home theater nerds -- what is kaleidescape and do I want it?

[beetle]

bought a new house. the seller was big into home entertainment. house has 10 TVs. 9 of them had sonos soundbars, as well as various sonos speakers thorughout the house. i negotiated all of the TVs and sound bars / sonos as a part of the deal. Seller is now offering to sell me the rest of the gear as a package. according to the seller he spent like $50K on the hardware and another $18K on professional installation. House was being built at that time, so that probably included running all the cables etc. Anyways the price he is offering is pretty reasonable -- I think he understands a lot of this gear is probably outdated compared to the newest stuff with Dolby Atmos, e-arc, etc. He is asking for about $5K for what is pictured below:

From the pics I see a couple of pioneer elite receivers, definitive sub amp, some panamax surge protectors (which kinda tells me that a PRO a/v guy probably did the consulting, installation. I kinda doubt the average consumer would spec out panamax power conditioners).

What I"m not sure about the this kaleidoscope system. Is it just a way to distribute movies across the entire home? I use Plex on a synology server now. What else can kaleidoscope do that plex can't do?

I'm kinda tempted to just take the deal... if the guy unhooks everything it feels like I would spend a long time trying to figure out how to connect the whole house system he has now. Your thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

 

[wizurd]

I believe it's used to purchase movies still in theatres that you can watch at home from what I recall. I could be wrong.

 

[Tupac]

The Ultimate Movie Player - Kaleidescape

Kaleidescape elevates every component in your theater with higher fidelity source material for the ultimate cinematic experience.

www.kaleidescape.com

 

[Jonny Chimpo]

If only there were some way to like search the Internet using clue words or something...

 

[Jonny Chimpo]

Jk bro, u aight?

 

[XO]

yikes those things are $$$$

 

[kamiraa]

kaleidescape is very expensive and quality gear, but only keep it if you plan to purchase movies that are in the theater. Otherwise just get a chromecast hd or something else on all the TVs. $5k is very resonable on all that gear , I would check to see what you can unload it for on eBay. I wouldn’t go with those receivers or power conditioner all of them together is maybe worth $1k on the used market. The other gear in the rack is maybe $500. So do you see $3500 value in the other gear

 

[phonics]

New Release Movies

www.kaleidescape.com

 

[phonics]

If youre going to use the sonos, then you dont need the amps anyway

save your 5k

 

[Jonny Chimpo]

I believe it's used to purchase movies still in theatres that you can watch at home from what I recall. I could be wrong.

Incorrect. you’re thinking of the $35k Prima Cinema which is nearly impossible to get unless you’re a billionaire.

 

[wizurd]

Incorrect. you’re thinking of the $35k Prima Cinema which is nearly impossible to get unless you’re a billionaire.

That’s right. Owner of the hotels I used to work for had it.

 

[beetle]

If only there were some way to like search the Internet using clue words or something...

lol -- of course I looked it up but it seemed like I was missing something -- especially if it costs like $50K originally. from what I can tell it allows you to buy movies from them, and then they will be downloaded (not streamed) onto the kaleidescape main box. from there they can be played at full quality on the sub boxes. I think their claim to fame is "full quality" -- so no compression, etc.

For me, I think just sticking a amazon fire tv / roku / etc on each tv, run Plex and connect to my synology NAS and download content from usenet etc would accomplish the same thing. Maybe it wont' be the same quality as the Kaleidescape but close enough for me.

In any event I appreciate your input. when we agreed on the house price I had the realtor put in "all TVs and associated sonos system" into the offer. they accepted it. later I come to find out from the other realtor that they are not including the other sonos bits not connected to the TVs -- subs, stand alone speakers, outdoor speakers, and the sonos head unit. according to their realtor they only agreed to the TVs and associated sound bar underneath it. unfortunately my realtor says they kinda have a case -- usually anything mounted to the wall comes with the house, but anything free standing is not considered part of the house deal.

If I add up the cost to replace the other sonos bits (new price) it comes out to $3600. So $5000 for everything -- the sonos gear, the receivers, power conditions, amps, and the kaleidescape stuff is very reasonable I think. I'll probably take him up on his offer.