Kaleidescape, the supplier of luxury multiroom video-server systems, will expand its selection of downloadable 4K movies with 4K content from Fox and will participate in movie studios’ expected launch next year of premium video-on-demand (PVOD) services, company CEO Cheena Srinivasan told TWICE.
When authorized by studios, PVOD would allow for the downloading of higher-priced new movies for rental by consumers shortly after their debut in theaters and while the movies are still available in theaters. PVOD would mark a strategic shift for Kaleidescape because PVOD movies would be downloaded for rental (VOD) whereas Kaleidescape currently offers downloaded movies and TV shows for sale.
“Kaleidescape’s access to the [integrator] channel and to a consumer base that is willing to pay a premium for earlier availability of movies in the home, combined with the quality differentiation on both products and services, is what’s cool about PVOD on Kaleidescape’s movie service,” said Srinivasan.
Before it makes the PVOD pivot, Kaleidescape will expand its selection of authorized 4K movie downloads shortly after CEDIA 2017 with Fox content. Kaleidescape also said Paramount titles will come to its service “soon.”
The new Fox titles will join 4K content from 11 content owners. They include Sony, Warner, NBCUniversal, and such niche owners as Orchard, which offers sports content, Srinivasan said. Pricing and titles of Fox and Paramount content will be announced when they are available to consumers, he added.
Kaleidescape currently offers almost 300 4K movies and, from 23 content owners including all major movie studios, about 11,000 1080p movies and 2,000 TV series. The content is available for download on Kaleidescape’s 40TB $12,995 4K Terra movie server, which connects to one or more 4K-capable Strato C players connected to a home’s wired Gigabit Ethernet LAN. Movies can also be downloaded and stored on the networked Strato player, which comes with 6TB hard drive at $4,495 and 10TB drive at $5,995. The Strato’s contents can also be accessed by the Strato C.
Titles in 4K and HDR run from $26 to $36, while 1080p titles run $16 to $25.
Almost all of the company’s newest 4K titles are available in HDR 10.
Also at CEDIA 2017, the company is unveiling its $495 Co-Star, which links the company’s Strato system to its Premier system and presents a unified interface on a TV. Whereas Strato products play downloaded movies, the Premier system plays movies from the company’s older “Vault,” a server that stores 1080p Blu-ray content but, for copy-control reasons, requires the discs to remain in the Vault for the movies to play.
The Co-Star will ship during show week.
