Lacie introduces LaCinema HD

Set top boxes that stream content across a network seem to be fairly popular as of late. Not wanting to be left out, LaCie has decided to enter the space with its LaCinema HD. To go along with its recent Rikiki external hard drive, the LaCinema HD appears to be a rather unassuming, if surprisingly small, black box.

The LaCinema HD turns out to be a media streaming box. It can also store content, however, on its 500 GB hard drive, and is has a USB port so you can add more storage. The LaCinema HD has built-in Wi-Fi to connect to your home network to access media, though it also has ethernet in case you don’t trust the dedicated stream.

The interface will seem familiar to anyone who has ever used the XMB on a PlayStation 3 or PSP. It has the options put into icon along a horizontal bar, with the options falling out from under each icon as it’s selected. The table-wide network LaCie had set up looked to run HD video smoothly, though how well it will work in the real world is unknown right now. For now, a 500 GB box to store and playback media isn’t a bad idea, even if it doesn’t have Netflix or other Internet video streaming.