LaCie Lacinema Classic 1TB won't play video

[simonsickboy]

Thanks LostLyric and jagabo. I appreciate the help, and LostLyric, as per what jagabo said, that would be greatly appreciated and I thank you in advance.

[lostlyric]

Hi Jagabo:

Yes, I read the issue around Simonsickboy not being able to play a 720 p file. I might be wrong in thinking that I played an HD file, because I don't know enough about identifying HD vs. SD etc. . To clarify let me rephrase that I am now able to play at least a few films (all that I have tried so far) on the LaCinema Classic (LaCC) that I could not play on my Philips 5990/37. The reason I could not play those films on the Philips was because they were a higher resolution than standard definition (SD). When I ripped the LOTR from my original DVD I thought I had ripped it in HD. However, I don't know enough to verify this, so I made an assumption, and I could very well be wrong. However, I will check with one of the two softwares you mentioned and come back with a post.

On the LaCC box it says it will display HD-JPEG. That is the only context in which HD is written.

In fact here is exactly what it says on the box for "Supported Formats":

Video: MPEG-4 (AVI), Xvid, DivX (3.11, 4.x, 5.x, 6.x)
Audio: MP3, WMA
Photo: JPEG, HD-JPEG for improved rendering quality
Subtitles: SRT, SSA, ASS, SUB, PSB, SMI

On another issue which I had posted yesterday, I wanted to confirm that the central TOGGLE button is also used for Fast Forwarding and Rewinding/or going back. I did not find any mention of this in the manual.

One question I have is if anyone knows whether added subtitles can be switched off even when the subtitle file is in the LaCC.

[turk690]

Ripping anything from original DVDs always produces SD

[simonsickboy]

http://www.lacie.com/ca/support/faq/faq.htm?faqid=10669

"up to 1080p" would imply it could support 720p...stupid me, I should've known better, I mean why make a device that is able to play HD...that makes too much sense...ah well, back to the store for me. gah I've had enough of LaCie

Anyone recommend a different harddrive that can connect direct to TV, and play HD movie files (avi or mkv - I can convert if needed)?

[jagabo]

WDTV (separate player, uses external usb hard drive), Popcorn Hour.

[lostlyric]

I am sorry Simonsickboy for my misinformation. I checked the LOTR and it is not HD, it is waaay lower. In fact it is 628 x 254 and I checked a bunch of my avi files and the highest I found so far is 624 x 352.

My guesstimate is that either WD or LaCie or Iomega are likely to come up with an integrated HDD Media Player which will play HD. It wouldn't surprise me if they had one out by the holiday season.

In the meanwhile if LaCie still interests you check out their multimedia player line-up. I have attached LaCie's comparison on their line-up.

And if you like you can also check this link. You may find it of some interest.

http://www.lacie.com/ca/products/range.htm?id=10049

Good luck and hope you find a multimedia player of your choice.

[adisdjapo]

Hi guys!

I have a different problem with LaCinema Classic.
Upon purchase I have copied some music mp3 files onto the drive and was able to play them on the TV. However, once I have turned off the drive and turned it on again the drive displayed on the TV that there are no filed found in the music folders although they are present when the drive is connected to the computer.
I have removed the files and now any music mp3 I copy onto the drive aren't recognized as being there when the drive is connected to the TV.

I have tried to contact support but they don't seem to offer any outside USA.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
A.

[lostlyric]

Hi adisdjapo:

I haven't tried playing too many mp3 files. If I correctly understand what you are saying, then I am guessing it MIGHT be one of two possibilities:

a) I certainly hope it is this one because the second option is a bit of a bummer - The first possibility is that you might be having both the computer and the TV hooked up to the LaCinema Classic at the same time. If you are doing this you, disconnect the drive from your computer and then power on the LaCinema, hopefully this should fix the problem;

b) Your LaCinema Classic's hard disk is corrupted. This will mean a reformat of your LaCinema Classic HDD. If you read through some of my earlier posts (I think it was my first post on this thread) I referred to some limitations one needs to be aware of BEFORE re-formatting your LaCinema Classic HDD. I suggest you read that post carefully and use the particular software which worked for me. Needless to say, please do NOT rely exclusively on my suggestion as it is very possible that it could be something else and that I could be wrong. I would explore all options before reformatting the HDD because it will wipe out all your data.

Of course there is also LaCie's tech support you can ask for help from. I found their first level support helpful but not very effective. And since it requires written exchanges it does take much longer. Their second level tech support on the other hand in my experience was excellent.

Good luck and I do hope that it is the first option that is preventing you from finding the files on your LaCinema classic.

LostLyric

[adisdjapo]

Hi ll,

Thanks for the reply. It's not a unfortunately. I'll try with the reformatting. I have another I can copy the files to so they won't be lost forever.

Will let you know how it works out.

Best,
A.

[Apollo2008]

Hi I also bought a Lacie classic bridge I tried 2 Sata drives on it one 500 and 750 both were set up for fatt32
on my mac but I got the same problem when trying to play on the tv the unit hangs when accessing the media folders
I never even see the contents of the folders it just goes back to the main menu then hangs I got onto Lacie and tried what they said but the same thing happened the support guy said to send it back for replacement which cost me shipping the new one arrived today and the same thing happened I borrowed my friends Sara drive and same thing.i zero out data and formatted the drives again and no good all these drives are for macs any ideas? thanks

[lostlyric]

Hi Apollo2008:

Sorry you are having difficulties even after replacing the LaCie Classic Bridge. I am just wondering if you tried an IDE hard disk instead of the SATA, unless of course LaCie tech support confirms that SATA HDDs are compatible with the Bridge.

I can't quite think of what the problem might be. I don't know anything about Mac's and neither do I fully understand how the Bridge works. Please excuse my ignorance for what I am about to say, because the Bridge technology may not even require it, but I am just wondering if it is at all possible that the Bridge is configured to NTSC instead of PAL, since you are in Ireland? Is this even relevant here? It might still be worth checking this issue.

As a last resort why don't you try pushing LaCie tech support to elevate your problem to a higher level of tech support. You might want to show that you are upset (in a nice way) to get through to the next level. Because I totally agree with you that we spend good money and then are left with a product that does not work as it is expected to and we become the guinea pigs. And mailing a piece of technology is not just a matter of money, but the hassle!!!

Good luck Apollo2008. Do let us know how it works out. And please don't be discouraged. It took me more than three weeks to get my problem sorted out.

Best,

LostLyric

[Apollo2008]

Hi Lostlyric
Thanks for getting back to me so soon.Yesterday i spoke to a mac guy
and he fixed the problem.Lacie instructions say to open disk utility on the mac and format the drive to Fatt32.This i did however there is another part to it in that you must go into the partition tab select 1 partition click on options and select master boot record. It was set for Guid partition table
boot record.The unit is working perfectly now.Thanks again for your help with this.Chris

[lostlyric]

Good for you Apollo2008 you got it figured out and working. As I said I don't know the first thing about Mac's and it was simply a matter of time before you checked with a MacTechie.

In my experience LaCie products perform very well once they are running (at least that is my experience for the last about 18 months). But I am beginning to think that LaCie doesn't do enough product testing before they put their products out into the market. Because of this I think the documentation they supply with their products is most user-UNFRIENDLY. For example with their LaCinema Classic they provide a CD with a soft-copy of the product manual along with some utilities. But there wasn't any reference as to what to use those utilities for. They give a whole bunch of files under a folder called Reader, but they don't say that it refers to Adobe Reader until you see the .exe file (for that too one needs to know a little bit about computers otherwise to the user who doesn't know what Adobe Reader is, it will mean nothing).

In fact even where the User manual talks about how to re-format the LaCinema Classic it walks you through the Windows formatting wizard. Had they tested the product sufficiently they would find that FAT32 is not offered as an option on every system. It wasn't available to me on my computer. I checked around on the internet and found a freeware that did it. But I could have been saved a lot of problems if I had known their was a LaCie re-formatting utility right on the CD-ROM). Only after I had re-formatted my LaCinema Classic (and after a lot of aggravation) did I realize that there was a utility on the CD-ROM which still remains untried, and I have no intention to use it at this point. Sorry for going off-topic but LaCie tech support took the longest time (about 3 weeks) to give me a simple piece of information (the key sequence) which should have been their first line of action, offered as an option among other troubleshooting tips. Because they don't test their products sufficiently (esp. on different systems) their first level tech support appears clueless when something goes wrong.

Quite likely you didn't even need to replace your LaCinema Bridge, but their tech support thought that would sort the problem. If their product documentation and tech support continues this way LaCie may lose their product's edge to the competition. This thread is a very good example of this.

Hope things go more smoothly with your Bridge from now on.

LostLyric

[Apollo2008]

Thanks lostlyric its my first time using lacic its a nice looking product and works very well as a multimedia player but its a pity documentation and support lets them down.When you buy a product you just want it to work and especially products that your excited about.It was frustrating to have to pay for return shipping and waiting for tech support to get back to me, in all took 3 weeks before i got it running.At least its up and running now and thanks again for your feedback.

[peter_dooley]

Help needed please, I got my 1T LaCinema Classic off Amazon UK but live in the Pacific.. long story

Often while watching movies the movie freezes, to get it working again i have to unplug at the wall and start again.
Has anybody else had this?
Could this be a cooling issue?

The Operating system seems basic, can it be upgraded?

Any help out there? Thanks

[lostlyric]

Hi Peter:

I think I had a similar problem, but not exactly the same as yours. In my case while watching some films if I paused any of them I couldn't get the film to continue from that point no matter what I did and had to start the film from the beginning. However, the most recent firmware upgrade has solved the problem (at least I haven't experienced it for quite some time after I upgraded the firmware).

It is probably a good idea to upgrade the firmware regardless. I am giving below the information/steps to upgrade the firmware because in the first upgrade (1.20) they had instructions, the second upgrade (1.31) didn't have the steps and I had difficulty doing the second upgrade and needed to refer to the original steps to complete the firmware. I hope the text in the graphics below is readable. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU DO BOTH UPGRADES IF YOUR LaCinema Classic does not have the first upgrade. Otherwise the second upgrade will not work. Good luck!!

1. Go to www.lacie.com
2. Go to the “Multimedia Hard Drives” section.
3. Select the LaCinema Classic.
4. Select the “Support” tab

I may have to do separate posts because I am having difficulty uploading the images in this post. I am probably doing something wrong but......

There are a total of four graphics showing the steps here they are:

[lostlyric]

This is the second step.

[lostlyric]

This is the third step

[lostlyric]

The step below is the last step . Good luck!! You may need to zoom into the graphics if they are not readable.

[migrantworker]

Hi Lostlyric
Thanks for getting back to me so soon.Yesterday i spoke to a mac guy
and he fixed the problem.Lacie instructions say to open disk utility on the mac and format the drive to Fatt32.This i did however there is another part to it in that you must go into the partition tab select 1 partition click on options and select master boot record. It was set for Guid partition table
boot record.The unit is working perfectly now.Thanks again for your help with this.Chris

I had exactly the same problem. Bought my unit in Geneva, Switzerland, together with a LaCie 500 gb HD. From September until December I had a long and fruitless exchange of messages with the (french language) helpdesk. I then resorted into returning the Classic Bridge to the vendor and received a new unit last week, but the same problem persisted. I then found this thread and re-formatting the HD with your advice immediately fixed the problem. I wrote to LaCie and advised them to mention this in the manual and FAQ, as GUID is the default format.

So many thanks both to Apollo2008 and Lostlyric!

[jackal0022]

Hi lostlyric - I'm hoping you can help me

I have the LaCinema classic bridge - 2 TB sata hd

I cannot find an encoder that allows me to play my converted DVDs - what have you had success with?

[lostlyric]

Hi there Jackal0022:

The LaCinema Classic I have has a maximum playable resolution of 480p x 576p, and I think it is the same for the Bridge. There were some avi files which I could not play on my LaCinema Classic but the majority of them did play.

The only thing I can think of that may be going wrong for you is that your SATA HDD might be formatted to NTFS. The LaCinema Classic or for that matter most of the Media players (at least LaCies, and other media players from north America e.g. Western Digital etc.) will not play any data stored on an NTFS drive. Of course it is entirely possible that your HDD is already formatted to FAT32. But if it isn't you will need to empty the contents of your 2TB SATA HDD and then reformat it to FAT32. IF THIS IS THE CASE then please be WARNED that you need to be very careful during formatting. If you are comfortable with formatting of course it is an entirely different story. I thought I knew something about formatting but more recently I messed up a 1TB Hitachi HDD which after formatting went down to 360 GB. I have been too lazy to fix it for now.

Another thing worth sharing at this point is that I am not sure if you bought a brand new LaCinema Classic Bridge. If you did and can return it. THEN RETURN IT and instead buy the LaCie HD Mini Connect. It works on the same principle as the Classic Bridge but it pretty much plays anything you throw at it, WMH, MKV, 99.9% of AVI, and I cannot recall it not playing anything. And it is true HD, not like the LaCinema Classic. Here in Canada I payed C $ 120 + tax, I think it came to C $ 140 or something like that. But wow!! it is an excellent product. The LaCinema Classic is good but is limited both in the resolution and formats it plays.

I don't know if this information is helpful to you. Though I do hope it is. Good luck and do let me know how it goes.

Best,

LostLyric

[lostlyric]

Correction WMH = WMV

Sorry folks,

LostLyric

[wolfden]

In my openion this media player is rubbish. I bought my Lacinema classic HDMI HDD about 2 years ago. I had no problems with installing or setting up movies on it, The only problem I had was all my movies were in MKV format which ....U guessed it..MKV is not supported by my version of the player. I see on lacie's site all the newer classic players supports most formats inc MKV and many other formats. I mailed lacie tech support and inquired if there is an update with new formats (codecs) to include mkv. I was told the update is not available yet.!!!!!!!!!!!!. They suggested i Re-format my movies (about 3TB's worth). I will wait for the update.

I bought a western Digital HD media box, it cost me about 85-Euro. What a super little piece of kit...it supports lots of formats. just put your movies on any drive, connect it to the media box, and then connect via HDMI cable to ur TV.
I use my LACIE Multimedia hard drive now as a backup for my music and pics. Its the most expensive hard drive i ever bought.

[bigbalu]

solved

[b3rnz1]

Hi friends,

I come here, coz i have a big problem with my new LaCie PlayHD 2TB.. I got it as a present for X-mas Few days ago I tried to connect it to my TV (PHILIPS). It worked perfectly. I send on my machine 1 film to test and I watched it. I love it and i want to watch more films, than I go to my friend to take some videos. I back home and tried to connect the LaCie at the same port and it no give positive results... TV always say in cloud at the bottom of TV "No video signal". I updated my TV software and it no help too. By the way, I am from Poland that I have a PAL and i though LaCie have it too, coz it worked correctly first time. One thing more, I am not sure about remote control. It should working without video signal? LaCie not reacting when I using a buttons(I mean the blue light not reacting when clicking) I hope you will help me some. I will back tomorrow, good night everyone and thanks for reading. If have questions, just ask - maybe i don't know or say something important

Peace,
Bernard

[ShawF]

Hello All,
I purchased (I hope I don't have to say unfortenately) a Lacie Lacinema Classic 2TB yesterday.
While trying the set it up I did have some trouble with the NTSC switch from PAL and with the composite cables vs. HDMI, which actually worked(!) I managed to change to NTSC. I thought that was the bottleneck.
However, the system won't play any movie with any sort of format (AVI, MKV,...). It sees the directory and the files. But when selecting the movie to play, it goes on the "turning blue flower" type of processing icon and nothing plays.
I am guessing this is a format or player issue? Because if it can't play any file, then there is something missing, right?
Anyone, with similar experience here.
I noticed this is an old thread, so I am not sure how many would read it. I will probably start a new thread as well.
Thanks guys
Shaw
SO I am guessing the