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KALEIDESCAPE OFFERS INDUSTRY’S FIRST INTERNET DELIVERY OF MOVIES THAT MATCH BLU-RAY & DVD DISCS

post #1 of 40
Thread Starter 


Kaleidescape Store Makes it Easy for Consumers to Discover Great Movies and Add Them to Their Collections

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – December 11, 2012 - Kaleidescape, Inc. today announced an industry-first service that enables the digital delivery of movie purchases over the Internet with video and audio quality equal to Blu-ray DiscTM and DVD. The new service is initially backed by a multi-year license agreement with Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and marks the first agreement that enables the electronic delivery of digital movies containing all of the extra content found on physical Blu-ray Discs or DVDs.

Customers can now purchase and download movies directly to their Kaleidescape Systems from the newly launched Kaleidescape Store that is designed exclusively for online movie sales. This makes it easier than ever for Kaleidescape customers to expand their film libraries. Once a customer’s system is linked to an account on the Kaleidescape Store website, the titles of their current movie collection are automatically cataloged and kept up to date. This makes it simple to discover movies missing from a collection and avoid duplicate purchases. In addition, the Kaleidescape Store provides the ability to buy multiple movie titles by a favorite actor or director, all available Academy Award® winning titles, and more with a single mouse click.

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution is the first to license content for sale through the new Kaleidescape Store, providing nearly 3,000 premium films and over 8,000 television episodes. To ensure Kaleidescape System owners have access to their movies on their mobile devices, Kaleidescape has also licensed UltraViolet rights for inclusion with the purchase of most titles. Future plans will enable the consumer to add movies already purchased on disc to their UltraViolet Collection for a small fee.

“This new distribution deal dramatically improves the way customers buy movies which, until now, has remained virtually the same for the past 15 years,” said Ralph Tarnofsky, Founder and President of Professional Audio Consultants in Millburn, NJ. “Now, multiple inconveniences in the purchasing process are completely eliminated. Customers no longer need to keep track of titles already purchased, wait for discs to arrive, or spend time organizing the discs. Until now, the conveniences of digital delivery also meant compromising on quality and special features. Now Kaleidescape customers – who are avid movie collectors – can enjoy a ‘no compromise’ buying experience.”

“The potential represented by the Kaleidescape System and the new Kaleidescape Store is, in many respects, similar to the role the iPod® played in kick-starting online music purchases,” said Michael Malcolm, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Kaleidescape. “Our movie servers enable customers to consolidate their film libraries – whether from disc or download – for immediate playback. We believe that this consolidation is a pre-requisite for mass adoption of electronic movie purchases. By introducing the Kaleidescape Store in conjunction with the Warner Bros. deal, we are simplifying how movies are purchased and enjoyed at home.”

How it Works

Movies purchased on the Kaleidescape Store website can be downloaded and enjoyed on Kaleidescape movie servers through the newly released kOS 5.0 operating system. Downloads take full advantage of the system’s award-winning user interface that makes it easy for customers to find and select the film to enjoy from any television in the home. Movies can be viewed directly from the beginning without advertisements, trailers and extraneous menus. Thanks to bookmarks in the exclusive Kaleidescape Movie Guide, users can jump directly to the most memorable scenes in a movie, or to any song in a concert.

Kaleidescape’s high definition downloads will feature audio and video that equals Blu-ray Disc quality. This includes video resolution up to 1080p, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless soundtracks, and 24 frame-per-second progressive scan video. Standard definition downloads feature audio and video that precisely matches DVD quality. The extra content such as director’s commentary, alternate endings, deleted scenes, and documentaries found on a disc are included in the download.
post #2 of 40
Goodbye videostore, hello internet bill!
post #3 of 40
Will this be available to those of us who live in the Great White North?
post #4 of 40
looks $$
post #5 of 40
This is awesome!! While I'm not quiet blessed with the financial means for a Kaleidescape system this is a great step in the right direction. Someone realized the importance of good quality internet delivery of media. I love trying the new services HD offerings but I am always disappointed in my HT. For casual viewing on an medium LCD with 2ch audio there is some good quality content out their. I have not tried Vudu HDX in the HT yet the price seems steep so I have been hesitant. I can always rent a blu-ray for much less.
post #6 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by coffeeguy57 View Post

This is awesome!! While I'm not quiet blessed with the financial means for a Kaleidescape system this is a great step in the right direction. Someone realized the importance of good quality internet delivery of media. I love trying the new services HD offerings but I am always disappointed in my HT. For casual viewing on an medium LCD with 2ch audio there is some good quality content out their. I have not tried Vudu HDX in the HT yet the price seems steep so I have been hesitant. I can always rent a blu-ray for much less.

Vudu's HDX is fairly impressive for live streaming content and only $6 a pop. Best quality video stream I've seen.
post #7 of 40
Vudu HDX is really, really good for the picture quality and pretty good for sound. IMO the video is near blu-ray quality. Sure it cost $6 for most titles but if Redbox has nothing you want or if you didn't pick something up on the way home etc... it's a nice option and beats the pants off of Netflix, Amazon and satellite/cable providers "1080p" offerings.

As for the Kaeidescape, I went to their website to see how much it costs. It's apparently only available through select home installers. So yeah, likely to be way more than reasonable considering it's closed nature.
post #8 of 40
So if I could insert all of my blu-ray's into the drive and have it rip everything and make a media server with many TB's of space, I could get rid of my movie shelf. I think I might be dreaming though. In that case, everyone would rent a movie and rip it to save on cost and disposal.
post #9 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by thorr View Post

In that case, everyone would rent a movie and rip it to save on cost and disposal.

now now, that wouldn't be legal.
post #10 of 40
You won't be ripping rentals to kaleidescape, because you have to leave the discs inside the carousel. That's their way of copyright protection. wink.gif
post #11 of 40
http://www.kaleidescape.com/products/servers/

To me it looks like it rips your movies. I am surprised this is allowed and I am not sure how they would avoid people who rent and rip.

Edit: Ahh, here is how they do it: http://www.kaleidescape.com/products/disc-vaults/

Forget it. WAY too expensive: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1383742/kaleidescape-3u-server-price
Edited by thorr - 12/11/12 at 9:24pm
post #12 of 40
Wow, this service is ludicrously expensive, no thanks.
post #13 of 40
Kaleidescape is a great product for a niche market.

Their original DVD systems worked by copying the entire disc, encryption and all, onto their servers (which are redundant and closely monitored for hardware failure). You needed their officially licensed player to watch the movie. That did the decryption - just like a DVD disc in a player. This was eventually ruled as being a violation of their DVD CCA licenses. The problem never came up with bluray because they opted to stick with the vault method of authentication.

Underpinning how expensive this digital delivery could be is that in my area, I would have to subscribe to business class internet to take advantage of it. Otherwise I would be limited to about five movies a month (and no other internet usage) before I'd hit my consumer class internet bandwidth limit.

But for the people who already have this system? It's a great thing that they'll have access to. Very forward thinking on the part of Warner Brothers.
post #14 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by speavler View Post

looks $$

Without reading the article, I'm sure it's toooooo expensive. rolleyes.gif
post #15 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by Djoel View Post

Without reading the article, I'm sure it's toooooo expensive. rolleyes.gif

Yes, well over $10K expensive.
post #16 of 40
Wow this is pretty badass!!
post #17 of 40
Definitely not mainsream due to entry ticket $$, but a start.

Now the thing is, those same people who buy into this will be early adopters of 4k systems, so will this handle delivery of 4k content also?
post #18 of 40
I like to able to surf the net and do some other things without this sucking all of my bandwidth. I'll stick with BD thanks!
post #19 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by speavler View Post

looks $$

Well,... Did you notice it's Kaleidescape? ... that's expensive by definition.

Last I head Kaleidescape was trapped in endless court battles. Surprised they are still active.

I have no doubt what they think is Blu Ray quality falls short of actual Blu Ray quality.

"This includes video resolution up to 1080p, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio lossless soundtracks, and 24 frame-per-second progressive scan video."

Hmmm,... no mention of bit rates,... must be an oversight. Ha. smile.gif

-Brian
post #20 of 40
I liked how the website says when your server is full just buy another one, at $10,000 a pop!eek.gif
In all fairness though, one server holds 900 Blu-rays.
post #21 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by greylight44 View Post

I liked how the website says when your server is full just buy another one, at $10,000 a pop!eek.gif
In all fairness though, one server holds 900 Blu-rays.

That's 11 bucks a movie. I think it'd make more sense to just be an on-demand high quality Netflix. That's basically Vudu HDX. If HDX bumped the audio up, that'd practically be parity. At that price, you could watch a movie in the evenings 2 times a week (A lot in my mind for a busy successful person who could afford this) and it'd take 8 years to reach the $10k price. And in 8 years, this system will surly be out of date. The biggest advantage for this system is there's way more variety of choices on Blu-ray than the online services like Netflix.
post #22 of 40

Looks interesting,but i have to agree.

It sounds to expensive!. I'm waiting for a user review from someone in avs community. :) before i jump on it.

post #23 of 40
Good news. Hopefully other providers will follow that don't require to purchase expensive hardware. I can then finally put my bandwidth to use...
post #24 of 40
while illegal, I can "potentially" dl blurays right now in under 10 min. Why would I pay for this? This is why I simply like my disk for home theater and stream for movies I dont care about or that are only available in sd.
post #25 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by DDigitalGuy05 View Post

Looks interesting,but i have to agree.
It sounds to expensive!. I'm waiting for a user review from someone in avs community. smile.gif before i jump on it.

My Local Best Buy Magnolia store carries it, you might try there to check it out. It's a cool set up, but not worth the money IMHO. I will build a NAS, rip my 200+ Blu Rays and use XBMC first, but even then, I just ask myself, am I really that lazy that I can't get up and put a movie in. I played around with XBMC for awhile I just couldn't get past the it's cool, but is it needed.
post #26 of 40
Will this be available to those of us who live in the Great White North?

No was on there site it said not for sale in your Country.
post #27 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by drewTT View Post

Good news. Hopefully other providers will follow that don't require to purchase expensive hardware. I can then finally put my bandwidth to use...
Absolutely ; cant come soon enough wink.gif Not to be too cynical about this but it makes sense to get a foothold in this download world [ for marketing reasons - eg 1st on the market ] before redray puts bluray in the shade. No 3d ; 4k exclusions here ; just needs some tinseltown backers smile.gif

http://gizmodo.com/5964797/this-redray-4k-cinema-player-is-something-out-of-terminator
Edited by cwt - 12/15/12 at 9:07pm
post #28 of 40
Great. So now Warner Bros. understands the usefulness of being able to buy a movie, save it to a local network system and view it on any connected TV in the home.

I'm sure they'll get right on top of lifting the blu-ray ripping restrictions for personal use for those without a Kaleidescape system... rolleyes.gif
post #29 of 40
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kini62 View Post

Vudu HDX is really, really good for the picture quality and pretty good for sound. IMO the video is near blu-ray quality. Sure it cost $6 for most titles but if Redbox has nothing you want or if you didn't pick something up on the way home etc... it's a nice option and beats the pants off of Netflix, Amazon and satellite/cable providers "1080p" offerings.

I used to think this too, but I watched an HDX movie the other day at my dad's house and the quality was garbage. It was "Safety Not Guaranteed". I'm not sure if this was just an anomaly or if Vudu has dropped the quality on newer movies, or because I was watching it on a 65" TV, but there was compression artifact throughout the entire film.
post #30 of 40
Quote:
Will this be available to those of us who live in the Great White North?

No was on there site it said not for sale in your Country.

This is ridiculous. I am willing to pay my hard earned money to rent movies, but the crap that is on the Internet for Canadians is nowhere near blu ray quality and I'm not going to pay for crap. When the PQ/AQ can match blu ray, then I will pay to rent it. Until then, I will pick and choose (and be VERY selective with) my choice of blu ray movies to purchase.
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