Tag Archives: Kaleidescape

Kaleidescape’s digital store adds $2 Blu-ray-to-digital copy upgrades

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Kaleidescape's digital store adds $2 Bluraytodigital upgrades

Kaleidescape arrived at this year's CEDIA event with a couple of fresh news items to accompany its mainstream-adjacent $3,995 Cinema One player. Its online Kaleidescape Store is getting a boost by adding the ability for customers to add digital copies for their existing Blu-ray discs. At launch it only supported DVDs, but now customers can get high quality, discless access to movies they already own HD editions of, just by putting a disc in the player. The price for Ultraviolet access across devices and an excuse to stop getting up from the couch to put the disc in (although, if you'd like to buy an expensive disc changer instead we're sure Kaleidescape won't argue) is $1.99, so choose wisely. Finally, the company is expanding access to the store, which has opened its virtual doors in Canada for the first time, in addition to the US and the UK, where it launched back in May.

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Source: Kaleidescape

Kaleidescape revamps Cinema One movie player with easier setup in mind

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Kaleidescape intros revamped Cinema One movie player

Kaleidescape's Cinema One player has been many things to movie buffs, but "accessible" isn't one of them -- limited distribution and an emphasis on custom installs has kept it out of reach. The company is widening that scope with a redesigned Cinema One that's almost as easy to install as an off-the-shelf Blu-ray player. It's a tad more advanced than that, of course. The Cinema One integrates with most home automation systems, and it stores up to 100 Blu-ray quality movies (including Kaleidescape Store downloads). Viewers who need more storage can attach a second player or the older DV700 Disc Vault. The revamped Cinema One is still expensive at $3,995, but it's at least easier to buy than its predecessor -- Kaleidescape is selling the new media server as a walk-in purchase at Magnolia and other retail stores.

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Source: Kaleidescape

Kaleidescape’s online video store officially opens, promises Blu-ray quality downloads

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Kaleidescape's online video store officially opens, promises 'Bluray quality' downloads

Kaleidescape launched its online offering in beta late last year, and now it's officially open, becoming what it claims is the first store to provide "internet delivery of Blu-ray quality movies." The Kaleidescape Store goes beyond other 1080p services (Vudu, iTunes, Xbox and PSN come to mind) by promising the disc-equaling higher bitrates, extras and lossless audio options they don't have. There's no streaming to be had here, only downloads, with file sizes we saw ranging from 23GB (Austin Powers) to as much as 55.4GB (Inception) and everywhere in between.

While the store is only built to work with Kaleidescape's high-end disc-playback systems -- these usually start in the thousands of dollars, and you'll need M-Class hardware for HD -- it currently offers movies from Warner Bros. with an Ultraviolet copy attached, so buyers can play them back on mobile devices through apps such as Flixster and Vudu. Ultraviolet support also means $6.99 upgrades of DVD purchases to Blu-ray-quality HD, and potentially disc-to-digital type features later. Naturally, anyone interested will need an internet connection with a generous / non-existent bandwidth cap, but we imagine that's not out of the price range for these niche owners. Still, it does provide an idea of the difficulty others like Sony and Netflix will face when trying to digitally distribute feature films in 4K to a wider audience. Check out a few screens of the store in the gallery, and the Random Thoughts blog link below for firsthand impressions from a beta tester.

Gallery: Kaleidescape Store

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Source: Kaleidescape, Kaleidescape Store

Kaleidescape Movie Store opens with Warner and UltraViolet, promises Blu-ray quality and extras

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Kaleidescape Movie Store opens with Warner and UltraViolet, promises Bluray quality and extras

We got a peek at Kaleidescape's digital delivery plans at CEDIA earlier this year, but now it's thrown open the doors of its store, letting users of its systems purchase and download movies, no messy (and lawsuit-entangled) disc changers necessary. The Kaleidescape Store is currently offering movies by Warner (around 3,000 films and 8,000 TV episodes), and befitting its high-end stature, it's bring a little extra over many other offerings. According to the company it's secured an agreement guaranteeing all the extra content from the retail discs are available too, and with video and audio quality "equal to Blu-ray Disc and DVD" at 24fps 1080p, and with Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA lossless audio soundtracks.

Additionally, it's included UltraViolet access for most titles purchased in the store, with plans to provide a disc-to-digital conversion service in the future. Currently, all content in the store is standard definition, but HD is apparently on the way in early 2013. Owners of the systems will need the latest kOS 5.0 update to access the store, where movies are priced similarly to other digital movie stores. Check out a press release and demo video after the break, or check the link below for some hands-on impressions and access to the store itself.

Continue reading Kaleidescape Movie Store opens with Warner and UltraViolet, promises Blu-ray quality and extras

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Source: Kaleidescape Store

Kaleidescape teases movie download store; brings Rotten Tomatoes, Leonard Maltin to its servers

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Kaleidescape teases movie download store brings Rotten Tomatoes, Leonard Maltin to its servers

Last year at CEDIA we were introduced to Kaleidescape's iPad control app, and this year its back and enhanced with the addition of movie ratings from Rotten Tomatoes, and content rating info from Common Sense Media. Rotten Tomatoes can help viewers tell if a particular flick in their collection is any good, while Common Sense Media is built around detailed breakdowns of what potentially objectionable content is in each title so parents can decide what their children are ready to see. Both should reach end users with the free app by the end of this year. Another tweak it's adding to its movie servers is the Leonard Maltin Recommends Collection. It's a pack of movies updated quarterly (the 17-disc Blu-ray collection is available for the low, low price of $445) that the respected film critic feels are unappreciated greats, to which he adds his own thoughts, anecdotes and behind the scenes info.

A more ambitious development however, is the Kaleidescape Download Store the company was giving an "early sneak preview" of behind closed doors. While its claim to fame has always been disc servers that store user's movies, making them accessible with as little physical media interaction as possible (and antagonizing the MPAA) its next step is a full digital media distribution service, potentially tied into UltraViolet. There's not a lot in the way of specifics, but it will be interesting to see how Kaleidescape and Hollywood get along when it comes to selling downloadable content compared to the old wars of the past, whenever the new service actually arrives for its high-end customers.

Continue reading Kaleidescape teases movie download store; brings Rotten Tomatoes, Leonard Maltin to its servers

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Kaleidescape teases movie download store; brings Rotten Tomatoes, Leonard Maltin to its servers originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 03:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kaleidescape DVD servers granted a temporary stay

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Things have been looking bleak for Kaleidescape's DVD servers since a Judge ruled against them on appeal, and earlier this month issued an injunction that was to have taken effect on April 8th. We say was because CEO Michael Malcolm is now saying the California 6th District Court of Appeal has issued a temporary stay of that injunction. The court is still deciding whether or not to stay the injunction during the entire process, a decision Malcolm says could affect whether or not the company survives or has to lay people off. While the current case does not affect Kaleidescape's tethered Blu-ray servers, it's tiring to hear about all this from the DVD CCA over a DRM scheme that was cracked wide open so long ago, and a case that had appeared to be over.

Kaleidescape DVD servers granted a temporary stay originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 01:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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