Kaleidescape Strato C and Terra Prime Solid-State

"A lot of the key picture aspects we look out for are handled well, including motion during fast-paced scenes"

High-end video player and server system

£17,082

While we review plenty of TVs, projectors, AVRs and home cinema speakers, something such as this media server/ streamer system rarely comes our way. Destined for multiroom high-end home theatre installations, the Kaleidescape is firmly a niche product. While it can happily replace a 4K Blu-ray player and movie-disc library in a dedicated home cinema room, it is the ability to distribute high-quality video and audio across a range of rooms that sets it apart.

The combination of the Strato C 4K Movie Player and the Terra Prime 8TB SSD Movie Server costs an eyebrow-raising £17,082. Individually, the player costs £5382, while the server is £11,700. Kaleidescape offers a larger-capacity 31TB SSD server for cinephiles with ambitiously sized film collections, although that will cost you a wallet-busting £29,088. The good news, at least, is that you need to shell out for only one server, and Kaleidescape guarantees support for 25 concurrent playbacks - ideal for those with mansions or yachts with abundant rooms that require entertainment.

Both components are very well crafted, with a sleek, metal construction. We find setting up to be simple and intuitive.

Both systems must be connected to a wired gigabit network; from there each component recognises the other and links seamlessly. This is a process that is likely to be completed by a dealer. There is a robust and intuitive web interface to adjust settings on the Kaleidescape, should you choose to tinker yourself. A useful diagnosis panel can identify whether or not the Strato C is playing content natively, if it is 'upgrading' the content using Kaleidescape's processing systems, or if the content is playing at a reduced quality. You can also manually adjust aspect-ratio depending on the display you are using.