Kaleidescape used to sell products that only the rich could afford. Now, with its new Cinema One DVD server, the company is offering its first system priced below $5,000 U.S. MSRP, and it’s just in time for Christmas.
Calling it an “out-of-the-box DVD movie server” the Cinema One is a repackaged version of the company’s discontinued Mini System, at a 40 percent lower price point, and bundled with a regular Kaleidescape remote control and the company’s new Child Remote.
The product is being expressly marketed to families with children who tend to watch more DVD television show collections (Dora, Thomas, and the like) than Blu-ray Discs. It also meets the needs of young children by automatically switching to a simplified user interface when the Child Remote is used.
Linus Wong, Kaleidescape’s director of product marketing noted that one of the product’s other family-friendly features is that it requires no custom configuration to change DVD storage capacity. Every Cinema One is pre-configured to store up to 225 DVDs or 2,500 CDs and to install as easily as an ordinary DVD player.
“We think we’re creating a really nice price point, and an entry-level product, ideal for families for young children, easy to buy, a single SKU, and we think we’re going to open up a really good opportunity for our custom channel and our hybrid custom retailers,” Wong said.
Despite the initial capacity limit and the fact that it doesn’t incorporate Blu-ray like the company’s core M-Class line, Wong says that the Cinema One still features all other Kaleidescape hallmarks such as instant viewing of movies and easier browsing by title, actor, director, genre, year-of-release, or running time.
Even the capacity limit can be overcome, he said. For more storage or to share movies with another TV, a customer would add another Cinema One or a Kaleidescape player to the home network. In fact, any Kaleidescape component works seamlessly with the Cinema One.
“If you really love the Kaleidescape experience but you’re a little more price sensitive or you have DVDs today you can start with the Cinema One, and as your needs grow and you want to add Blu-rays you can add components,” Wong said. “All of the DVDs and CDs from the Cinema One would join seamlessly with whatever storage and components you added for Blu-ray. Specifically if you added an M500 or M300 player, it would be able to play all of the DVDs that you’d already loaded on the Cinema One.”
The Cinema One also includes two independent music zones, enabling a movie to be watched in one room while music is enjoyed in other parts of the home.
