For movie fans, there is no better way to purchase, store and access your movie content. We use Kaleidescape movie servers in our projects, and our clients love them! In this article, we look at why the Kaleidescape movie server is invariably such a resounding hit.
Kaleidescape – The Company
Kaleidescape began life in 2001, born of their founders’ love of watching movies and their determination to bring the big screen experience to the home. Since then, Kaleidescape has been at the forefront of technical innovation. They have continued to push the boundaries of the user experience and have been on the leading edge of development. The company’s headquarters is in California and its product development engineers are based in Ontario.
Kaleidescape – The Hardware
The Kaleidescape architecture is based around a central movie server, called a Terra, to which the user downloads content. The full-sized version has the capacity to store 48 or 88 terabytes of movies and can support up to 10 simultaneous 4K playbacks. All with no loss in quality.
The compact Terra movie server stores 6, 12, or 22 terabytes, supporting up to 5 simultaneous 4K playbacks, also with no loss in quality.
Strato movie players deliver the content to rooms around the home. These 4K UHD movie players support high dynamic range and lossless audio, including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.
The system connects across a Gigabit-speed network.
Kaleidescape – The Store
Kaleidescape has multiple deals with major and independent studios alike, and present approx 14,000 titles in their download store, including movies, TV shows, concerts etc. Indeed, the store has the largest selection of UHD movies available, many of them not available on disc.
Playback vs Streamed Content
Streamed content is heavily compressed but, in contrast, playback from Kaleidescape is in video bit rates typically ten times higher than streaming rates. The file sizes are in some cases larger than a typical physical disc. Audio is lossless Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HS Master.
In addition, internet outages or slow speeds do not affect playback, because the content is stored locally on the Terra server.
The User Experience
In our experience, our customers get most excited about the user interface which provides a superlative experience!
Their “cover art view” provides a highly visual and intuitive way to navigate the movie collection. Movies with similar characteristics are grouped and presented together, meaning that the user can easily and quickly find related items at the touch of a button.
The user can bookmark favourite scenes and access them very quickly, so there is no scrolling through scenes to find your favoured part.
Another clever feature is the use of automation cues. These ensure that related automation events can be initiated at the appropriate time, for example, closing blinds when the movie starts or raising the lights when the movie is paused.
And who wouldn’t want to jump straight to the start of the movie?
In Conclusion
The whole user experience is unrivalled and unsurpassed. Our clients never fail to love the system; and once they have experienced it, they definitely don’t want to go without a Kaleidescape!
Further Reading
For a similar article, how about our review of the Anthem AVM90? Here is a home cinema project and here is our stunning screening room. If you would like to know more about us, here is an article from the archives about our 20-year anniversary.
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