http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2008 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
Or you could do this:

Matinee video_ts launching software :
http://matinee.dizandat.com/

Plus a way of getting those video_ts folders:
http://www.ripdifferent.com/

And something to play them on:
http://www.apple.com/macmini/


Probably want to add some network storage and a breakout box to do 5.1 audio. But you can DIY a basic setup for under $1000 ( even less if you do some ugly linux crap )

I have this setup running at home with 1.75TB of storage. Works perfect.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
Snuh? Assuming $10-$20 a DVD, "a lot of people" have million-dollar movie collections? Even assuming insane levels of piracy, I imagine the number of people with hundreds of thousands of DVD-quality movies is pretty darn small.

OK, I assume this is "hundreds or thousands," which frankly still seems like an awful lot to me.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/ a lot of people have hundreds of thousands of DVDs...

Try reading the interview slower next time.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/Am I missing something? I mean don't you still need the actual disk at some point? Or do they somehow allow you to download the movie itself from their site?]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
If you're spending $27,000 on the device, it's not going to be cost-effective for you to waste your time using NetFlix or another system where you have to wait for movies. You have a personal assistant who goes and gets 500 new movies for you, and then puts them on the device.

There is a market in the few thousands or ten thousands of users for this technology. I know people who already have a DVD collection for home, one for the beach house, and one for the yacht. There are a lot of them. They could care less how much things cost.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
Find me a Windows Media Center PC that can do this.

This is real high-end equipment we're talking about here. If you don't really even understand all the things that it does (and it sounds like a lot of people here don't), then yeah, it's not for you and a MCE will do just fine instead. But the people who want one know who they are and there is not any other machine that can do everything this can, that I know of anyway.

It's no different than buying a $10,000 stereo system or a $20,000 front-projection theater system. "A $1,200 Bose Lifestyle will do the same thing!" Well, sure, basically, but not nearly as well and not with nearly as many features.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/So back to my original question, you CAN in fact get any DVD you have into this system then right? so a NetFlix or better yet a Walmart membership should do to fill up the whole thing quickly. I guess while I am at it I could get 10 different walmart memberships and get 30 movies at a time and store them.
What made them think they could really get past this hurdle to start with?]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
Attaching metadeta to a movie so the curtains go to the correct place. Ooooooooh. Consider my panties moist.

If I could only figure out how to have the computer get me chips and a tasty beverage, I'd be all set.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
The cost is $27k today, but it might be a lot cheaper in a few years. If it ever does get down to $1k, the "borrow from Netflix, keep forever" method might be a real concern.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
People are gona pirate regardless what the MPAA trys, there only hope is to make movies less expencive.. why would I spend $5 to steal a dvd (media/case/labels/inet connection) when I could buy the original for $10 or less..]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
I sold the media server I had and bought a Kaleidescape system and couldn't be happier (well, maybe I could be happier, but I have no regrets). People who say they can do the same thing sound to me like the people who say TiVo isn't worth it because they can record a TV program on their PC for free.

As for the problem with what keeps somebody from getting a netflix subscription and filling up the server: what keeps them from getting a netflix subscription and copying all the DVDs they get? CSS has been cracked and the DVD CCA isn't going to be able to plug the dam because the damn has already busted. Besides, Netflix doesn't stock Superbit titles and Criterion films when cheaper versions are available and I always go for th best copy of a title that is available.

Ben, I don't have a personal assistant to go and buy 500 movies for me.

Ryan, you don't loose anything on this system. The data is stored in RAID and if a drive fails one is shipped overnight to you. The system sends in health diagnostics every day and so if there is a drive that is failing there will likely be a replacement on its way before you even know something is wrong.

Ken, I would like to see your Media Center PC run two simultaneous streams of HD content at 35 mbit. Oh wait, it can't do that. Nor can it run for 3 months without requiring a reboot (that is how long I have had my Kaleidescape system). It also cannot automatically figure out when a film has reached the ending credits and raise the lights, which the Kaleidescape does.

The Kaleidescape is the Rolls Royce of digital media servers. Sure, a hyundai will get you from A to B just like a Rolls Royce, but it isn't the same thing.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/thanks to DVD CCA + DMCA, the US customer has less freedom in viewing legally purchased content than any other customer in the world.
And it's only the beginning, DRM is comming !]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
Am I the only wondering how they manage to stream their zillion DVDs with one 100MBit port on the server...
Whooowhooo! Here comes the cluetrain, last stop is Kaleidescape. It is not possible to watch more than 3 Movies at the same time when they have a bitrate of 35MBit.
And when they are stating that you should buy another Server just to be able to watch more movies simultanely (or how its spelled in english), which they do in their FAQ, I would kick this unit in the garbage... With modern Hard drives (which I'm sure they use as they have 300Gio) I would get 40MB (320MBit) reading without problems, which requires somehting called Gigabit... IN YOUR FACE!
I know that whatching a thousand HD-Videos at one isn't something that occurs everyday but I don't spend a million on watching DVDs everyday aswell...
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
$7k...have you gone and bought those Gucci 40GB Ultra SCSI drives?

Mr. Malcolm, $50-$60 for storage per movie? Seems as if you went shopping with Mike. It's more like $3 per 8GB of storage given today's ATA drive prices. And that is about to change shortly to under $2.

5-7 years for prices to drop below $1K? Perhaps for a Kaleidescape system. Everyone else will have already stepped up to serve the consumer about four years earlier. The only limiting factor for this technology is storage and bandwidth. They just released some nice and shiny new SANs at CES and isn't cable stepping up to 4Mbps of it's own free will without charging us ... I wonder why?

Ideally, our altruistic cable providers and megalomaniacal multi nationals would love to hold on to the movies for you and charge you per view a la DIVX (remember that brain fart that had every studio executive day dreaming during their morning scalp massage and pedicure?)

Seems to me as if Kaleidescape is all about Intellectual Property and making money of the patents when the big boys come to the trough. And I believe that is what this lawsuit is all about. Time to sue them into bankruptcy and share the spoils for pennies on the dollar.

It's an awesome system if you can afford it and it's a darn bargain if you consider you can waste $20k on a turntable and $100k on a pair of speakers covered in yak fur and tuned inside a tank of Lemur saliva. Let's not forget the tube amp...is that still hot or are the new $5k power cables the new "must waste my money while my factory workers get no health insurance" plaisir du jour?

But than again, you can get a Mac Mini, and wait for Steve to unleash HD on iTunes... bless his little turtle neck sweater.]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
]]>Dec 19th 2005 12:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/http://www.engadget.com/2005/02/14/the-engadget-interview-michael-malcolm-ceo-and-founder-of/
Your readers are morons.

They have no idea what the Kaleidescape system does, even after they read your interview. A MacMini doesn't have RAID-6, doesn't have 12V triggers, doesn't have multiple streams of video with surround sound audio, and most certainly doesn't have the intuitive UI Kaleidescape offers.

Mike Poindexter is right.

Fin]]>Nov 21st 2007 8:11PM