Kaleidescape Strato E Movie Player Review

The Kaleidescape Strato E Movie Player is a 4K player with 480Gb of storage and support for Dolby Vision & HDR10 video plus Dolby Atmos and DTS:X object-oriented audio. It has room for approximately six Ultra HD titles and offers higher bitrates than streaming or Blu-ray. Downloaded content means no waiting for your Wi-Fi or internet service to catch up while you watch. It integrates with other Kaleidescape players and servers for whole-house video and expanded storage. And like all Kaleidescape products, it features the best user interface in the industry.

The term “movie server” has always been something of a unicorn. The idea of a box, or stack of boxes, housing a movie library instead of shelves upon shelves of optical discs is an attractive one. The fantasy continues with a slick and intuitive user interface that makes it easy to find the content you want or just browse and see what calls you.

If you’re familiar with Kaleidescape, you know that on their planet, the movie server is no unicorn. It’s a reality that’s been available for almost 25 years. Starting in 2001 with movie servers that could rip DVDs directly to internal hard drives, they were the first to market such products to the mainstream. Then along came Blu-ray and with it, Hollywood’s next level of copy protection. Kaleidescape suddenly found itself in need of a pivot. They did so with the Movie Store. Their new line of players and servers concentrated on downloaded content that was legally purchased or rented, then stored locally for instant and uninterrupted playback.

The best part of Kaleidescape’s players has always been the interface. Downloading and storing content is nothing revolutionary, but their user experience is something no other company has equaled. It hasn’t changed much in the past twenty years because it doesn’t have to. It has always been, and still remains, the coolest way to search and browse through content.

Kaleidescape’s products have always been premium in both build quality and price. Today, I’ll be checking out an entry-level player, the Strato E. It offers 480GB of onboard storage, which equates to six 4K movies with object-oriented audio and either HDR or Dolby Vision video.

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I recall that when I made my first trip to the CEDIA Expo in 2010, Kaleidescape was there with impressively large racks of movie servers and players. Back then, mechanical hard drives were the storage medium, and they took considerably more space and power than today’s solid-state hardware. I have witnessed this evolution firsthand in my own journey through home-built PCs. My first system had a 40MB hard drive, which was in 1991. Next was an absolutely enormous 200MB unit. I got my first SSD sometime around 2005. Today, you can buy them in forms smaller than a RAM stick with capacities measured in terabytes.

The Strato E uses an M.2 SSD with 480GB capacity. That’s enough to store approximately six 4K movies with high bandwidth and uncompressed audio. While that seems small, it’s controlled by the best content management interface and infrastructure in the business. You can download those six titles, and once you’ve watched one, it becomes a candidate for deletion within 48 hours to make room for more. Purchased titles can always be downloaded again.

As a player, the Strato E leaves nothing on the table. It supports all video codecs up to Dolby Vision and HDR10. Audio goes up to Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. And Kaleidescape’s downloads are extremely high bandwidth. Video throughput averages around 65Mbps, which compares to Ultra HD Blu-ray at 50Mbps. Audio comes through at 6Mbps, which is equal to what you’ll find on Blu-ray discs. Most importantly, it’s far above streaming, which averages around 8Mbps for video and 640Kbps for audio. And there is no buffering or dropout. We all know the dread of the spinning disc and frozen screen that interrupts the movie we were watching, just when it was getting good! The Strato E eliminates that.

The Strato E seamlessly interfaces with other Kaleidescape boxes, servers, and players (if you have a Kaleidescape Terra (Prime)) alike. This enables the user to store content on a high-capacity server, then distribute it to players in multiple zones. Each player has a unique ID and can call up movies from any connected server or array.

Physically, the player isn’t much bigger than an Apple TV. Its single PCB is housed in a metal box with a cool pattern that forms a ventilation grill and is lit from inside. A soft blue glow accompanies the Strato E’s operation. There’s no display on the front except for a Kaleidescape logo screened onto the metal. In the back, there is an HDMI 2.1 output, an RJ-45 for network, and a USB which can be used to catalog discs. It cannot be used to add storage. A DC input connects to an external power brick. There is no Wi-Fi; you must connect via cable to a router for data and IP control.

Speaking of control, the Strato E is the first video player I’ve ever reviewed that doesn’t come with a remote. This is fair since most of them will be integrated into home automation systems like Control4 and Crestron. But Kaleidescape offers a cool app that takes care of navigation and includes access to the Movie Store. You can do everything from the app, even if the player isn’t turned on. The store lets you browse content and select titles for rent or purchase.

The Movie Store’s content is something unique to Kaleidescape. It isn’t disc rips nor is it the same as what you’d stream from carriers like Netflix or Disney+. Kaleidescape gets digital files directly from the studios and places no constraint on file size or bitrate. And as we well know, less compression means higher quality. On the audio side, the bitrates are the same as Blu-ray, which is also an uncompressed format. So, you get bit-for-bit playback from the original material.

For users who already own a large disc collection, the Strato E’s USB port provides a means to purchase Movie Store titles at a substantial discount. The only requirement is that you use an external Blu-ray drive with its own power supply and USB 2.0 or 3.0 capability. Once you load a disc, the store recognizes that you own that title and offers you pricing options. Most legacy titles are available in either FHD or UHD, so you can upgrade old DVDs this way.

The Strato E is a small box that fits just about anywhere in an equipment rack, or even behind the TV. The power supply is an external brick with a nice, long cord so it can sit on the floor behind your gear. The package includes network and HDMI cables, which I used. The HDMI is a nice THX-certified one from Pixelgen, and it went into an Anthem AVM 70 surround processor. I use a mesh network at home with gigabit service and usually see around 900Mbps in my theater space, so the Strato E’s network cable went to the node’s RJ-45 output. Note that if you have a Terra (Prime) server in your system, all components must be hardwired to the same network switch. Kaleidescape does not support mesh/wireless networks for grouped systems.

I have reviewed Kaleidescape players before, but this was my first time using the Movie Store. My sample arrived with no content preloaded, so I was able to get the full user experience. Setup was completely handled by the app. It saw the Strato E and offered to create an account for me, which I did. A few minutes later, I used the app remote’s touchpad and controls to run through the player’s menu system. There’s not much to do there; it configured itself for my BenQ W5800 projector automatically and played audio through the Anthem in the correct codecs. It was a plug-and-play experience.

The basis for everything Kaleidescape is the Movie Store, which has a huge selection of content from classic films to the latest blockbusters. There are titles that are not yet available on Blu-ray, and some, like the latest Superman reboot (Is that four now? Jeez, Hollywood), are still running in theaters. Modern selections are mastered in 4K with either HDR10 or Dolby Vision and include a lossless audio track like Dolby Atmos.

Since there was no content on my Strato E sample, I went looking for a few things to download. My plan was to compare a couple of familiar movies to their streamed and disc versions. The Abyss is a recent acquisition on Ultra HD Blu-ray, and it is a reference-quality transfer in Dolby Vision/Atmos. Kaleidescape’s version uses the same codecs. I also grabbed the latest dinosaur extravaganza, Jurassic World: Rebirth. This title can be rented or purchased from Prime Video or Apple TV+. Since I had storage space left, I also got Everything, Everywhere, All At Once. Each of the 4K titles took 20-25 minutes to download with my internet connection running at around 900Mbps. I shopped from the Kaleidescape app on my phone, which allowed me to purchase selections without turning on the player or my theater system.

You can also browse the Store using the player’s interface, which looks like the Kaleidescape classic with shifting thumbnails that rearrange themselves according to your predicted tastes. It doesn’t matter if you have anything on the player or not; selecting a movie gives you the option to buy or rent, or watch if it’s already downloaded.

Each title gets its own page of information and options. There’s a synopsis and a list of principal actors. On the left are options for playback, scenes, trailers, and special features if available. Scenes are another Kaleidescape classic feature. You can go to any point in the film and watch a clip. Most movies have some already included, and you can create your own demo scenes if you like. When you’re in the film, a pop-up menu appears for this and other things like metadata and codec information. Another bit of Kaleidescape coolness: the movie or clip starts right up with no splash screens or ads.

With the movies all loaded up, I sat down for Jurassic World: Rebirth. Don’t expect anything new from the franchise, as it is just like its predecessors: people go to an island with dinosaurs, mayhem ensues, the corporate guy gets eaten, and everyone barely escapes with their lives. But it was nonetheless fun to watch, like a two-hour theme park ride with no queue. The sound was superb with huge dynamic range, wide sound stage, and liberal use of the subwoofer. My Axiom EP800 had a ball belting out deep rumbles and intense footfalls from giant mutant dinosaurs. Good sound is everything in a movie, and this one has it. Comparing it to the streamed version from Prime Video, I noticed the Kaleidescape version had significantly greater color saturation. Greens were especially vibrant when compared to the stream. Details were crisper, and black levels were deeper. I was able to stop on a frame from both versions and switch inputs to make direct comparisons. It was no contest.

I did the same thing when watching The Abyss. This Ultra HD Blu-ray’s audio and video are both reference-level. I zeroed in on a frame where Lt. Coffey, in full psycho mode, sits in a small submarine wearing an evil grin. There are lots of tiny highlights in his teeth and the sweat droplets on his face. The Kaleidescape version had a tiny edge here with just a little more sharpness. Colorwise, it was equal to the disc. Kaleidescape’s sound was also more solid with broader dynamics and stronger bass. Though the differences were small, Kaleidescape was the winner in this comparison.

Kaleidescape’s Strato E Movie Player is the ultimate way to enjoy movies with premium audio & video, and access to a fantastic Movie Store.

Kaleidescape continues to make unique and premium products. The Strato E Movie Player is a perfect example with its easy installation, premium video & audio quality, and access to a huge selection of content. And it can be the stepping stone to more players and servers from a well-established and reliable system. In most cases, a Kaleidescape player is the way to watch a movie in the highest possible quality because no other medium has as much bandwidth. Color is richer, dynamic range is greater, and sound has more impact. You can come close with the best Ultra HD Blu-rays, but ultimately, Kaleidescape is offering something no one else has. If you have a well-equipped home theater, it is the ultimate way to bring in content. And it’s well above anything you’ll get from a streaming carrier. The Kaleidescape Strato E receives my highest recommendation. Movie lovers should definitely check it out.