Back in late 2018, CE Pro sat down with Kaleidescape CEO Cheena Srinivasan to discuss how the company has evolved over the years, how it is addressing single room solutions, and where it stands on HDR.
How has Kaleidescape evolved to better address today’s market, which features streaming services in addition to physical media?
To serve the luxury home cinema market today, we created an online Movie Store that offers extraordinary movies in 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray quality and beyond.
We have license agreements with 29 studios, and our content offering includes timeless films from all the major Hollywood studios. We are the only online source for movies with full-fidelity audio and video for luxury home cinema.
In essence, we have transitioned from being a products-only company to a products and content company.
Our playback delivers a richer experience than streaming services because we deliver much more information to the audio processor and to the display.
To be specific, we deliver six to eight times more information for 4K Ultra HD video and between 25 and 60 times more information in surround-sound audio compared to the best streaming.
Read Next: Kaleidescape Offers Best of BBC through 4K Video Store
Physical media appeals to the die-hard enthusiasts, but not all of our customers want to deal with the friction associated with buying, storing and handling discs.
We offer two kinds of systems. Premiere systems are designed to handle both DVDs and Blu-rays as well as download movies from the Kaleidescape Movie Store. Encore systems are optimized to work exclusively with content delivered from the Movie Store.
For customers who need both, our Co-Star solution combines the two types of systems into a single interface.
Are the biggest differences between Kaleidescape and streaming services the level of audio and video quality, like bit-for-bit 4K and Dolby Atmos?
Kaleidescape is first and foremost about the luxury home cinema experience. That means:
- Complete automation with home control via our interface so movie playback is predictable and consistent.
- Embedded event cues to tell the control system to dim the lights when you select Play.
- Automatic retrieval of preferences for language, subtitles, or audio formats at the movie-player level.
- For customers with front-projection screens with [aspect ratio] masking, Kaleidescape adjusts the masking automatically to deliver a truly cinematic experience.
Can you explain how Kaleidescape is addressing the market from basic single room solutions, to high-performance multiroom systems?
Our offerings are focused on the Strato Movie Player and the Kaleidescape Movie Store. If a customer has a limited budget or just one room, all they need is the Strato S movie player.
For customers who wish to access their Kaleidescape system from multiple rooms, we recommend a Terra Movie Server and usually two to five Strato C Movie Players. Terra provides caching and computing services that enhance player performance and enable large systems.
For example, a system with a Terra and multiple Strato C players allows a residential system integrator to distribute up to 10 true 4K Ultra HD movies simultaneously.
For customers who wish to have great movies delivered from the Internet, but also access Blu-ray discs and DVDs, the simplest system configuration is a Strato S movie player and an Alto movie player — which supports playback of Blu-ray discs — along with a Disc Vault and the Kaleidescape Co-Star solution.
Where does Kaleidescape stand with HDR and its various formats?
The Kaleidescape Movie Store offers the largest collection of the highest quality films in the world, including high-bitrate 4K Ultra HD movies in 10-bit color, with and without high dynamic range (HDR).
We support open standard 10-bit HDMI 2.0a SMPTE ST.2084 HDR, also known as HDR10.
