[Rgb]

Who's up for a return to 300-400 disc carousel changers, this time made for 4K UHD discs?

For you yongin's, carousels were common for CD's in the 90's/early 2000's:

https://www.amazon.com/Sony-CDPCX455.../dp/B000069JWX

I am serious- in the long run may be far less hassle than NAS/ripping approaches with IP/DRM business issues and 1080p/Atmos issues getting in the way (Kaleidescape), plus the hassle/expense of maintaining a NAS array(s) with too many discs prone to failure and high power consumption if left on 24/7.

Just rotate titles in/out of changer as needed/desired and/or add on additional 300-400 disc carousels as desired. Add on carousels could have a (proprietary) high speed data only link to the main unit and be disc carrier/readers only for lower cost. Daisy chain carousels.

Lower costs even further by having the Panny 820's of the world be able to connect to an add on carousel. Could make buying the single disc player a requirement as controller, ie add on carousels could be for add on disc libraries only, not standalone playback.

Bonus if such a device could handle DVDA's and SACD's, but even if it "only" did all CD's, DVD's, BD's, 3D and 4K discs, it could be a winner.

Heck, if it saved cost, remove CD and DVD playback and use separate player(s) for non BD discs.

Could make it hybrid- ability to plug in NAS/USB hard disks for DVD/CD rips with a nice phone/tablet app for control. (current 4K players already do this via USB)

Thoughts?

 

[dreaux]

Have you looked at this 4K player/server? I believe it can hold 300 4K's.

I have the blu-ray version of this but now they make a 4K version.

https://www.kaleidescape.com/movie-players-servers/

 

[Rgb]

Have you looked at this 4K player/server? I believe it can hold 300 4K's.

I have the blu-ray version of this but now they make a 4K version.

https://www.kaleidescape.com/movie-players-servers/

I was aware, but was suggesting a lower cost, IP-hassle free option for the Rest of Us

 

[dreaux]

I was aware, but was suggesting a lower cost, IP-hassle free option for the Rest of Us

Yeah the Kaleidescape system is very expensive. I bought my system used but still costs a lot.


We do need a more economical alternative. I had the older Sony blu-ray carousel player and it worked just fine, never got stuck.

 

[Rgb]

Sony and Panasonic could easily add a dedicated control/data port to their 800m2/1100ES/UB820 replacements, so that buyers of those units have a single disc player for the same cost, but the ability to expand with add on carousels as needed, again with smartphone/tablet apps for control and viewing the disc library.

Far more practical and simple for average HT people who don't want to hassle with ripping, NAS maintenance and backup/RAID, or Kalediescape cost and IP issues (4K/Atmos availability, etc)

Could even burn mkv rips to 100GB-128GB BDXL blanks to double/triple the amount of movies in a carousel-
https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term/64045/bdxl

could also play from USB attached hard disk, too.

 

[Rgb]

Bonus would be ability to stream from such a carousel any disc to other players- could use a proprietary encryption/transport protocol over stock wifi bands poin to point or over wifi network through access point.

 

[imrf]

I went with the Server/NAS route. Built a FreeNAS server and have a Plex server running in it. This offers me far more flexibility than a Kalidescape will provide and allow for streaming anywhere. Going that route you could use it to host your home security cameras and even home automation if you go full DIY with it all. Plus you can put it in a rack mount case and slip it in with all your amps.

The power draw isn’t all that much really. Mine is 80W roughly and that’s a e5 Xeon with 6 7200RPM NAS drives in it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Panson]

Who's up for a return to 300-400 disc carousel changers, this time made for 4K UHD discs?

For you yongin's, carousels were common for CD's in the 90's/early 2000's....

Rgb, only "yongins" have a good chance of getting through 400 4K UHD discs, and they don't care.

 

[Rgb]

Rgb, only "yongins" have a good chance of getting through 400 4K UHD discs, and they don't care.

You bring up a good point- how many movies can you watch per week/month/year?

I've been in HT a long time, starting with LD and the first Dolby Surround receivers in the late 80's.

I'd consider myself a film buff/enthusiast, and the highest "film consumption rate" I ever had was ~5-6 films/week at holiday times (Nov-Dec-Jan), usually 2 films back to back Fri/Sat or Sun evenings.

As I approach retirement, I may be able to do a few more per week, say ~5-6/week more steadily to delve into catalog titles I ave never seen.

So, at most, I could watch 5x52 = 260/year, probably less start to finish.

So a couple of 300-400 disc carousels would set me up for years.

As for HT demo clips, I would just use the many commerical Dolby Atmos and DTSX CES Demo discs and AVS member discs and mkv files floating about.

Hence, I could never justify in my mind the effort and expense of maintaining a hard drive NAS for HD/UHD film serving vs simply popping in optical discs as needed.

For lossless music serving, I could justify that given the frequency of playback and many ways to listen- headphones, BT, full HT rig, multiple rooms, copy to SSD/USB stick for car use, etc.

And with 8K looming, video file sizes will only increase.

(and I meant "youngin's" - my typing has gotten sloppy over the years)

 

[Panson]

You bring up a good point- how many movies can you watch per week/month/year?

I've been in HT a long time, starting with LD and the first Dolby Surround receivers in the late 80's.

I'd consider myself a film buff/enthusiast, and the highest "film consumption rate" I ever had was ~4-5 films/week at holiday times (Nov-Dec-Jan), usually 2 films back to back Fri/Sat or Sun evenings.

As I approach retirement, I may be able to do a few more per week, say ~5-6/week more steadily to delve into catalog titles I ave never seen.

So, at most, I could watch 5x52 = 260/year, probably less start to finish.

So a couple of 300-400 disc carousels would set me up for years.

As for HT demo clips, I would just use the many commercial Dolby Atmos and DTSX CES Demo discs and AVS member discs and mkv files floating about.

Hence, I could never justify in my mind the effort and expense of maintaining a hard drive NAS for HD/UHD film serving vs simply popping in optical discs as needed.

For lossless music serving, I could justify that given the frequency of playback and many ways to listen- headphones, BT, full HT rig, multiple rooms, copy to SSD/USB stick for car use, etc.

And with 8K looming, video file sizes will only increase.

(and I meant "youngin's" - my typing has gotten sloppy over the years)

Thanks for the reply, Rgb. May you have a long and happy retirement.

Jus' half-kidding 'bout life expectancy as it relates to mega players. A massive disc machine with proper programming could pull up anything on request, conveniently accessing an inventory quickly, without going through all the motions of finding a disc, taking it out of a case, and loading. No requirement to watch 'em all.

Goodun on yo' "youngin's". No matter, I spell it younguns. Cheers as always.

 

[Rgb]

Funny thing is, a 400 UHD 4K disc carousel would hold ~40TB, like a K-scape, but will all extras, menus, etc.
(400 x ~100GB/disc)

Don't see how an add on carousel should cost more than $1000 new.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-PTEaBe5fcJu/p_158CDPX455/Sony-CDP-CX455.html

 

[Panson]

Funny thing is, a 400 UHD 4K disc carousel would hold ~40TB, like a K-scape, but will all extras, menus, etc.
(400 x ~100GB/disc)

Don't see how an add on carousel should cost more than $1000 new.

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-PTEaBe5fcJu/p_158CDPX455/Sony-CDP-CX455.html

FWIW re Sony-CDP-CX455, one Amazon reviewer said he had two, and both times the carousel mechanism didn't last long.

Couple that with the fickle finicky 4K UHD Blu-ray layer....

Not cost so much, but dependability.

 

[Rgb]

FWIW re Sony-CDP-CX455, one Amazon reviewer said he had two, and both times the carousel mechanism didn't last long.

Couple that with the fickle finicky 4K UHD Blu-ray layer....

Not cost so much, but dependability.

OTOH, I see several CX455 refurbs, guaranteed to work, for ~$250 shipped.

Just normal maintenance- belts replaced, cleaned up.

I bet the ones you mention just needed belts.

 

[Panson]

OTOH, I see several CX455 refurbs, guaranteed to work, for ~$250 shipped.

Just normal maintenace- belts replaced, cleaned up.

I bet the ones you mention just needed belts.

Now, about that pesky 4K UHD Blu-ray layer, not to mention varying playability of various studio product. CD, fairly predictable. 4K, not so much.

Jus' bein' devil's advocate. Do the venture, Rgb, I'll lead the applause, if not the capital.

 

[LNEWoLF]

OTOH, I see several CX455 refurbs, guaranteed to work, for ~$250 shipped.

Just normal maintenace- belts replaced, cleaned up.

I bet the ones you mention just needed belts.

EBay has an abundance of these units available. The two issues with most units are as the the belts age. They become hard, start slipping, crack and eventually break. Also some experience a failure of the laser mechanism. Both the belts and laser mechanisms can sometimes be found on EBay.

Buried in this thread is a guide with pictures on a diy method to replace both.
https://www.avsforum.com/forum/149-...ga-changer-thread-bdp-cx7000es-bdp-cx960.html

Several years ago I had researched purchasing several units for my media collection. The concern for me was the availability of the replacement laser assy. That may have changed currently.

The units came with a keyboard that you could manually enter in the disc info. Unfortunately if you lost power all data was gone. Possible buried in the thread I posted. There was software available to link them together.

The “GOOD” is they hold 400-500 disc. Nice storage solution. In a smaller space than the disc and cases would take up on a shelf. Somewhat easy access to play a disc (depending on how well they are organized and labeled.) I believe they have a shuffle play solution. If you can’t decide what movie to watch.

I also am trying to come up with a solution for my storing and enjoying my media collection. My collection currently is over 2,000 titles. Movies, documentaries, TV series, concerts and nature. There is possible close to 5,000 discs. 7 years ago I cancelled cable TV. My reason was to cut costs and tired of cut up movies filled with commercials. The desire to watch the movies I wanted. Not what they wanted. The movies I have collected contain from every decade from the 1930’s thru present day. They are all movies I hand selected and enjoy. At this time (7 years.) I have watched 75% of my collection. [email protected]@k forward to enjoying them again.

[email protected]@king forward to Ice Station Zebra up-mixed from DTS Master 5.1 to DTS Neural X 7.2.4

Big fan of Sony players. There upscaling of dvd’s are magical. Most TV series [email protected]@k amazing. Better than I remember back in the day when the big magical box in the corner would go from the snow show. To your favorite TV shows starting at 8PM.


Good luck.

 

[Rgb]

MAybe an "industry standard" I/O port on future single disc players- I suspect a stock USB-C port between a single disc player/controller and an expansion carousel, with whatever encryption protocol they want to use, would do the trick, or maybe a pair of Cat6-7 ports.

 

[Low Profile]

I'd start collecting UHD Blu-ray's tomorrow if Sony would bring a 400-disc UHD Blu-ray player to market. Since the early years of the DVD platform I've been storing all my DVD's for playback in Sony DVP-CX985V 400-disc DVD players. I started out with 3 of them, then purchasing additional changers as my collection grew. Own 6 of them now. Just replaced the belts on the first of the ones I purchased, so the original belts lasted for a couple decades. Haven't had to replace the optical pick-ups in any of them.

When the Blu-ray format arrived I waited until Sony put out their 400-disc Blu-ray changers. I own 11 Sony BDP-CX7000ES 400-disc Blu-ray players now and plan to purchase another one towards the end of the year. Prior to them being discontinued they cost somewhere north of $1500. When they were discontinued Sony was selling off their stock for $400 each. I purchased 6 of them and have since purchased 5 additional units off EBay for $700 on average. That's a 4,400 disc storage capacity (220 TB) for $5,900 which weighs in at a $1.34 storage/playback cost per disc. Would be interesting to see how much we'd be talking about in Kaleidescape dollars.

And it's not about how much time I have to watch the discs I own. It's not about being too lazy to pick a movie off the shelf and drop it in a single disc Blu-ray player. I just enjoy collecting my favorite movies and TV shows on DVD and now Blu-ray while at the same time not having every wall in my home covered from floor to ceiling with the retail packaging. My discs get stored for playback in the changers, the retail packaging gets stored out in the garage where a temperature controlled environment is not required.

I look at it this way. Some people pay a monthly subscription fee for access to a content provider's online library of titles. I'm just providing the same experience for myself, but with no monthly subscription fee or Internet connection required. Every disc in my collection gets cataloged in DVD Profiler, the changer and slot number being called out for each. I then browse my collection via DVD Profiler using the PC based application, mobile app or via my DVD Profiler based website. When I find a disc I'd like to watch I enter the changer and slot number in my trusty Philips Pronto Professional TSU9600 remote control and it does the rest. I also catalog my collection in My Movies, so if I want to browse my collection at 150" diagonal I can do that as well per My Movies for WMC.

 

[Panson]

I'd start collecting UHD Blu-ray's tomorrow if Sony would bring a 400-disc UHD Blu-ray player to market. Since the early years of the DVD platform I've been storing all my DVD's for playback in Sony DVP-CX985V 400-disc DVD players. I started out with 3 of them, then purchasing additional changers as my collection grew. Own 6 of them now. Just replaced the belts on the first of the ones I purchased, so the original belts lasted for a couple decades....

I look at it this way. Some people pay a monthly subscription fee for access to a content provider's online library of titles. I'm just providing the same experience for myself, but with no monthly subscription fee or Internet connection required. Every disc in my collection gets cataloged in DVD Profiler, the changer and slot number being called out for each. I then browse my collection via DVD Profiler using the PC based application, mobile app or via my DVD Profiler based website. When I find a disc I'd like to watch I enter the changer and slot number in my trusty Philips Pronto Professional TSU9600 remote control and it does the rest. I also catalog my collection in My Movies, so if I want to browse my collection at 150" diagonal I can do that as well per My Movies for WMC.

Thanks, LP, for that amazing testimony. I had no idea that such mechanized collecting existed. Keep on spinnin'!

 

[Low Profile]

Thanks, LP, for that amazing testimony. I had no idea that such mechanized collecting existed. Keep on spinnin'!

You're welcome. Works for me. In fact, I'm spinning a Blu-ray right now. And some eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

(See here for a overview of how I catalog the contents of my changers, browse my collection as a whole, then initiating playback of a given disc.)

 

[Rgb]

You're welcome. Works for me. In fact, I'm spinning a Blu-ray right now. And some eye candy for your viewing pleasure.

(See here for a overview of how I catalog the contents of my changers, browse my collection as a whole, then initiating playback of a given disc.)

Dat's whut I'm talkin' 'bout!

220TB with no muss, no fuss, no constantly spinning hard drives or RAID/NAS backup issues.

If I'd known about those 400 dsic BluRay chaners, I would have gotten a few myself on clearance. Do they do 3D playback?