The New Kaleidescape Strato V!

My friend Matt took the plunge and purchased the Strato V, the newest offering from Kaleidescape. It's a standalone player with 1 TB of storage space priced at $3,995. Matt shares his thoughts of why he bought it, what he thinks of it and how it fits in to the larger picture of his home theater setup.

[@jerdurfee]

You two are awesome! Congratulations Matt

[@Carl-iw9sy]

George, your friend Matt almost had me sold as well but since I'm the process of renovating our home theater I need to remind myself about priorities. I like the convenience of Kaleidescape which saves time, storage and adding more gear. The best quality of video and sound is a must for me! Someday....

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I’m right there with you. Maybe someday…😁

[@adamboyd7327]

Very nice, Matt! It's awesome to see you two doing a video together!

[@techsamurai11]

Good point @12:47 - you can't watch these movies on any other TV in your house. It's essentially limited to the home theater room. I guess you could carry the Strato Player but if you have the extra hard drive it would be tougher and you risk damaging it which I'm sure Kaleidescape won't cover - sorry, I was carrying it upstairs and dropped it. No problem, that's covered under the lifetime warranty of moving it around!

[@paulc5389]

I'd also add no 3d. I get not everyone likes it but at this price point it should provide everything. At least they finally have Dolby Vision I guess but still.

[@AaronHamm-co7fm]

How can you say you own the content but you don't have access to the file to use the content however you want? Everything is unknown so with that said what happens if Kaleidescape goes under and you have spent thousands on content? Will they give you access to the files that you paid for?

[@Leulogy]

You're getting one huh? 😂. Also, storage going bad is a very valid concern. I've felt that sting before.

[@nonametofame]

Great discussion

[@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS]

Strato V is a ripoff

[@blindplayer1]

Great conversation. I agree with Matt as to why buy all that storage if you can down load a 4K in less than 15 minutes. When you think about it how time are you really going to play a move over again that you need to have it available in a few seconds. Which brings me to my next question as to why would you by a movie for $24 when you can rent it for $8 on Kaleidescape? you have to watch it 4 times before it would be worth buying. I can see owning a couple dozen movies that you love to watch many times, but 90% of the movies we watch once and we are good for another 5 or 10 years before watching it again. There are too many moves out there to explore.

[@paulc5389]

A better model would be you just rent it and if you end up renting it 3 times future rentals are free.

[@mattnelson1366]

@@paulc5389 Thats actually the approach. I actually rented quite a few, like "IF" recently. A one-time watch. But since I rented it, it shows up under "digital offers", where if I choose to buy it, they deduct the rental price from the full price of the content you then "own". I really only buy collections, or the full movie for things that I demo scenes from, or watch the movies on a regular cadence.

[@WJKramer21]

So I bought one (Strato V) with the intention of using it as a new release rental type platform like you describe. I scanned in a couple disc to digital titles of my favorite movies just to own and have for theater demos. But what I have found, new release movie rentals are usually priced close to just purchasing the movie. Example Twisters is 25$ to own and 20$ rent.

[@byucatch22]

I can't imagine it's worth the money. It reminds me of the cable industry...you can spend thousands of dollars on a 6' speaker cable basically so you can claim you spent thousands of dollars on a 6' speaker cable.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

It’s expensive for sure. But it does offer a level of convenience and early access that no other product can match.

[@bobsacamano1274]

So the value proposition of this box over 4K blu-ray comes down to time. If don’t want to wait the extra few months for a title to come out on disc, then the Kaleidescape is for you ($$$ aside). Or is there more to it?

[@mattnelson1366]

@@bobsacamano1274 That is IMHO a large part. There is also the part of swapping disks, or dealing with investing in a compatible optical drive to rip disks, and having the time to rip process the disks.

[@Carl-iw9sy]

@@mattnelson1366^^^ Exactly my point! Working 12+ hrs/day doesn't leave me much time plus other projects in the house take most of my spare time.

[@EverythingHomeTheater]

Matt's tactics seem to be working I'm trying to get you to buy your own. Hehe

[@GIGyards]

Kaleidescape Strato V (960GB)= $3,995 Average 4k movie price & file size = $25 @ 75GB So you'll be able to store 12 4K movies at a time that will take an average of 35 min each to download with a good connection Or Panasonic UB820 = $403 Average used 4K movie = $15 For the cost of the Strato V with zero movies, you can purchase a UB820 and 239 used 4K films Can someone explain to me like a small child why you'd choose a Kaleidescape in this scenario

[@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS]

They are trying to get creators to convince me. This dudes trying to convince us

[@WJKramer21]

I used to say the same thing. Ran a PLEX server for over 10 years. When the Strato V was announced I was willing to give it a try. I will admit I have been amazed. Takes me 10 mins to get a movie downloaded, new releases are available before disk and while still in theaters in some cases. I have noticed increased video and audio quality over the disc in major releases like Barbie and TG Maverick. I don't see myself ever paying for more storage though. I will continue to run my PLEX server as well for all the other TVs in my home as well as sharing with others. But this is my dedicated theater system media box. I would not buy or hook up to anything other that.

[@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS]

@@WJKramer21 you gotta be kidding

[@WJKramer21]

@@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS Ha. I have put nearly double that amount into my PLEX set up over the years. Dual Synology NASs w/HDs, built multiple dedicate transcoding boxes, BD rippers and thousands on movies discs. I know the initial cost of the Kaleidescape is outrageous but it is going to pay for itself in the long run with better quality to boot. Definitely save time as well. Only thing that worries me is purchasing being digital and DRMd. If Kaleidescape ever goes out of business that would suck. I won't stop running my PLEX server in the meantime. You gotta be the target audience for this gear to understand it's value.

[@GIGyards]

@@WJKramer21 I've seen a multitude of subjective comparatives of kaleidescape vs 4K disc and the anecdotal response seems to be splitting hairs in favor of one or the other. Access to a few new films a few weeks earlier doesn't bridge that price gap. Not to mention you will never actually own any of these movies. There's a non-zero chance you've got a $10,000 paperweight in a year or two *shrug*

[@AReed030188]

For that much money couldn't you buy a massive NAS and run Plex or Kodi?

[@mattnelson1366]

Yep, you can, and I do. The tipping point was heavy around the speed to market for new releases.

[@jerryrobinson278]

But then , where's the movies

[@AReed030188]

@@jerryrobinson278 I posted this mid video before he mentioned he also had a NAS/Plex setup, wherein you get a good sized NAS with redundancy and fill it with lossless 4k UHD rips.

[@AReed030188]

@@mattnelson1366 Sorry, I posted this mid video before you mentioned you also had a NAS. I know you can and did but there's no way I could justify $4k-14k to get access to movies 6-12 weeks early. If it is that important to me I'll pay $13 to see it in XD and then buy the disc when it comes out (and subsequently rip it.)

[@Kelbywithdat]

too expensive. hard pass.

[@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS]

They will try to make him a dealer to compromise him soon

[@nathanielturgeman5821]

For you, maybe. It's hard to watch this video and not see the clear benefits if it's affordable to the individual. I think I can personally do something similar with a NAS and Zidoo UHD player but I'll have to put in the sweat to get it all up. This is ready to go and essentially plug n play if you want it to be.

[@PIPERBOYWILLIAMS]

@nathanielturgeman5821 there is zero benefit. I saw it at Audio Advise Livs. You're going to burn through data re-downloading movies because you can only keep 9 to 10 on it at a time. Video and audio is indecernable from 4k UHD. I ran a lot of demos of movies I've watched a lot on my ANTHEM receiver on an anthem receiver there with kaleidascape and there is no observable difference. The UI doesn't look like kaleidascape. Ui looks like a cheap android. This is a rip off. Not even the salesman could convince anyone it was worth it there. It's not a kaleidascape experience.

[@shrimboi8909]

Not worth it. Way too expensive. I doubt most ppl can tell a big diff btw 4k vs 1080p from projector unless you really looked. Bettor option is to rip blu-rays and stream from Plex.

[@paulc5389]

I'll never understand their pricing. It just makes them look arrogant and snobbish. If this was $500 not only would I probably buy it I'd probably buy 3 or 4 of them. $4000 per room is a joke. I get I'm not the target audience.. but why not? Surely at $500 they'd sell way more of them to the point they'd make more money 🤷. It would also be way more appealing if you always rented the movie but if you rented it multiple times your maximum spend was capped at its equivalent price and at that point you "owned" it.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

I believe their product will become more and more affordable over time. I’m curious to see where their pricing is in the next few years.

[@paulc5389]

​@@GeorgeTheaterAtHometo be honest my biggest issue with the price and making themselves niche is they go bust. Especially if someone like Apple or Amazon start doing full bit rate. That's a very expensive door stop.

[@GeorgeTheaterAtHome]

Yep, a very real risk for sure

[@lcwainwright2847]

It sounds like you think they’re over pricing it on purpose? If it was easy to do for $500 then someone would’ve already done that. In fact no other competitor has been able to do what Kaleidescape has done. If there was another company selling the same type of product/service for $500 and Kaleidescape was still selling at $4000 then your comment would have merit, but currently it just looks like you don’t know what you’re talking about.

[@paulc5389]

@@lcwainwright2847 the hardware isn't remotely worth $4000. They'd probably still make profit at $300 on just the hardware. Of course it's also a service. They have support costs, licensing costs etc. But those outgoings aren't tied to the cost of the hardware. Even if they halved the price and that resulted in 3 times the sales that's more profit, not less. Obviously if you're rich you don't care. But the barrier to entry is just pricing most normal people out. If the hardware cost say $3500 so they were only making $500 that would be fair enough. And I expect to pay more for a premium service. I'm not blind to its numerous advantages. But for most people the value proposition isn't there resulting in it being a niche product hardly anyone owns.

[@outofline9999]

Sign me up! ;)

[@Lowkey_nxthxn]

Man I wish I could buy one but there just way to expensive