Review: Elgato Turbo.264 - Video H.264 MP4 Encoder Hardware
We recently purchased the Elgato Turbo.264 - Video H.264 (MP4) Encoder Hardware because we have an older ailing mac-mini that takes forever when encoding anything for our iPhone or Apple TV. The Elgato Turbo.264 - Video H.264 (MP4) Encoder Hardware comes with software and a hardware dongle that plugs into your USB port. The hardware dongle basically has a processor that takes over the encoding of the video from the main processor - and from our tests it works.
You use the included software to convert your Mac videos one at a time or in a batch. The software application that comes with Elgato Turbo.264 offers an easy-to-use choice of five presets: iPod High, iPod Standard, Sony PSP, Apple TV, and iPhone. Turbo.264 converts standard definition television recordings without scaling so that recordings appear on Apple TV in the same resolution they were recorded.
You can adjust size, aspect ratio, overscan, frame rate, data rate, and AAC audio by creating custom settings. This enables you to:
- convert widescreen DVD (VIDEO_TS) video files without black bars.
- tweak video resolution and frame rate;
- adjust the video settings so it plays on your smartphone;
- pick the audio track you wish to go with the main feature when converting VIDEO_TS folders.
- Turbo.264 supports 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios as well as widescreen content.
What used to take over 3+ hours on our older 1ghz Mac-Mini takes a little over an hour now. We love the size of the item, and also the software is drag and drop. If you have a ton of AVI or other formats you want converted, you simply drag them into the encoder software window and pick the output formats you want. The completed encoded movies not only look great, but also get added to iTunes automatically.
You get a USB cable, the encoder dongle, and a software disk.
The Elgato Turbo.264 - Video H.264 (MP4) Encoder Hardware
Small and has a cap on the end where the USB plug is. It's almost like a microdrive.
We really like the Elgato Turbo.264. At $99 it might seem expensive, but it saved us from buying a new Mac-Mini, and we think the encoding looks better than standard methods when using just the Mac-Mini. And the fact you can save 100s of hours of encoding time, makes it a no brainer if you have an older Mac.
At Elgato Turbo.264 - Video H.264 (MP4) Encoder Hardware
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Posted by Jay Brewer at November 1, 2007 10:04 AM
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