Nearly 3 years have passed since my first encounter with Kaleidescape. It was the first real hard drive-based movie player, and, at $32,000, monstrously expensive.
But the home theater landscape has evolved dramatically since then. Music servers are now in nearly every pocket, and each year another movie server pops up. Yet all of them — yes, even the iPod — lack the sheer brilliance of Kaleidescape's interface. Many are just customized Windows Media Center PCs, and some suffer similar reliability. But not the Kaleidescape Movie & Music Server, whose operating system was custom-built from the ground up.
In the spirit of journalistic integrity, I'll admit that I'm a huge Kaleidescape fan. It was the coolest piece of gear to spend time in my rack, and I still measure all other servers against it. Only the staggering price kept me from becoming an owner. (My wife would have noticed the second-mortgage applications.)
Enter the new "entry-level" 1U server, a kinder, gentler, far less expensive Kaleidescape that now handles music in the same manner as movies. I was excited, to be sure, but wondered what corners might have been cut to slash pricing by half.
SETUP As I unboxed the system, I immediately noticed that the price wasn't the only thing that had been trimmed: The server was 7 inches shorter than the original, far lighter, and an entire component — the DVD Reader — had been eliminated. My system consisted of just three components: the main server and two clients to which it streams content, the Movie Player 2 and the Music Player.
All components connect to your home network via Cat-5 cabling, and a high-speed Internet connection is required to receive disc and track metadata and Kaleidescape upgrades. Kaleidescape recommends a gigabit (1,000 Mbps) network switch when using multiple Movie Players (each server can support up to 25 simultaneous movie or music streams), but my 10/100 switch was fine for my single-player system. All of the components feature RS-232 connections for connection of advanced control systems. The Movie Player 2 has the connections you'd expect from a high-end DVD player; I used its HDMI video output to hook up my 61-inch HDTV and the composite video out to feed my 32-inch bedroom set.
For multiroom audio, the Music Player supports up to four simultaneous audio streams and has analog, coaxial, and optical digital audio connectors for each of its four outputs. Even though it doesn't have a video output, the graphic interface for selecting music is displayed through the video outputs on the Movie Player 2 or on a third-party controller.
In fact, Kaleidescape is really meant to be paired with a high-end control system such as AMX or Crestron, which would allow you to see the onscreen graphic interface right from a handheld or wall-mounted LCD controller. You can use an IR remote, but that anchors you to a video screen for feedback — not so bad for movie operation but a potential bummer for house-wide music control. I opted for Web-based control using my laptop, which gave me complete control over movies and let me browse and select music for each of the four music zones via WiFi.
Setting up the 1U server is pretty much a breeze, though my sample had been previously configured for another system and so required a quick call to Kaleidescape to reset it for automatic assignment of its IP address. Once I did that, all I had to do was turn it on and it instantly configured itself on my network. Showtime!
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The Short Form
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| Price $16,720 (AS TESTED) / kaleidescape.com / 877-352-5343 |
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Snapshot
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| Still pricey after a major price break, it remains the slickest and best system for managing your digital media |
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Plus
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•Still the most elegant user interface on any digital media server •Now handles music as well as movies •Flat-out terrific audio and video quality |
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Minus
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•Imports files only via front-panel drive •No cherry-picking files from your discs •Limited movie descriptions |
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Key Features
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•Uncompressed storage for all media •Elegant user interface •Fully loaded server stores combination of 335 DVDs or 3,900 CDs •Supports up to 25 audio or video streams •Full Web-based control •Parental controls •1U Server: 17.5 x 1.8 H x 18.5 in, 24 lb (with four drive cartridges) •Movie Player 2: 17.5 x 1.8 H x 13.5 in, 10 lb •Music Player: 17.5 x 1.8 H x 13.8 in, 9.9 lb |
If multiple terabytes of storage seems like a lot, it's because file compression is a no-no in Kaleidescape's lexicon — even lossless compression. All files are imported bit-for-bit from the source disc to produce the highest quality. Adding movies takes roughly 20 minutes; CDs, around 6 minutes. Kaleidescape maintains its own movie database to provide cover art and DVD info, which they constantly update; for music, they use data from AMG. Information for unrecognized discs can be added manually from any computer on the network. Or, you can enter the disc's UPC code and let Kaleidescape do the work. I entered UPCs for two obscure titles, and their information appeared on the server in about 2 days.
One drawback is that discs can be added only in their entirety — no cherry-picking favorite tracks from CDs or importing the feature from a DVD without the extras to conserve space. Nor can you transfer media to the server over the network, so existing collections must be re-ripped.
PERFORMANCE Once everything booted up, my TV screen became populated with high-resolution cover art for the DVDs on the server. Pausing on a cover produced the first bit of Kaleidescape magic: The other covers resorted themselves, with similar movies intuitively placed around my selection. Very cool, and the recommendations were usually spot-on. The Sting, for example, is one of my favorites, so Kaleidescape suggested Ocean's Eleven and The Italian Job. You can sort and browse your movie collection by title, actor, director, rating, release year, or running time. Selecting a film displays all its info, though the description is only a sentence long — a bit skimpy compared to other movie managers.Living with a Kaleidescape is a bit like having a personal-entertainment concierge: It enables and enhances the total experience but disappears once its job is done. Selecting a film causes it to start immediately: no FBI warnings, no trailers. Titles spanning multiple discs, such as the extended cuts of The Lord of the Rings films, are seamed together and automatically jump to the second disc. A new provision lets you string together favorite scenes to create your own killer demo. A car chase here, a gun battle there, sprinkle in a couple of explosions, and you've created a moment sure to wow any guests. Can't make it through all 154 minutes of Superman Returns in one sitting? The system keeps track of paused movies for as long as you wish, resuming exactly where you left off with the push of a button.
Setting preferences ensures the desired performance every time. You can opt for Dolby Digital or DTS defaults for audio, and the ability to select different video resolutions for each output let me to enjoy 720p on my big screen and 480i in my bedroom. Parental controls keep the kids from stumbling across something they shouldn't. You can even override a rating if you feel a movie is more R than PG-13.
The system's biggest change since my original review is the addition of music management to make it a complete media-management solution. Kaleidescape has incorporated the same terrific interface and browsing experience for your CDs. CD listings feature a full album review, and a nice cross-fade option even provides a smooth transition between songs.
Video and audio quality were excellent. The Movie Player 2 flawlessly passed the video scaling tests on the Silicon Optix HQV Benchmark disc, offering the best performance of any device I've tested.
BOTTOM LINE Even with the new pricing, a Kaleidescape system still runs $9,995 with a server and Movie 2 player, while a music-and-movies system starts at $12,730.But Kaleidescape is just a media server the way Patek Philippe is just a watch, Kristal just a sparkling wine, or Bentley just a car. It offers the highest level of refinement, sophistication, and elegance of operation while remaining simple enough for a child to use. Personal movie and music libraries can easily be worth $10,000 or more, so why not get something that lets you enjoy yours to the max? For that, there's simply nothing better today than a Kaleidescape Movie & Music Server.
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