Look really nice but I bet it cost a pretty penny.

Which Widget would we want?

Sorry Dr., couldn't stop with the W's. Seriously though, what widget are you using or thinking of using?

maybe some day when $comes down

Aryn...
So to build your collection in the Kaliedescape server you have to insert each movie, one at a time for the system to copy into the server???  How long is the typical copy time???

Yes, each disc is inserted and read for the movie to be loaded into the system. They say expect about 40 minutes per movie as far as the "average" movie goes. However, I have found that most are done in about 30 (ish) minutes. However, while the machine is reading/archiving the film you can still be watching that film or other films already loaded into the server while the movie being entered into the server is done in the background.

Also, Kaleidescape has their own movie collections that can be purchased. Some of these are:

The Complete Criterion Collection
All Movies Nominated for Best Picture
All Best Picture Winners
Great All-Time Family Films

There are other collections as well. Obviously these collections have an ocassional hole in them where a movie simply has not yet been released. But this is becoming less and less common almost everyday. When these collections are purchased, you can choose to have them loaded into the Kaleidescape via the ethernet connection and you don't have to do anything except push a few "accept" button.

When I first droppped the coin to get the system everyone told me I was nuts. After seeing it in action though, and seeing all the money I have saved on DVD purchasing and how nice I have been able to make my living space without the cool looking wall(s) of DVDs, almost everyone I know now is looking to get in on the product, even at the low-end. (For me this is a lt like when I was one of the earliest of the early adopters of TiVO).

Although the system does not currently support movies-on-demand through download, the basics are already in place. A simple software/firmware update received via the ethernet connection could fix that problem pretty easily.

Scratched or finger-printed DVDs? Never again. TRIPLE-REDUNDANCY of the movies once they are loaded in ensures that even if one of the HDs encounters a problem, you will be able to continue watching things as if no problem existed while the serer sends ou its own trouble-call for servicing.

Sorry folks, I don't mean to sound like a late-night infomercial or high-pressure salesman. This just happens to be one of those few products that I have ever come across that once exposed to it daily, it just keeps getting better, and no amount of testimonials from me or from their site will ever do this system justice.

Downsides:

YES, this system does cost a fair bit of coin to get in the door. Some people buy a beater used car, I bought this instead.

NO, it is not simply plug-and-play. If you aren't living in the place you intend on staying, or if you are in an apartment that would frown on folks crawling though attics to wire a home, this system is not for you. Well, at least not yet it isn't.

Entering an extensive library of films is indeed a daunting task. However, since it can be done in the background, it became far less so once I got into the habit of simply having the system loading something at all times while I was home. Goint to the system every 30 minutes or so sounds inconvenient. But the reality is that unless I am watching a movie, chances are I am not doing anything that precludes me from wandering in t the room every half-hour and spending 2 minutes swapping out discs. (Unless of course I am sleeping, but really, with all those movies, who has time for sleep?)

Kaleidescape also in fact has a unit called a Bulk Loader. This unit can help those with really large collections get everything put in a bit faster. I did not fork over the money for this though since I found the money better spent on expanding the storage capacity of my server. The reality is that the loader will indeed speed up, or at least make easier, the loading of an extensive library, however it has a very limited usefulness. Once someone has finally entered their entire library, the need for mass loading of discs dramatically decreases. Even for big-time movie buyers, unless they just have NO TIME AT ALL to spend casually swapping out movies every once in a while, the usefulness of this piece become rather limited.

I already wired most of my house with a Gigabit LAN to support BeyondTV Link.  Since it seems the main issues with installing it is wiring up the house, that's not an issue with me.  How plug-n-play friendly is it if the network isn't an issue?

That's just [beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep] stupid.  You can't get data off of their system by normal means so how are the movie lots loosing?

35k?  Daaaam.  That's more than most cars!  I have a rather nice paycheck but that's even out of my comfort range.  I think I'll stick to the home-brew solution I've been [slowly] working on.

I wonder if the agreement you have to sign stating that you will only load DVD's that you actually own will help them any?