Also today, I’ve got a new long-form special feature article for you to check out...
One of my jobs here as editor of The Digital Bits is to look ahead. With physical media sales on the decline, my concern has long been this: How do we hang onto the gains we’ve made in remastered picture and sound quality—thanks to physical 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray—in a world where discs eventually go away? This is something that’s troubled me for a while now, because streaming 4K just doesn’t compare to disc quality. And more and more beloved catalog titles are only being made available in 4K streaming but not disc.
Well, a few longtime Bits readers pointed me in the direction of Kaleidescape—a company that’s currently dedicated to delivering a luxury home theater experience. Of course, it comes at a luxury price. But what they’ve done is to build an ecosystem that delivers disc or better quality, without the disc. And if Kaleidescape were to produce an entry-level movie player at a mass market enthusiast price, it could be a game changer.
Anyway, I’ve found the whole experience of demoing Kaleidescape’s Strato movie player to be pretty interesting... and even eye-opening. So I encourage you all to check out my report on the experience. You can find it here (or by clicking on the image below). And please consider sharing your thoughts on our Facebook (here) and Twitter (here).
Finally today, it breaks our hearts to have to report this: The great Carl Reiner has died. As many of you know, Carl was part of Sid Ceasar’s legendary comedy team in the 1950s. He created and starred in TV’s The Dick Van Dyke Show. He wrote and directed The Man with Two Brains and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. He also directed The Jerk, All of Me, Oh, God! and other great comedies. And of course he appeared in over 100 films and TV series, including the Ocean’s series and so many staples of comedy television in the 1960s and 70s. There will be lots of retrospectives on Carl in the days ahead, and I encourage you to give them a read. He will be dearly missed. Carl was 98. You can read more here at The New York Times.
And that’s all for now. Stay tuned...
(You can follow Bill on social media at these links: Twitter and Facebook)