'The world's highest-fidelity movie player': Kaleidescape's new 'Cinematic 4K' format movie player gives us a glimpse of what could be next after 4K Blu-rays — and it's also the first 8K-certified movie player | Tech Radar
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'The world's highest-fidelity movie player': Kaleidescape's new 'Cinematic 4K' format movie player gives us a glimpse of what could be next after 4K Blu-rays — and it's also the first 8K-certified movie player
The most interesting thing about this 8K player might not be the 8K bit
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Kaleidescape launches the first 8K movie player certified by the 8K Association
But the new 4K Cinematic format for higher-quality 4K is the exciting bit
Kaleidescape makes some truly spectacular 4K video players, and now there's an 8K version. It's "the world's highest-fidelity movie player," says chairman and CEO Tayloe Stansbury. "It brings movie lovers closer to the filmmaker's intent, with cleaner detail, true-to-life color, and a more natural presentation that dramatically improves the viewing experience of any display."
It's also a world first. The Kaleidescape Strato K is the first 8K movie player that's been certified for 8K by the 8K Association.
That's good, but the fact that it's the first such accreditation points to the problem with 8K. Buying 8K hardware right now is a bit like being the first person in the world to buy a fax machine: who are you going to send faxes to? Similarly, with 8K movie players and 8K TVs, what 8K movies are actually there for you to watch?
That means the Strato K, while impressive, is a bit of a gamble: you're buying hardware in the hope that the 8K movie trickle will become a flood, and I'm just not sure that rain is ever coming.
So the most important new feature might not be the 8K support, but instead a new format that Kaleidescape calls "4K Cinematic".
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Here's Kaleidescape's graphic showing how 'Cinematic 4K' compares to other 4K options (Image credit: Kaleidescape)
Kaleidescape's 4K Cinematic is a format designed to deliver even better 4K picture quality, and it does that by using less compression. Movies are encoded at around 110 Mbps using the HEVC codec. Kaleidescape says that's compared to around 60 Mbps for 4K Blu-Ray, and around 17 Mbps for standard 4K streaming services.
It's worth noting that those figures aren't the maximum bitrates for the formats — for example Blu-Ray can go up to 144 Mbps, though 80 Mbps is a more standard ceiling — but are the bitrates typically used in commercial releases.
In addition to the higher bitrate, 4K Cinematic uses 4:4:4 chroma sampling rather than the 4:2:0 of most commercial movie releases, meaning more accurate colors and less 'banding' or other color artefacts.
The downside of those higher bitrates is that you'll need a lot of storage: as Flatpanels HD notes, the player only has 1TB of storage – equivalent to around seven 4K Cinematic titles, as those are 1.5x the size of normal 4K movies. Like other Strato players it's really intended to be teamed up with the firm's Terra servers.
Kaleidescape will label the higher-quality movies as 4K Cinematic in its movie store and on the Stratos K interface to differentiate them from standard 4K versions. Prices will be from around
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4K Cinematic supports Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and DTS: X — but Dolby Vision isn't supported by the Stratos K player in 8K movies, which are SDR or HDR10. The maximum frame rate for 8K is 30 fps via HDMI 2.1.
The Strato K has a recommended retail price of
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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than twenty books. Her latest, a love letter to music titled Small Town Joy, is on sale now. She is the singer in spectacularly obscure Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.
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