NEWS: Kaleidescape to support Blu-ray! (official)

[Croptop]

Originally Posted by charris

I just hope K manages to release the new movieplayers this year and they inlude all the features we would like...

I hate to give you bad news but the BD-capable KPlayer will not be out this year.

[cinelife]

A "wish list" would allow K to hear our collective voices. I'll start the thread now (provided someone hasn't already done so). Look for it under "Feature and Enhancement Requests."

However, just to be clear, K intends to create a player that is "very competitive" with other BR players. I assume that means competitive with other BR players in existence AT THE TIME they release the K-BRPLAYER (my designation, not theirs). That said, I gotta believe the player will have ALL the necessary HD decoding, 1080p24.........etc.

Jim

[JerryL]

Good idea- a wish list or suggested items list for K on the BR player. I will sleep on it. I feel the same way- now its time to move on with this format. Both BR and HDDVD are good formats so we couldnt lose as HD fans.

[josh]

I agree the company seems to be very quiet on this lately. Maybe some of our dealers that seem to be "in the know" can tell us if they've heard anything?

[DigitalStudioWerks]

We have been told over and over that the Blu-Ray player will not be out till 09. I was told by our sales rep that it actually looks like LATE 09 BUT they are definitely working on getting it out in 09.

Until then there is really nothing the company has to announce about a BR player. Who knows maybe at Cedia next week we will see a BR prototype?

[JerryL]

Just to state the obvious- my wish is they will get it out sooner.

[iansilv]

I really hope that their statement of supporting bluray does not mean that you can put a disk in a drive in one of their players and play it. That is not K support as far as I am concerned.

[rgbyhkr]

Unfortunately, unless the studios follow through with their promise to give us all managed copy or unless the DMCA becomes less restrictive, that's likely the most you will get. Perhaps they will offer a streaming solution where you can put a disk or disks in a player (the latter being a changer design) so that you don't just get playback in the player is, but that's about as much as you can expect. There likely is no loophole in the BR licensing agreement like there is with DVD. As such, K does not have a legal path to rip BR content. There's not much that they can do about that unless the studios budge and given the format war's end, that seems less likely now than ever. They could try to offer managed copy as a way to prop up BR sales, but then they would likely be cannibalizing download revenues.

It's a sad state of affairs but the facts are what they are. As usual, we're at the mercy of the studios to give us a better solution and they have shown a reluctance to do that for us. Flexibility usually takes a back seat to revenue. It doesn't surprise me one but, but it is a little sad.

Jeff

[Elliot]

Originally Posted by rgbyhkr

Unfortunately, unless the studios follow through with their promise to give us all managed copy or unless the DMCA becomes less restrictive, that's likely the most you will get. Perhaps they will offer a streaming solution where you can put a disk or disks in a player (the latter being a changer design) so that you don't just get playback in the player is, but that's about as much as you can expect. There likely is no loophole in the BR licensing agreement like there is with DVD. As such, K does not have a legal path to rip BR content. There's not much that they can do about that unless the studios budge and given the format war's end, that seems less likely now than ever. They could try to offer managed copy as a way to prop up BR sales, but then they would likely be cannibalizing download revenues.

It's a sad state of affairs but the facts are what they are. As usual, we're at the mercy of the studios to give us a better solution and they have shown a reluctance to do that for us. Flexibility usually takes a back seat to revenue. It doesn't surprise me one but, but it is a little sad.

Jeff

Well said, and its all these aspects which sadly make me thing that Kscape will not be offering this for a LONG time if ever, not due to there want to do it but the lack of license agreement from the studios.

Looks like i need to build my own bluray server to run alongside the kscape for movie and dvd....

[sshearer]

In reading some of the legal papers filed in the current lawsuit against RealNetworks and the MPAA and film studios, I came across an interesting statement in a sworn affidavit by Michael Dunn who is the President of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC, a subsidiary of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. The statement was dated September 29, 2008 and contains the following:

"19. Beginning next year, all high-definition Blu-ray discs will offer consumers the ability to make a copy of the content onto their computer hard drives, and there is a significant possibility that a multi-industry agreement will be reached soon to bring the same capability to standard definition DVDs as well. This capability, referred to 'Managed Copy' is, once again, similar to RealDVD's functionality, in that it allows consumers to have content both on a DVD and on their computer's hard drive. The critical difference is that (a) Managed Copy will be authorized by content owners and (b) it will allow the content owners to capture the extra value that it brings to the consumer."

This is the first time I have seen a statement this definative, although I may have just missed it in the past.

Scott