Lacie Lacinema

dangalf

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Nov 14, 2007
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Hi all,

I am looking for a device that will back-up the music and film/dvd content that's already on my PC and allow me to play both the music and dvds through my TV. It would also be great if the device will allow me to stream to other rooms (say to a PS3 in the bedroom).

I am considering the Lacie Lacinema HD as I believe this will allow me to copy the music/dvd files from my PC to its hard drive and then plug into my TV via HDMI allowing me to watch the dvds on my TV and play the music through my home cinema. I understand that the Lacie will also stream its content to other devices on my network (e.g. the PS3) - is this correct?

Will it stream to the PS3 whilst plugged into the TV or will it need to be plugged into the router?

How will it display its content on my TV (obviously no coverflow like the Apples TV)?

If my PC blows up will I be able to transfer the data back from the Lacie to a replacement computer?

Am I able to access different content at the same time (e.g. if I'm watching a DVD through the Lacie downstairs can my other half listen to music through the PS3 upstairs simultaneously)?

Sorry for the list of questions - as you can tell I'm a bit new to NAS devices/wireless streaming [*-)]
 

Gozaradio

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Hi Dangalf,

You're asking about a few different things here and ultimately, you can have everything you want depending on how much time, money and effort you're willing to put into it all.

If I read this correctly, you basically want to watch videos / listen to music on your living room set up while at the same time, have access to that same content on a PS3 in another room? I don't know anything about the Lacie unit you're talking about so I can only talk about the unit I have. It's possible that the Lacie has the same abilities but you would need to check this.

You're two basic options are either a media streamer and separate NAS or a media streamer which can also act as a NAS. I have an Xtreamer which falls into both categories. I had never thought to check if it could be used locally and be accessed over the network at the same time, so I just tested it and it worked in all conceivable setups; I used it to access a file on a NAS while using a computer to access a video on it's own HDD. I played a file from it's local HDD and at the same time, played the same file over network onto PC. I played on file locally and accessed another local file over the network with the desktop. All with a mix of DVD ISOs and High Def files and all worked with files playing in two rooms.

So, what I can tell you is that with an Xtreamer, you can copy files from your PC to its local Hard Disk. You can then connect this to your living room Home Cinema via HDMI and connect it to your network either through ethernet (recommended), or via Wi-fi if you buy it with the Wi-Fi dongle. You can then play files locally on your living room system, and your PS3 should be able to access the same files over the network. The only problem I found is that the file sharing over network only works if the Xtreamer is powered on. This means that if living room and bedroom are both accessing the unit, and the person in the Living Room switches it off, the PS3 won't be able to see it anymore and lose the connection. If you think this is likely to be a regular event, you may want to look at getting a media streamer with no Hard Disk and then a separate NAS which can be accessed by everything on your home network.

You ask about restoring files if our PC goes belly up. Yes, you can connect the Xtreamer to a PC and use it as an external HDD, so you can copy your files back but you need to look into how you regularly back up your new files to the media streamer as you acquire them on your PC. Either an automated backup solution over the network or manually plugging into the USB regularly.

I hope this helps a little and I hope I haven't confused matters too much for you!
 

dangalf

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Hi Gozaradio,

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

It sounds as if the Xtreamer can do pretty much everything I'm looking for. I believe the Lacie is also a media streamer and a NAS as well so hopefully it can do what the Xtreamer can do

Thanks again
 

dangalf

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Ah that's interesting. So it seems it won't will play different media in different rooms simultaneously.

Many thanks Lazar
 

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