending weeks, months, or even years maintaining their own media server is a non-starter; same as the cost of a K-Scape system is for you.

[@dan_hitchman007]

@andrewrobinsonreviews KScape is fine... if you have the money and can afford to lose your collection if, god-forbid, they go under, which they almost did a couple times. What I find outrageous and a non-starter, for me (and for many people if you read a lot of the home theater boards), is their external server prices. Their cost per TB of storage is far, far beyond any reasonable expectations. There must be a sizeable dealer markup on the hardware; more than most AV gear. Toys for the well-heeled only. Normal folk need not apply.

[@Formal_Andy]

Being a person who prefers watching movies on Blu-ray, I'll say I'd love to embrace Kaleidescape. There's just two glaring issues. The first is, THE PRICE is ABSURD. The second, is it's still tied to the internet with proprietary hardware. In other words, you still don't actually OWN what you buy on there. Internet dies? You're screwed. The upside to owning a movie on disc or porting the files to your own digital hard drive, is it's forever in your hands. For that, sadly, the Kaleidescape is a deal breaker to me for that.

[@Muskyfishn84]

If it’s not better than my oppo 205, I’m out. Physical media is always king and I have the king of players

[@pdmerritt]

it is and has always been way too expensive imho. For $4k you can build your own NAS, get streaming devices for all tv's and have several options for playing the media and getting metadata from pretty comprehensive sources. Yes it takes time to rip the movies but once it's done it's done.

[@calmic75]

This

[@GIGyards]

I'll take it a step further For the cost of the cheapest K-scape the StratoV and the smallest TeraPrime storage option you'll be at $9,000 before taxes. If you wanted something similar, for around $1,500 you could buy a zidoo z9x pro and a NAS, pay someone $20/hour working 12hr days for 7 days to source the UHD films and copy them over costing $1,680 for labor. That leaves you $5,820 for physical discs at $15/disc is 388 movies, which can then be sold once they're copied recouping most or all of the investment, rinse and repeat dividing your sub contractors labor according to this process. Maybe diminishing financial disc resale returns at around 1,200 movies *shrug* or maybe you feel like you've done enough by then. This is all just a preposterously silly exercise to illustrate the absurd cost of the cheapest K-scape option

[@m4nc1n1]

I'm not a fan of Kaleidescape because of its cost, especially the storage (Worse than Apple)! Not to mention if they go out of business. My 40TB of 1563 movies on my NAS playing through a Ziddo UHD 8000 will never disappear. Streaming is not their main competition; 4K and regular Blu-rays are. How does Kaleidescape compare to a disk?

[@wesleywittekiend423]

This is an interesting device, but at $4000 this is basically wildly out of reach for 99% of people. You could easily get a full home theater system with TV and surround sound for that price. No doubt physical discs can be a bit of a pain, but if you were to go that route instead, you could easily get yourself a 4K player and 200+ movies for the same price. Not to mention that they're yours forever and no company bankruptcy or licensing issues can take them away from you. Additionally, most of these 4Ks will come with a digital code as well allowing you to watch them on virtually any device. If you don't already have a $20,000+ home theater and more money than you know what to do with, this shouldn't even be on your radar.

[@Excalabur50]

TBH I prefer physical media, then ripping it to my NAS then using VLC via my Nvidia Shield TV, that way also if anything goes wrong I can just bust out the disk and watch it from there.

[@PietroPizzi]

I love my KODI+NAS, which in comparrison costs nothing and has much more features and flexibility BUT I admit it is a lot of work.

[@joec2818]

This is a good review BUT… …there are still thousands of movies and TV shows not available via streaming (anywhere). Sorry, that is a very provable fact. Now, does your average casual movie watcher care? Probably not, because they want to watch the latest and (mostly not so) greatest. That being said, if you are a casual movie watcher, in the “money is no object” crowd, with a 75+ inch screen and have a good internet connection, this is a good choice. I just can’t ever see paying $29.99 for rights to a digital file. There are digital deals all the time for $4.99/$9.99 “4K” releases. Yes, I know this is not the same quality as what KScape does. I’d imagine if this was a more cost effective product, someone would figure out a way around the copy protection.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

In other words, if it were cheaper more people would get it and figure out how to steal from it? Wow. Also, K-Scape has tons of movie deals. Not every film is $30 as illustrated in the video with Deadpool Wolverine.

[@joec2818]

@ - it was an offhand flippant comment about potential piracy if the platform gained popularity, not an endorsement. Though realistically most people are satisfied with a much lower quality and file size versus a 60-100 GB file per movie - so it’s probably not even realistic or practical. I have several thousand physical media discs and am not a general advocate for piracy. If a film is out of print and unavailable on HD media due to “rights issues” though… Point taken on the varying prices for older releases but it seems like the $29.99 price point is standard for new “blockbusters”.

[@JeepFan2010]

Good review, but something you didn’t mention here and so many of the commentors here don’t realize, there is the Disc to Digital option that Kaleidescape provides. This means you can actually “rip” a a DVD or Blu-Ray disc you own into your Kaleidescape Library. Unfortunately 4K is not an option at this time. But for a fee, that DVD or Blu-Ray version can be upgraded to 4K in your library if the 4K version is available. I think this feature adds to the value of a system like this. And since almost every 4K disc sold comes with a Blu-Ray copy as well, just scan in the Blu-Ray version into your Kaleidescape Libray, and for a nominal fee you can have an offsite 4K version of your physical disc. Kinda the best of both worlds.

[@davidcarlyle3329]

This review completely left out the single most compelling advantage the Kaleidescape system offers: rentals. There is simply no other way to rent a movie in full lossless quality anymore. Physical media rentals are gone. Any streaming rental will have lossy audio. For anyone who frequently rents films before purchasing them, this system is unmatched. I wish this had been discussed during the review, with some coverage of rental prices vs. Apple, etc. I do not have a K system... yet, but if I were to buy it, renting is the biggest reason why I would take the leap.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Very good point, yes, full-quality rentals is an upside and apologies for not making a bigger deal of that fact. Good catch!

[@davidcarlyle3329]

@@andrewrobinsonreviews This kind of reply is why you're the best a/v reviewer out there. If you do a follow up for Friday's video, I'd love to see you talk about rentals. Also, can't wait for the 90 review to drop. Cheers.

[@wfifa199]

You can still rent 4k blu ray discs in the UK

[@GIGyards]

I find it improbable that someone who spends $10k on a K-scape and minimal storage is rubbing two pennies together when it come to a $20 rental vs a $25-30 purchase. However, the cost differential of buying a premium 4k blu-ray player over a K-scape would leave you with enough leftover to buy about 600 HDR/UHD discs at around $15/each.

[@MrVuvu]

Doesn't Plex media server do the same thing?

[@ballstadt]

Nope. It does a lot of it, if you want to put in the time and effort. PLEX also adds live tv and dvr, which is now my primary use for it. But it doesn't connect to a movie store that lets you download new movies with a single click and have them on your system 10 minutes later without having to order, buy, wait for it to arrive, rip it, fix metadata, etc. Other than that, sure, it does.

[@jackleonard2088]

Yeah, I’ll pass. I’ve had enough of music I “owned” on iTunes disappear to ever fall, for that one again.

[@damienw9732]

Such a strange product in 2024/5, the prices on the hardware makes no sense. what if this company goes bust, everything is lost. buying a Panasonic 9000 4k player and 130 4k discs is the same price as the Strato v before you've purchased any movies. storage is ultra cheap these days.

[@Albert-ed3hg]

What ever the best quality is, give me......PHYSICAL it is!

[@andrishalim]

While I understand the convenience, I do wonder, why do you want the closest experience to physical media, when you do/ can own the physical media? And aside from the monstrous 5-27 grand you may have to spend, what about the fact that you actually NEVER own the movie? When you said you can always have access to your purchases, able to watch it whenever you like, as many times as you like, does that mean, forever? Even when they have problems with any studio that won't allow them to broadcast the movies anymore? Or.. what about when you have stopped paying them your subscription? Or.. what if the provider happens to get out of the business? Would you still be able to have access to your previous purchases? Watching the video, I understand that the only difference it has: This one is NOT streaming. But other than that, it sounds pretty similar to the other providers. Based on my past experience, it is always risky to rely on any digital provider/ platforms - Esp. when you love movies so much.. Before you know it, your film library is gone, for good

[@gina4008]

Good points!

[@GeraldDonovan]

@@gina4008 They're terrible points, poorly made. A verging on wilful level of ignorance on display. Kaleidescape don't "broadcast" anything. If you buy it, you own it. Even if in the future the studio's agreement for K'scape to sell the title is withdrawn, it remains in your library. You can download the movie to as many as 5 separate players - buy once, download to separate servers in your main house, city apartment, lakeside estate, yacht, and private jet. No extra charge. There is no subscription. You can playback any downloaded content without an internet connection.

[@PragmaticTornado]

Yeah I'll stick with my home server with almost 30TB of storage (with raid 1 redundancy). Proprietary storage solutions is just ridiculous.

[@daveonezero6258]

How do you play HDR content? Last I looked that never worked too well.

[@andk1987]

@@daveonezero6258 pretty easy madVR and hpc classic works well, supposedly VLC works well also.

[@Celestialrob]

Great video Andrew - best to you and Kristy. I have a 150" 2.35 screen and 4K projector, and looked at this system. I have about 1,000 discs and at least half are 4K. The average price paid for my discs is about $18 (Criterion 4K is $24, Amadeus arrives in 4k in February for $25). I can't imagine a format in the next 5-10 years that is better than a 4K 100 GB disc. To conclude, I love the idea of the Kaleidescape but the upfront costs, the walled garden issue and the increased costs of the movies makes this prohibitive for a collector, even when I have the $$. Thanks!

[@MisterJDavis]

Sunday Breakfast with Andrew & Kristi! The best part of Sunday’s! Thank you for another one!

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

So glad to be a part of your day. Thanks for watching!

[@KristiWright]

:)

[@Jaydread78]

Physical media 4LIFE! Especially with all the amazing artwork and special features included! It’s part of the experience and if you spin vinyl you’ll understand.…. Good luck with that 🍻

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

May I ask you an honest question? Have you ever watched one of my videos before, or did KZbin serve this to you because you usually watch movie or physical-media-collector-type videos? Not trying to pick a fight, just trying to better understand the situation. Thanks in advance for your reply.

[@Jaydread78]

@ been following you for awhile and I do enjoy you videos. I am a nostalgic Gen x’r that appreciates modern technology but at the same time without physical media, the world becomes a very dull and boring place. There is just something about loading a disk or dropping a needle or even pushing a vhs tape into a VCR that you can’t replace. Merry Christmas from 🇨🇦 🎄

[@socksforllamas]

This seems like bad value per dollar, especially when something like Plex offers the same sort of functionality in-home, while also allowing you to have your own “personal Netflix” to stream while away. That’s an enormous advantage in my book. For some people though, convenience or not having to do any setup work is worth a lot, I suppose. Based on price and limitations, this seems like something that would be best for those with a high-end dedicated theater they had someone else set up.

[@Bob_Smith19]

Friends don’t let friends use Plex. Emby is a better program if you don’t mind a walled garden. Jellyfin is FOSS and what you should be using.

[@DrakonR]

I'll stick with my physical media ripped to my home Plex Media server. It's not even close.

[@mops515]

Charging tens of thousands of dollars for expandable memory? Absolute madness. Especially since a cheap as dirt HDD is still fast enough to play 4K movies (albeit the downloads would be bottlenecked) This is a farce

[@robertlopez6430]

It really is a luxury item. The average person won’t consider it at this price. I wouldn’t invest money into this when it’s likely another company will come along in the next 10 years and do it cheaper and possibly render this obsolete. You’ll then have to hope your server doesn’t break down as well.

[@rluke3]

For $4,000 they can keep it.

[@bungalowtomcat1]

What BIT DEPTH are the Movies TV Shows in ? And Sound Formats ?

[@Teachering]

I prefer hard copy.

[@clarkdevan]

I’ve had the R_volution 8k Player for about 6 months now and it’s fantastic. I’ve been ripping my 4k, blu-ray and even dvd of old tv shows to my 16tb internal and 22tb external hdd. I have about 17tb of total shows and movies and the rvideo player makes them so easy to identify and organize. I have a mini too and hope to get the R_volution server/ripper soon. I recommend you get ahold of one and review it. You won’t be disappointed, I feel sure. The feeling of building your own “streaming” service as well as accessing your old discs out of storage boxes has been a cool part of the process and you feel like you didn’t waste all that money buying all those discs since 1998. makemkv for the win! Keep up the great work Andrew!

[@peppersmith]

The problem i hav with this is i hav 4000 movies and i'm Not Re-buying every single one of them over. Plus $5k for 4 4k movies. So, let's see i hav over 100 4k. So, i will need 25 Strato's at $125,000. Yeah, let me start saving - NOT!!!

[@ovlivion81]

If they can ever get the price of the product down to

[@JimboJason]

Thanks for the review! In my opinion the cost of entry is still too much of a luxury price point. Considering it cost $4000 and you need a high end 77" or 85" TV, to notice a difference, and you only have storage space for four movies before you drop another $5000 on the smallest extended storage option. I think I'll stick with my $500 4K Bluray player with physical media. There are just too many check boxes in the "not worth it" column for the majority of movie enthusiasts.

[@Reggaebeatman]

Physical Media all the way.....i like tangible...yeah i touch n feel person. Digital can vanish into thin air whilr physical u got for ever and cant erase

[@adamjj85]

This was a great comprehensive and fair review. I like what they do and have considered it. I think the two deal breakers for me are: 1. There is currently not enough of quality gain over physical disc. Based on lots of user forums and reviews, most movies don't have any noticeable differences. 2. The issue of losing everything if something happens to Kaleidescape. I would hope that a luxury product like this would offer some kind of legal deal with the studios so they would honor your purchases if K was to disappear. Otherwise, you're out thousands of dollars for the hardware and your entire digital collection.

[@ballstadt]

I love my Kaleidescape. Pricy, yes, but what people fail to realize is that you're paying for more than the parts. You're paying for the walled-garden security that allows Kaleidescape to offer the business model in the first place. You're paying for earlier access, higher quality, and if a movie is released in a new format, you pay an upgrade cost instead of repurchasing it from $0. If my 48TB server crashes, Kaleidescape will reload my library on a replacement and ship it out - no re-ripping, no worries about backups and redundancy. The support from this company is like a luxury car manufacturer vs the craigslist ad you get with the DIY solutions. Early access to titles is also nice. Several titles, like Pink Floyd's Delicate Sound of Thunder are unavailable on UHD disc, but I have it in UHD in my Kaleidescape. I came from a 60TB PLEX server. I've done both, there's no comparison to the convenience.

[@allunavaliable]

lmao so it's like a NAS with sonarr/radarr but it costs $5000?

[@donovanvargas2148]

I’m not rich to spend that much money, but if I were, what would be the recommended setup to take full advantage of something like this? Also, those it works outside USA?

[@JohnnyDelta-24]

Love the quality of movies on the Kaleidescape, but I have three reasons why it's a NO for me: 1) Too expensive; 2) No Wi-Fi is a dealbreaker; 3) I watch a lot of movies that I don't necessarily want to watch again, so streaming works best for me. And for the movies that I love dearly and want to always have on hand, it's cheaper to purchase 4K Blu-Ray discs.

[@raymondalcarion8791]

When content is purchased and downloaded, do we have access to our movies even if the company goes out of business? Will definitely consider once the price dips. Better sound and resolution and No clutter, yes please!

[@nonametofame]

short answer is yes, Once it's downloaded to a HD, it's yours to own, and you no longer need to be connected via internet to access them. But, like disc rot, if your HD fails, then you won't be able to download them again.

[@raymondalcarion8791]

Appreciate it 👌

[@chris.fitzgerald]

If Apple ever did lossless audio, they would win.

[@jbones1453]

You entirely lost me at a cap of 4 4K movies without buying a ridiculously over priced external storage. External hard drives should be a couple hundred at most. Not thousands or tens of thousands. I’m good with physical media until they come to their senses with pricing.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

That’s not exactly what I said. The Strato V can hold more than four 4K movies. I simply couldn’t do five 4K films with full Dolby Vision plus all the other titles I had on the V, too. Please rewatch that section, I clearly say that the number of downloads will vary based on the content.

[@Monsux]

The amount of movies is still super low. It's the same problem with my system when running full quality 4k DV movies on one m.2 SSD. My solution is to use 2x 2TB m.2 SSDs for movies I'm going to watch now or near future and use the larger media server for other movies. Small 1TB drive isn't even enough for cheap gaming consoles. I just can't understand how you can't use own media server (any storage option) with this device. It' nothing else than a PC that allocates storage space for their application. They are just limiting this to sell the 10x overpriced servers. What would sell this for plenty of users, the ability to play both your own and their sold options side by side in one app, using your own media server. If the users can't use their own media storage devices, this is instant failure. Also, would trust their money on one random company for all their "bought" movies. If it goes under, how would you download your content and how to play them using some other platform? ​@@andrewrobinsonreviews

[@theladyfingers___]

$30 for a download? No thanks. 1080p or 4K discs are cheaper and you can keep or even re-sell them.

[@TimothyMathetes-e2o]

Long Live Physical Media! Remember your video about how much fun it is to interact with vynals? That's exactly how I feel about movie discs.

[@RicardoHarvin]

My concern is with losing access to what I've paid for, which is alleviated by physical media. New formats are inescapable. I've paid for music in 45, 33, cassette, disc, and digital formats, many songs albums in multiple of these. Even services that remain in business have removed access to media people have "bought", highlighting your point that technically we've really only ever paid for revocable licenses in the digital age. Given the price of their external storage, I doubt this device compatible with any other drive options. I'm also concerned that at some point they'd add on "subscription" or other recurring fees to watch or otherwise access purchased content. Thanks to you and Kristi for giving us great information on a range of audio and video options, including on subwoofers 👍🏿 Merry Holidays and Happy New Year! I hope you take off the rest of this week and enjoy a little anniversary/birthday/mental health break, you both deserve that.

[@Cmnore]

I built 2 home NAS servers and "stream" content to myself. Cost of hardware? About $1k. Cost of software? FREE. Completely open source via Linux and GitHub. I have BD discs for the home theater projector room, and stream other content via my home network. This is kind of like electric cars. Not ready for primetime quite yet. Love the channel! Merry Christmas to you guys🎄

[@MichaelLopresto]

Physical media all the way! We would love to see a review of the Magnetar UDP800 or UDP900.

[@gina4008]

Ditto.

[@jeeves1219]

Same problem they've always had: Unit cost too high to then have to just go reinvest what's already thousands in 4k disc's I own to buy them again through kaleidoscape. No thanks.

[@spandel100]

Was watchig Silo on Apple tv the other day in 4K HDR on an LG G series tv.I have a 1000mbs ethernet.Couldn't see what was going on,it was murky and misty looking.So I did an experiment.I downloaded the 4K HDR version and played it.I could see everything as clear as day.Streaming is by its very nature low bit rate and not ideal.

[@TD-zc4zi]

Didn’t know you can download TV+ shows on Apple TV (the box) for offline playback.

[@daveonezero6258]

That isn’t what he did….

[@spandel100]

@@daveonezero6258 I know that.Just wanted to see the difference myself between local and streaming.

[@TD-zc4zi]

@@daveonezero6258 but at some point there needs to be access to the higher quality source… how do you get that from Apple TV+ if they’re the distributor of the show.

[@spandel100]

@@TD-zc4zi That I cannot answer.

[@bobsacamano1274]

This is why I wait for AR to weigh in before I pull the trigger on something. Dude answers all (or near all) my questions-even ones I hadn’t thought to ask. Well done sir.

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Appreciate that!

[@levinile7221]

@@andrewrobinsonreviews I May disagree with Andrew on this one, but he is one of my top 3 sources for TV reviews. 👍👍👍

[@bzrdbrew]

Have wondered about Kaleidoscape; while my physical media collection is still relatively small with under 1,500 titles, what happens if they go under? Weighing is it worth upgrading my existing collection to Kaleidescape and hope they stand the test of time? Currently all I would need to do is purchase a couple backup 4K players and as long as the DVD/BLU-RAY stays alive so does my movie collection.

[@gokhanersan8561]

I will not give up my right to spin my blu ray to the Big Brother.

[@parupudiphanindra3126]

Physical is best. Zidoo and Blueray players

[@Ocho817]

“Here’s a photo of a puppy so you can all calm down.” 😂😂😂

[@MrSpaceship]

Luv'd the 'here's a picture of a puppy' bit...Great Product! Great review!

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Glad you enjoyed that moment. Thank you for watching!

[@housbinpharteen7445]

Oh the disappointment will come when this goes under ...... if i can use my own storage and download the movies i purchase and back them up ... 100% .. to trust them ... nope ... after going from vhs to dvd to bluray to 4k of the same movie just spending so much money ... pirate is the way to go

[@andrewrobinsonreviews]

Pirating is illegal and robs creators and workers of their livelihood. But, hey, it’s all about you, so, who cares, am I right? SMH.

[@cormackeenan8175]

In my teens and 20s, I bought all my CDs, and I now have about 500 of them. These days, I very, very rarely buy new ones because my musical tastes were formed over those 20 or so years. Most of the CDs I buy now are from charity shops for €2. I presume it’s the same for DVDs, etc. My buddy pays a monthly subscription to Roon and still listens to the same music he enjoyed in his 20s. I think, after 40 years, he’ll own nothing, and all that listening will die with him.