Well I did it. Purchased and installed a Strato V after being 10+ year dedicated PLEX server owner. I poopooed Kaleidescape for years but with the new entry point I decided to give it a go. Had it all up and running, several Disc to Digitals scanned and everything automated into HomeAssistant for the home theater in less than an hour. I am actually amazed at the whole experience and quality of the media. Sold.
I had been using JRiver for 7+years. I had not been sold on Kaleidescape but found that I needed to setup a proper NAS and I also needed to purchase a 4K player with Dolby Vision... Instead of investing in a NAS + Proper 4k video player... took the plunge on Strato V. Should get it next week
I like the new update for my Strato V in stand alone but don’t like the recent issue with black screen and audio cut out. Happened about 35 times watching Mission Impossible 6.
Hopefully the stability improvements in this first update include some fixes for those kinds of issues folks are having. I only experienced a black out once and no audio issues (knocks on wood). That was when the V was in my living room. It is in my theater now, so we'll see how that goes.
I have a question about available information during playback. I'm talking about the video and audio specifications like you see under stats for nerds on a RU-vid video or what you see when using a media player such as Zidoo, Dune, etc. Call me OCD but I kind of like being about to verify what resolution, colorspace and audio codec is being played back. Is anything like this available with the Strato players?
Yes, you can see such information, but not on the device on-screen UI. It does show up on the web UI though. It tells you the current content format and the output details as it is playing there. You're one of the folks I had meant to reach out after getting back from vacation, if you want to discuss more or if you're getting closer to jumping in, message me jaremy@techthusiasm.net.
Your purchases always are in the cloud. Meaning, you buy a movie, and it persists in your account. You can freely download, delete, and download that movie again as you see fit. I own far movies than I have storage to keep locally in my system. Reach out at jaremy@techthusiasm.net if you want to discuss.
Great update! Will the UI / movie store appearance change if you add the Terra Prime? I recall it being mentioned that the UI looks different when paired with a Terra.
If you add a Terra to V, the UI reverts to the classic style, but I believe a few of these optimizations will carry over. For example, I think collections looks different on a V in grouped mode. I also expect that the combing of status and settings is consistent regardless of mode. But I'm only running stand-alone mode myself right now. So perhaps someone else in chat can confirm first-hand.
@@Techthusiasm Cool! It's always been the cover art / poster feature that I love. That was the biggest let down when the V was first announced is I didn't see the cover art feature lol. The UI was kinda basic. I was like damn... I gotta spend double just to get the cover art??? lol
@@Techthusiasm I like it and it’s a nice step forward but will not use it to purchase anything until they add the option to not download like on the website. After my initial purchases most are from my Wish List that go on sales so I don’t need immediate download. Like you mentioned, renting from the V’s store makes the most since and will definitely use it for that. It is also nice you can easily see all your purchases. The V is a great product/service and I am very happy they are working to improve things quickly. Really would love the CEC addition update. I miss that convenience the most coming from my Apple TV.
The new FW fixed my occasional black screen issue I was having. I no longer need to set 4K Ultra HD support to 13.5Gbps. With the new FW, my Samsung S95C recognized it as a 4K HDR blu ray player and now when exiting movies, etc, the screen no longer go black forcing me to power off and on the V.
Not if you're happy with the experience of the S. The main thing that I struggled with a while back that led me off the S was the download times. In our use, I couldn't get by with 45+ minute downloads. The V would give you ~10 minutes. So, do you value having the storage, or do you value the download speed? Also, do you have a setup where you really would like to have Dolby Vision or is your system HDR10 only anyway?
@Techthusiasm So instant gratification if it's already downloaded to your system or wait 10 minutes. I was also thinking of selling my Strato and using the money towards the V and the purchasing a server at a later date
That's another way to go too. Hit me up at jaremy@techthusiasm.net if you want to talk options. You could probably wash sale into the V selling the S or even come out ahead a bit.
