Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Media player discussion (moved from 861v6 thread)

If you have to have the disc in the player to play a movie off the server, why have a server?

agree....that seems a bit daft. Assume it's a way around the legalities.

And even at that, (from reading elsewhere) it seems that Kaleidescope are still running foul of the Studios, who continue to insist that any attempt to even COPY a Bluray Disc is in violation of the DMA and the Copy Protection on the Disc itself

Just in case anyone thought that this was also a potential solution for the Sooloos system

This is not an "approved" solution (whatever that is) and will continue to run foul of Kaleidescope's ongoing legal battle with the Studios

Depressing but nothing promising in sight................

May be there is an undocumented "hack" to disable this very restrictive limitation

Their upcoming Bluray “jukebox” “solution is interesting, but still a little odd.
If one has this “jukebox” solution, then why import Bluray on to hard disk, all you need to do is catalogue them. (Playing different scenes of the same film to different zones accepted).

If the copyright owners insist on physical media checking, I would have looked at some form of random cyclic validation. Say when a disc is played it is randomly marked as requiring validation within a time frame of say 7 days. Then the owner of the system would, within this time frame just re-insert the original disc and the system would then re-validate the stored copy.

Of course if each Bluray disc had a unique ID on it, the server could validate this ID against a web based database so it can only be imported on to one server based system.

Carl

And that in a nutshell is why the Studios haven't and won't "approve" this type of solution

The Studio's "philosophy" in a nutshell

A) If you want the best High Res version, then Buy and PLAY the Bluray Disc itself (I.e. No Copies)

B) If you want another Copy that can be used around the house or on different devices, then use the "Digital Copy" that is now included on many Bluray's or else, buy a DRM Protected copy from iTunes, Netflix or similar

Not pretty!!!!

The reason to put them on hard drives is so you can play them over your network at different locations and at different times- supposing you want to watch Iron Man now and your wife wants to watch it at another location 5 minutes later. I agree this is a kind of bizarre solution and it holds no appeal to me and Im one of their clients!

I am still having difficulty understanding why, given that a K system starts at around $20,000, you just wouldn't go over to your shelf, pick out a movie, and stick it in your BD player. I guess I am not a member of their target audience.

I have a K system and I am very unimpressed with their Bluray implimentation you can see my commentary here:

http://www.kscapeowners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=742&page=2

In so far as why not just get a disc off a shelf- thats the whole raison d'être of any server. If you have a large collection (I have over 1300 DVDs), having that instant access is nice. Its also real nice with kids who might misplace a disc but they can't misplace something they never took out and you have instant access to their movies. The K DVD system is very very well done and could be worth it for someone depending on your subjective take on what they are doing. The problem is technology has moved on very quickly and now days you can replicate much of what they are doing for a fraction of the cost. It doesnt mean they are obsolete in the market, but IMHO they are closer than they should have ever gotten. And its because they have stood still. Tech is just unrelenting. Great for all of us who are customers but I have sympathy for those who have to continue to innovate.

Keep in mind on the argument of cost someone could say- a Meridian system costs what?!! I can just get a $500 receiver and some speakers and get surround sound. And they would be technically correct though many of us would not call the result they have the same as the result we have.

I can certainly respect some folks wanting for movies what many of us want for music. Some are heavier movie buffs than others. Some have many hundreds of movies. Some have a bunch of kids. Some invite guests over regularly for a movie. Different strokes for different folks.

And some folks don't mind getting up to put on a CD either.

But I'm in the same camp as Frank

I used to be in the same camp as you fellas until I tried having a server and I have never looked back. I would often forget I have certain movies- or albums- and Id go to the same old same old- now I can just browse all my content. And the K UI is fantastic for doing this. Is it worth it? I donno- why drive a Lexus when a Kia will get you there just as well? At some point someone decides its worth it- often a complex mixture of the subjective and objective.

I used to think the same thing about Music servers so perhaps we are just slow adopters.

If it were cheap and easy I'd probably do it. But I must admit the temptation of ripping rental discs would be extremely high. And I know that's wrong and avoidance is one way to avoid the temptation.

George I know what you mean. I just don't do it. I only rip the ones I own- truthfully (I know thats hard to believe but its true in my case).

I have to say I am mightily impressed with this Dune player and you could setup something for not too much money if as an experiment. I have not tried music playback with it but I suspect it would be fine.