LaCie LaCinema Rugged Media Extender Gets Tough

To get digital media from your PC to living room, either you are streaming the content wirelessly to a TV over a network, or you must be moving the content physically - likely on a mobile drive. LaCie's LaCinema Rugged portable media extender makes it easier if you opt for the latter choice of lugging your video around the old fashion way.

The 8.8 oz. Rugged - designed by Neil Poulton - is essentially the mobile version of the 37 oz. Premier released earlier the year with a few improvements of its own. The tougher LaCinema however adds HDMI support for upscaling up to 1080i; sports a shock-resistant rubber bumper surrounding a scratch-protected aluminum chassis; and comes with a smaller remote. Unfortunately, LaCie has taken out VOB and component video support, and the LaCinema Rugged still lacks H.264 decoding, meaning no playback compatibility for all our iPod-friendly content. You can get the LaCinema for as large as 500GB and as small as 250GB.