LaCinema Black MAX (H264/1080p/wifi/DVB-T HD...)

[porkepik]

Hello,

I've seen a new product from LaCie has arrived on the market :o

[img:280:300:ba3a00a018]http://www.lacie.com/imgstore/product_medium/lacinemaBlackMax.jpg[/img:ba3a00a018]

http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/product.htm?pid=11223

press release: http://www.lacie.com/uk/company/news/news.htm?id=10456
datasheet: http://www.lacie.com/download/datasheet/lacinemaBlackMax_en.pdf

specs:
Capacity : 500 GB
Interface : Hi-Speed USB 2.0 (USB 1.1 compatible)
Video Codecs : MPEG-1, MPEG-2 / HD, MPEG-4, DIVX, XVID, H.264 HD, WMV9 HD
Video Format : AVI, DIVX, MPG, MP4, MKV, WMV, MOV, ISO, VOB, IFO, ASF, TS, TP, TRP, M2TS
Maximum Resolution : 1920 x 1080p
Upscaling : 1080i for standard definition movies
Audio Format : MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG, AC3, MP4, WAV/LPCM
Playlist : M3U
DTS : Pass-through to compatible audio amplifier
Photo : JPEG**, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIF

Output : Video: HDMI, Component (YUV), Composite (CVBS)
Audio: Optical Audio, Audio Stereo
Input : Video: Analog composite video or S-Video
Audio: Analog stereo audio
Network Compatibility : Ethernet 10/100 Mbps, Wi-Fi (802.11n)
TV Tuner : Digital Terrestrial Television (DVB-T), High Definition supported
TV Systems : PAL / NTSC
Dimensions : 9.2 x 8.8 x 1.8 in. / 234 x 225 x 46 mm
Weight : 67 oz. / 1900 g
System Requirements : PC with a USB port; Windows XP, Windows Vista™
500MHz processor or greater
256MB RAM minimum
Routeur B, G or N (2.4GHz)

Box Content : LaCinema Black MAX
External power adapter
AV input Scart (Peritel) to RCA cable
AV output RCA to Scart (Peritel) cable
HDMI cable
USB 2.0 cable
CD-ROM with User Manual
Quick Install Guide
Remote control
Two x AAA batteries


Seems nice but no subtitle support apparently, and just upnp for network, but integrated wifi and video inputs could make up for it :)

[daskino]

what is the retail price for this one?

[porkepik]

£390 or 450€, but only seen available on lacie's website so far.
[edit]: £360 on play.com, and should be released on 16/02

BTW, i see that their previous model had subtitle support, so that's very weird :?
Maybe upnp prevents them from sub support for network, so they removed it entirely to avoid possible confusion? (just a supposition, or simply someone forgot to add the line on the spec sheet lol ...)

[sonofzorro]

Thanks for the post and the nice info porkiepik
My immediate feeling is that it will be a player form an established brand that will take this hobby market global, western digital, Lacie, or NVIDIA Ion, the list of major league new entrants into this market is no coincidence, this market is set to explode.

Pro's
net workable
appealing design
built in wifi/network ability
2 year warranty

Con's
pricing 450euros way out IMHO. This sort of purchase needs to hit 250 euros max
500gb hd seems miserly
have Lacie made media players before?
can the user replace the hd..unknown but I doubt it.
that blue (ahem) light may be distracting hope you can disable it.

I am ready to purchase a new player and it probably will be from a recognised brand name with fully developed support in place this is my new number one purchasing criteria.


-- :wink:

[porkepik]

subtitle support is confirmed by a new buyer on french forum (from lacie support service), he may receive his box tomorrow, with a review following soon. :)
Also HD Audio passthrough is planned in the future.

pricing 450euros way out IMHO. This sort of purchase needs to hit 250 euros max
That would be great, but let's face reality 8O even NMT aren't sold at this price in Europe, and the lacie should have better build quality, wifi, 500GB hdd, DVB-T HD.
At 450€ (maybe lower on online vendors), it's the same price as a tvix6500+ dvb-t hd tuner + 500GB so i would consider the price "fair" even though lacie isn't at all starting a war on prices :roll:

500gb hd seems miserly
I think you might find other version with 1TB integrated, no idea if it's easily "swappable"
Honestly i doubt Lacie is going first for the crowd of MKV and BD/DVD rippers that would want to stock everything on internal hdd, hdd is most likely there for recording of DVB-T and in that case, it seems ok.

And yes Lacie has made mediaplayers before, never heard of it though... Might not be a good sign :lol:
http://www.lacie.com/uk/products/range.htm?id=10049

[FwvG]

Upscaling : 1080i for standard definition movies 8O


Regards,
FwvG

[porkepik]

yeah saw that too, makes me wonder what chip is inside :?:

Or simply a mistake on spec sheet like subtitle ;)
If you read features on PDF, it mentions 1080i upscaling for component video, so maybe just a limit for component :?

Anyway someone can always contact Lacie support and ask them if interested^^

[greywall]

yeah saw that too, makes me wonder what chip is inside :?:


The LaCie LaCinema Black MAX mount the ViXS XCode2105 chipset.
You can download XCode2105 info HERE. (http://www.vixs.com/sections/products/product_sheets/sheets/XC-2105-07-V1.0.pdf)

:wink:

[porkepik]

quick follow up from the first buyer,

he ended up sending it back the day after :lol: because:
- no DTS decoder (need for amplifier to decode)
- black screen on DVD ISO
- DVB-T tuner has hiccups on some channels (especially compared to his pioneer plasma tuner)
- stuttering on some big 1080p MKV files
- machine can't be turned off, it just enters sleep mode so you need to remove the plug
- fan, which is as noisy as the PS3 one, stays on at all time even on sleep mode

Permanent sleep mode is most likely due to DVB-T function (EPG updates)
LaCie will maybe come up with software updates so all hope is not lost, but the fan situation surely won't be solved by software :(

anyway, here's the french topic where all info comes from...
http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1089&t=29906655

[Likvid]

This product seems very nice.

I will look into it.

[pemala]

Just for the record: LaCies latest firmware upgrade has amongst other problems solved the fan noise problem in an acceptable way. I M H O not so bad a machine after all if you're looking for just this ready and delivered in one little box.

What I miss the most is programming of recordings through the EPG. I hope this will be added in future upgrades!

[pemala]

Correction: EPG programming works. It just seems that the simple subtle way to do it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the manual...

My problem now is that I want to receive the new danish HD DVB-T broadcasts which I do with an excellent 720p-picture - but no sound. It is said to be broadcasted in the HE-AAC format which my player apparently doesn't support. LaCies support hasn't answered me yet.

Is there some HE-aac patch you could install without getting it from LaCie?? I suppose not, but just want to pose the question anyway...