Kaleidescape To Begin Selling Sony Pictures 4K Movies for $30

a Thursday news conference at the CEDIA trade show in Dallas. Sony Pictures provides the bulk of the initial movie titles, Kaleidescape CEO Cheena Srinivasan told us. Some 200 TV episodes will be available in 4K next month, he said. Kaleidescape is working with other movie studios and 4K content providers, he said. On what’s standing in the way of offering other movie content at launch, Srinivasan said it was a “process” involving “working closely” with movie studios. “Studios are very cautious about who they license 4K content to,” Srinivasan said. “The problem with streaming 4K is that you don’t have any control over the actual bit rate and the quality that is delivered to the end consumer.” He noted that TVs that display bit rates while playing streamed content typically show variable bit rates during streaming, which can jump around from 480p to 720p, depending on available bandwidth. “Sometimes you will get to 2160p but it will throttle back,” he said. “Even though they say it is 4K, to keep consumers engaged and not interrupt their viewing experience, [streaming services] throttle the bit rate so the quality is actually not 4K.” He suggested Kaleidescape customers get a business Internet line from their ISP, and he also advised downloading movies “when everybody else is asleep.”