Kaleidescape Movie Server
Introduction
The Kaleidescape system is a luxury product which is fully supported by both ourselves as your dealer and Kaleidescape themselves. It is in a different league to other DVD servers available, both in terms of its usability and reliability. Both movies and music are stored on the system in full original quality, no compression is used.
Kaleidescape Servers
The Kaleidescape DVD Movie Server system consists of two elements. A central server which contains the disk array which stores your DVD collection and players which play back the content. A basic system capable of storing 150 DVDs with one player costs £8,750+VAT and installation.
The servers are available in two sizes which are designed to grow with your DVD collection. Disk cartridges are added one by one to the servers to store more DVDs. When a server is full additional servers can be added to the system. This makes the system very flexible and it is easy to start with a small system and expand it as required.
The smaller 1U server can expanded to store up to 450 DVDs whilst the larger 3U server can store up to 1800 DVDs when fully loaded with disk cartridges. A fully configured large server with one player costs £23,000+VAT and installation.
System Design
The Kaleidescape system uses a standard computer data network to send the data from the server to each player. One player is required for each simultaneous movie you want to watch. When combined with a whole house entertainment system it is possible to share a single player in multiple rooms. The data network needs to be wired and set up to prioritise the data from the Kaleidescape system. We will design and configure the data network to ensure the system is reliable.
Kaleidescape Players
There are two Kaleidescape players available. The larger player has a DVD drive built into it which is used to both import DVDs into the system and to play DVDs that you may not want to import onto the Kaleidescape server - such as rented DVDs. The smaller player can be installed directly behind a flat screen and just plays DVDs from your server. Both players upscale DVD images to 1080p High Definition quality. Upscaling is performed with Sigma Designs™ (Gennum™) VXP® video processor chip.
System Control
Ease of control is central to the Kaleidescape concept. At the most basic level a simple DVD style remote control can be used to control the on-screen interface. Moving upwards the Philips Pronto remote control can be used to provide a two-way colour touch screen interface to the system. This allows you to choose your music and view details of your movies in the palm of your hand. A Kaleidescape system can be fully integrated into a Crestron system when full two way control from touch screens around the home. The style of control required varies from project to project depending on your needs and budget.
iPod Integration
Although all music stored on the Kaleidescape is in original CD quality Kaleidescape recognise that this is impractical for storing on iPods. A free software utility is provided which installs on your PC that extracts music from you Kaleidescape system, converts it to MP3 and stores it in your iTunes folder. Once set up the system is fully automatic, you load your music onto your Kaleidescape and next time you synch your iPod your new music will be available.
Blu-Ray
The Blu-ray v HD DVD battle has been resolved in favour of Blu-ray. Kaleidescape now are working on their next generation of players for this exciting high definition format. Although details of the new products are not yet available a blue laser player is expected for launch early in January 2009. This will be fully compatible with the existing Kaleidescape servers.
The Kaleidescape Advantage
There are other DVD servers on the market. Many of these are based on Windows Media Centre PCs which bring with them the usual Windows support issues. These may be less expensive but the experience is also noticably cheaper. Kaleidescape maintain there own database of DVDs. In the event of a DVD not being in their library you simply type in the code on the DVD and Kaleidescape will find the details of the DVD and automatically enter the details on your system. Other systems require you to download the details yourself from the Internet. Also since Kaleidescape is the only legally licensed DVD server it does not rely on a piece of illegal shareware software to decode your DVDs. Overall the Kaleidescape experience is one of quality and ease of use. To ensure this level of quality throughout the system Kaleidescape is not a DIY product.
Demonstration
If you are seriously considering in investing in a Kaleidescape system we would be happy to provide you with a demonstration in our home cinema environment. Please call us to arrange an appointment.
