LaCie LaCinema Classic HD....has anyone actually used it?

[admin_exported]

I know What Hifi gave it a 5 star rating recently, but I am always interested to hear other peoples opinions?

Also where does anyone get there high quality films from, say MKV files?

 

[DaveyBoy1980]

I'm also interested in this as it supports FLAC and apparently has a nice UI.

Does anyone know if you can stream Internet radio through this. Also, streaming services such as Napster and Spotify.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11389

full spec here.

 

[Anonymous]

Has anyone got this to play HD sound? A friend of mine has one and we've tried various format / codec combinations without success:

MKV & 5.1 AAC > Stereo output

MKV & 5.1 PCM (WAV) > No sound

MKV & 5.1 FLAC > Stereo output

M2TS & DTS-HD > DTS core output

Any help would be appreciated. His amp is a Yamaha RXV-765 and he's using an HDMI connection.

The What Hi-Fi review comments on the quality of the HD audio from MKV and M2TS, although the Lacie site suggests HD audio is only supported in M2TS containers.

http://www.lacie.com/us/support/faq/faq.htm?faqid=10761

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

Just to add, all these files play fine on my PC via an ONKYO TX-SR876...

 

[landzw]

I should be getting one in the within the next couple of weeks , on other consumer review site like test freaks or others its rated very well

 

[Anonymous]

Hi landzw, thanks for the reply.

We've seen plenty of good reviews and the video seems to play back fine, it's just the question of whether anyone has managed to get it to pass through a HD-quality soundtrack. It's implied in the What Hi-Fi review, but so far we haven't had any success.

I've asked the question of Lacie, but no response so far.

 

[landzw]

Would that be the DTS ? as i was hoping myself that it would be able to convert this itself as the WD Tv i had before was able to

Though i have found the LaCinema HD for £140 ( not on sure p&p ) http://www.pixmania.co.uk/uk/uk/4228248/art/lacie/lacinema-classic-hd-media.html?srcid=867

 

[Anonymous]

It appears to be able to play the DTS "core" from a DTS-HD track, yes, but that's not HD audio. It doesn't appear to pass the full DTS-HD information to the amplifier as suggested in the review.

You can easily extract the DTS core from the DTS-HD track when you're producing the M2TS / MKV file so it's not much of a feature in itself, the same holds for AC-3 from TrueHD. I was just wondering if this is intended behaviour or whether we were missing something when muxing the files.

 

[Anonymous]

Sorry, meant to say £140 is a good price, that's roughly what my friend paid.

 

[landzw]

O that link price has changed , the next best price is £148 from amazon

I take it when it say DTS pass through it means it still needs a decoder to be able to listen to it?

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, for DTS pass through you'll need an amp with a suitable decoder. It may well decode DTS to the stereo output if you need it to though.

 

[landzw]

i'm kind of hoping it can

 

[Anonymous]

I am keen on this piece of kit but unsure about the various types of file types mentioned (it's new to me !) but was concerned to read WHFI review mention the lack of apple lossless playing capabilities- does this mean it won't play itunes files from my pc? Also how do you go about getting HD (or Bluray spec) files downloaded over the internet?

Sorry if this sounds like basic stuff, as I said I'm new to all this and was wondering whether saving up for the Cambridge Audio universal player BD650 was not such a good plan after discovering this route? What do you all think?

Thanks!

 

[Anonymous]

If your iTunes collection is in Apple Lossless, then yes, it won't be able to play them. I don't believe that is default though and it will play MP3 / AAC...you can also convert Apple Lossless to AAC in iTunes.

I'm not aware of anywhere you can legally obtain MKV / M2TS files on the internet. You can convert from blu-ray / dvd though.

 

[Andrew Everard]

dingdong76:You can convert from blu-ray / dvd though.

But again, not legally...

 

[Anonymous]

More illegal than making copies of your CD's with iTunes? Aren't they covered by the same laws?

I see the online review of the Lacie has been edited to remove the references to True-HD and DTS-MA soundtracks. I take it the answer to my question regarding bitstreaming these is "No" then?

 

[Anonymous]

That's interesting and worth considering....so a bluray player would still be required then at some point? By the way it's available on amazon for £109 + postage at the moment and I would personally avoid Pixmania folks as I got badly screwed over by them and would never deal with that lot again !!

Is it true that you need a network card for your pc to connect it up or do you just use the usb connection and it's fairly straight forward then? Does it contain any software so that the iTunes programme could be downloaded or do you just download your tunes seperatly?

Finally, no-ne had yet come forward who owns one I don't think, so question is; Is it a bit of a gimmick ultimately and just a storage device with added connectivity for tv and hi-fi and nothing more?

thanks again...

 

[Anonymous]

Yep, you'll need some way of doing the conversion so a PC with a blu-ray drive would be needed.

That's a very good price, is that the HD version?

You can use it via USB fine. My friend is very happy with his, good picture quality and the DTS / AC3 sound is good too. Just a bit miffed at the What Hi-Fi review being so misleading regarding high-def sound.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that dingdong-the HD audio wouldn't be a big conern to me to be honest as long as 5.1 dts and AC3 is good quality and it would be a fairly massive bargain if it was capable of that too!!

Sorry the price I quoted has gone off Amazon now but it can be found in it's HD form for around £120 fairly easily in the UK anyway. I'm fairly convinced that's the way I am going to go...will keep you all posted...

 

[Anonymous]

hi guys looks like im the only one here who has one these ,this is a very good piece of kit small and compact very quite,easy to set up most important picture and sound is very good most impressed with the sound,it will play m2ts and pcm sound but only in stereo. its played every file ive thrown at it no probs at all,you do have to down load the network assistant it said it was on the cd but i could'nt find it but not a bigge all though it is guess work once its installed ,just make sure you activate the drive in preferences , im streaming over home plugs from upstairs to the lounge and no probs there, it plays most sound formats flac, wav ,mp3 ogg ,wma,pcm/lpcm. hope this is some help to some one who is looking at media streaming players.

 

[Andrew Everard]

dingdong76:More illegal than making copies of your CD's with iTunes? Aren't they covered by the same laws?

Much much more illegal...

 

[landzw]

I currently download from here moviepro.net which i pay for each movie inc mkv but i bet i'm still breaking the law as i cannot see anything to tell me its all above board

 

[Anonymous]

hello all

i have one of these and all i can say is i would not be high on my shopping list if i knew before what i know now.

wdtv live was (is) a much better option (despite no built in storage)

where shall i start?....

the interface is good looking but horribly slow.

the menu options available are very limited compared to the wdtvlive (which it is so obviously a stripped out version of- ....software and hardware wise) like subtitles off by default, not using fades between menu selections, selecting 'auto' for resolution output over hdmi gives a 576p menu system.

it is not gigabit its only 10/100Mbps !

will not 'media serve' anything elsewhere while you are watching something from its HD locally

lacie support is very poor

remote is unresponsive

film sound drops out of sync a lot (needs hard reset)

film sound refuses to work often (needs hard reset)

subtitles have to be turned off manually EVERY time (even after pause or stop and then resume they return and need turning off again)

Will not output DTS MA or DolblyTrueHD as the magazine review said it would!!!!

using 1:1 blu ray backups with all but the hd soundtracks removed in both m2ts and mkv this lacie box will not output ANYTHING!!!!

AVOID!!!!!!!!!

not impressed

J

 

[Anonymous]

Is it possible to create music playlists on this or do they have to be imported?