MEDIA SERVER REVIEWS

Typo in the original comment: obviously I meant XBMC.

I am insulted you say it is the poor man's alternative ;). I think it is the highly intellectual person's alternative. Most people prefer to pay for something rather than try to build a much less expensive alternative, if they have the cash, and in many cases just as good if not better. I'd never pay $4K for this Kaleidescape system. I agree one could build a computer for $2000 which would be far superior and more flexible using XBMC and an itx case, if you know how! The cost and need to place the disc into the slot and storing them on an HDD is absolutely pointless. Then to have to pay thousands more for a product so you don't have to put the disc in the slot is just like holding you hostage to buy more of their over priced products.

I recently bought one of these and I love it. I've built HTPCs with Windows Media Center, XMBC and with Plex on my Mac mini. There was always some level of fussing that was required with those solutions. With the Cinema One there's no hassle. It is integrated, elegant and deceptively seductive. Their iOS apps are great but I paired the Cinema One works with Roomie remote to give me a universal remote beyond anything I have ever built. My Cinema One came with 50 free downloads from their movie store. I would pick a movie from anywhere with internet access and the Cinema One would begin the download. By the time I got home the movie was ready. The Cinema One uses enterprise class storage which means higher mean time between failures. 4GB is the max on these drives today but 6 GB is coming later this year. I'm hoping for upgrade options. The movie store has Lionsgate and Warner Bro studios. They need more but I'm still happy with my purchase. I'd buy the disk carousel if they priced it around $2K and will be buying a 2nd Cinema One to go in my bedroom.