Kaleidescape is expanding its Terra Prime lineup with the Mini Terra Prime, a compact movie server designed for high-performance home theaters and multiroom systems. While smaller than its siblings, the Mini Terra Prime delivers fast downloads, high-quality playback, and enough storage for serious movie collections, according to Kaleidescape.
Kaleidescape’s Mini Terra Prime: The Stats
Despite its size, the Mini Terra Prime offers 8 TB of solid-state storage, capable of holding roughly 125 high-bitrate 4K movies, as estimated by Kaleidescape (for HD and SD those estimates are at 216 and 1,200, respectively). According to the company, those titles also should be able to download in as little as four minutes over a 2.5 Gb Ethernet connection.
Additionally, Kaleidescape says the Mini Terra can handle up to 25 simultaneous playbacks without suffering a drop in quality.
Speaking on the stature of the device itself, the Mini Terra Prime is able to be fitted alongside the Strato E on a single rack slot, appearing to be no larger than the Strato E itself, based on images from Kaleidescape’s website.
The company does point out, though, that it can be just as easily tucked behind a TV or placed on a shelf, provided there’s a minimum 0.25 inches of clearance for convection cooling. That also means that the Mini Terra uses no fans to cool itself, resulting in silent operation.
What Integrators Need to Know for Installation
According to Kaleidescape, adding the Mini Terra Prime to a system provides the same experience interface-wise as the other members of the Terra Prime portfolio. Paired with a Strato V, E or M, users can navigate through stored media via Kaleidescape’s cover shuffle or list-view interfaces.
Additionally, up to four Terra Prime servers can be grouped into a system with any number of Strato movie players to scale up more expansive libraries.
Integrators should note that 2.5 GbE networks are required for peak download speeds, and clients may need guidance on storage management and long-term scaling. Though not specifically stated, it’s also likely that the server will integrate with smart home control platforms in much the same way that the other members of the Terra portfolio do.
The Shrinking Home Media Space
While demand for home entertainment setups doesn’t seem to be shrinking (assuming we’re on the money with our recent Home Entertainment Deep Dive), the devices that make up those spaces certainly are.
Home media products, particularly in the audio space have been gradually shrinking over the years, though it’s more often the accessories, rather than the modes of delivery, that have been minimizing their footprint in home setups. Loudspeakers haven’t changed their size much with respect to their function, and TVs just keep getting bigger.
Amplifiers, receivers, and now movie servers, however, have been making it a point to be as compact with respect to room size.
While broadly spoken of as a nod to current spatial limitations in home setups (from the rise in multipurpose media spaces to home space for many coming at a premium in general) there’s no denying that the space saved could make way for something else in the system that otherwise been kept out.
