LaCie’s new hard drive built for HD

by Jeff Chabot on July 11, 2009

LaCie, manufacturer of hard drives, computer displays and peripherals, has introduced a new portable external drive built to play HD content on your HDTV. The LaCinema Rugged HD is an external hard drive/multimedia player with 500GB capacity.

The LaCinema is basically an external hard drive. However, with the HDMI output (see photo below) you can play large video files (up to 1920 x 1080p resolution) on your HDTV. The hard drive also comes with audio output, both analog stereo and digital optical.

You can watch movies, TV shows, view photos and listen to music files on your HDTV after uploading files from your computer via the USB 2.0 interface.

Supported video codecs include: MPEG-1, MPEG-2 (AVI, VOB, IFO, ISO), MPEG-4 (AVI, XviD), H.264, WMV9, and VC-1.

Supported audio formats include: MP3, WMA, MP4, WAV, OGG, PCM, DTS pass-through, AC3, and AAC (supports iTunes encoded “m4a” and non-DRM protected purchased songs).

The Lacie LaCinema Rugged HD retails for $349 and comes with a 2-year limited warranty.