LaCie LaCinema MiniHD

Unfortunately, the browsing goes a bit awry after this as – depending on which browsing option you choose – album tracks are sometimes listed in alphabetical order rather than according to the track number. Album artwork also seems to go astray sometimes, so the browser could still do with a little fine-tuning.

A decent array of ports should suit most set-ups

We can’t complain about the device’s playback abilities, though. With the sole exception of Xvid, the MiniHD coped well with all the audio and video file formats we tested on it, including MP4, WMV, and AVI video, and AAC, MP3 and WMA audio (the full list of supported formats can be found here. Our batch of 1080p video files played flawlessly, as did our collection of standard-def feature films in MP4 format.

As well as increasing fast forward and back speeds to 64x, we were impressed to see that you can zoom photos and video images up to 8x or down to 1/8x, and also pan around the image using the remote control. The only annoying detail on the remote control is its lack of volume control, which means you’ll need to use your main TV remote to alter sound level.

LaCie supplies TwonkyMedia UPnP software with the MiniHD. In use, it’s a bit underwhelming but serves its purpose. Furthermore, LaCie’s manual provides alternative instructions for both Mac and PC users on how to set up shared folders on a networked computer. This allows the MiniHD to play files in those shared folders without needing to use the Twonky software at all.

Verdict

We were impressed by the MiniHD’s versatile playback abilities, and support for a wide range of audio and video file formats. The browser interface is flawed, but is still better than that found in a number of the network media players that we’ve reviewed recently. Our only other complaint is that it’s quite expensive, given that it only has a 500GB hard disk. So while the MiniHD is certainly an improvement on its predecessors, it’s not quite the home run we were hoping for. ®

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