Kaleidescape has more capacity and higher video bit rate when compared to 4K Blu-ray

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The Kaleidescape system use to only offer 100GB 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray disc image downloads for rent or purchase, with the exact same picture and lossless audio as the original 4K Blu-ray disc. However now the Kaleidescape system for some movie titles literally offers a better picture quality when compared to 4K Blu-ray discs since the Kaleidescape system is not limited to a movie being 100GB in size and can make the movie a higher video bit rate with movie sizes like 150GB or 200GB if needed. So now for the first time consumers have a download hard drive server that has more capacity and better picture quality when compared to 4K Blu-ray discs. However, for that claim to be true the Kaleidescape system needs to offer a firmware update to support all the HDR formats like Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+ (currently only HDR10 is supported). The Kaleidescape system does support lossless 13.1 Dolby Atmos and 11.1 DTS X. Maybe in the future the Kaleidescape system might support lossless 13.1 Auro 3D with 7.1 PCM core audio.


While the 72TB hard drive server can download a movie over a 1,000Mbps (1Gbps) Internet connection within 10 to 12 minutes using 800Mbps download speeds of the customers 1,000Mbps Internet bandwidth speed. In the ideal world since residential customers in both big cities and some rural areas are getting 10,000Mbps download/upload speeds, then a future version of the Kaleidescape system needs to include a 10,000Mbps Ethernet jack which should only add around $100 to the cost of the 72TB or larger hard drive server. At 8,000Mbps to 10,000Mbps download speed it should only take around 1 minute to download a 4K Blu-ray image instead of around 10 minutes (might have to use a very fast 128GB of DDR4 memory or a solid state drive as a buffer so that 10,000Mbps speeds can occur. The 100GB to 128GB download could be dumped into a 128GB DDR4 memory buffer then the system OS would auto copy the movie file to the 72TB hard drive server).

The Kaleidescape system now offers renting of movies which is real cool. Also, if one of the four 18TB hard drives goes down the system can still be used and as soon as the defective hard drive is replaced. The Kaleidescape system automatically downloads ones movie collection from the cloud.



The Kaleidescape system is a real awesome easy to use system that one day might replace physical optical discs like 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD. Kaleidescape is much better quality then VUDU and Netflix. The only real negative of the system is that it is out of the price range of the average consumer, so it can never become a mainstream product unless a complete system can be purchased for under $10,000. But if 4K Blu-ray discs did not exist one might consider spending $30,000 to $54,000+ for a system. The 72TB hard drive server costs $23,995 and each Statro C players that connect to a Smart TV or projector costs $2,995 each. If one has 10 TV’s in their home the entire setup would cost around $54,000. If one has 4 TV’s in their home the entire system would cost $36,000. Now if one wanted to go with an entry level 12TB movie server instead of the 72TB model, the 12TB server only costs $7,995. So a 3 TV setup in ones home would be around $17,000. But for the average consumer the system needs to fall under the $10,000 or $5,000 price range in order to become mainstream. The Roku Ultra boxes cost $99.99 each. Its too bad a Roku app cannot be used to communicate directly with the Kaleidescape 72TB Terra server. Some people would be willing to pay $8,000 to $24,000 for the home Kaleidescape servers if they could use a Roku ultra or other low cost $100-$500 streaming box that connects over ones existing 10GB or 1GB wired home network.

I am really happy that the Kaleidescape system exists, and a few consumers with up to 10 TV’s in their home might be willing to pay $54,000 for the complete 72TB system with 10 Strato C players. But at the same time one can purchase a very nice home projector for around $54,000 and just buy a 4K Blu-ray player starting at around $150 to $200.


Bottom line: Kaleidescape is better then 4K Blu-ray discs in capacity and overall video bit rate, however the system will always remain a niche high-end product for consumers that demand the best and want something better then what VUDU, Netflix and all other streaming providers can offer. The literal ability to have 100GB 4K image downloads for rent and purchase is real cool. Plus a wider 4K movie selection then what the 4K Blu-ray format has to offer. Instead of using optical discs one uses a hard drive server with a easy to use menu system on all the TV’s in ones house to access ones movie collection.

The following are select quotes from the September/October 2021 Widescreen Review magazine (see page 13 for the full article)

“Kaleidescape claims their movie store has the largest collection of 4K titles available and boasts over 12,000 titles for purchase and more than 8,000 for rent. They claim that users can rent or download movies in reference-quality 4K HDR with lossless Dolby Atmos and DTS-X audio, surpassing even 4K UHD discs in both convenience and quality by going beyond optical disc capacity and bit rate limits. In addition, Kaleidescape offers nearly 400 4K UHD titles not available on Blu-ray Disc. Kaleidescape’s proprietary OS operating system enables Terra 72TB to provide the content protection required by Hollywood motion picture studios for the highest-fidelity renditions of their movies.”


“Terra 72TB stories over 1,000 high fidelity 4K Ultra HD movies, a 50 percent increase over the 48TB.”


“Terra downloads full length 4K movies in as little as 10 minutes”.



“It supports any number of Strato C players and serves up to 10 simultaneous 4K UHD playbacks.”


“When the failed drive is replaced, its movies are automatically restored from the cloud.”


“The Kaleidescape Terra 72TB is priced at $23,995 MSRP and is available now.”


https://www.kaleidescape.com/pdfs/Kaleidescape-Terra-Movie-Server.pdf