Turbo.264 USB Stick Hardware Encoder

[willrob]

Saw this on the xcelerateyourmac site:


ElGato announces Turbo.264 USB Stick Hardware Encoder - (from the ElGato PR this morning)

"Turbo.264 - Turbocharge your iPod and Apple TV Exports
Hardware Encoder in USB Stick Format Accelerates Video Conversions by a Factor of 4 to 10

Elgato Systems announces a hardware encoder in USB Stick format that rapidly converts video files to the high quality H.264 (MP4) format for iPod, Apple TV, and Sony PSP. Turbo.264 accelerates exports by a factor of 4 on an Intel Core 2 Duo up to a factor of 10 on a Power PC G4. The rate of acceleration depends on the Mac processor type.

Furthermore, Turbo.264 offloads the computationally intensive software conversion of video files away from your Macintosh, leaving it free for other tasks - a virtual co-processor for the Mac. Turbo.264 supports all Macs with USB 2.0.

(Test example from product page)
Test conducted on a MacBook 2GHz Core 2 Duo with QuickTime Player Pro 7.1.5. Test file: 10 minute DV 16:9 clip. Export setting: Movie to Apple TV.

* 11min, 17sec with Turbo.264
* 59min, 30sec. w/o Turbo.264

There is no need to acquire additional software to convert videos, since Turbo.264 comes with video conversion software by Elgato. Simply drag-and-drop videos into the application and chose one of four formats: iPod Standard, iPod High, Apple TV, Sony PSP).

Turbo.264 supports batch conversions and even offers exports of unprotected DVD content (VOB files). Turbo.264 also accelerates exports from the most important Macintosh video applications such as iMovie, QuickTime Pro, Final Cut Pro, and EyeTV.

Turbo.264 supports resolutions of up to 800 by 600 pixels, enabling videos and TV recordings in PAL or NTSC formats to be converted to Apple TV with no scaling. In addition, Turbo.264 supports standard resolutions for iPod and Sony PSP. When conversion is complete, Turbo.264 automatically transfers video files to iTunes, making them immediately available to Apple TV or the iPod.

Pricing and Availability
Turbo.264 is available immediately for US$99.95 in the Elgato Online Shop as well as through distribution. The package includes the USB 2.0 Hardware Encoder, the Turbo.264 software on CD-ROM, a user's guide on CD-ROM, a quick start guide as well as a USB extension cable."

[mhar4]

Looks very interesting, but doesn't give you a lot of control over encoding settings.

[Leo the 3rd]

I picked up one and indeed the settings are fairly restrictive - mainly 4 presets for AppleTV, iPod (high quality) iPod (standard quality) and PSP format. Ease of use is what they are currently shooting for (although greater individual tweaking is what some folks will want) and you definitely get that with this product. I'm able to rip VOB files and then convert a film (2 hours average run time) in 2 hours at iPod (high quality).

[mhar4]

Thanks for the information. Can you give a little more, like codec options (h.264 or vanilla MPEG4), image size and cropping options? etc.

If you're using a 1Ghz G4 PowerBook then realtime encoding is impressive if it's h.264. That's a 5x or 6x speed-up.

[sjk]

Can you give a little more, like codec options (h.264 or vanilla MPEG4), image size and cropping options? etc.

Have you checked the specs and FAQs on Elgato's site?

[AntnyMD]

I discovered over the weekend it even works on old G3 machines. Encoding time is slow compared to today's Macs, but impressive for G3.

[sjk]

I discovered over the weekend it even works on old G3 machines. Encoding time is slow compared to today's Macs, but impressive for G3.

USB 1.1 G3 machines, I presume?

Hope to eventually see more test results that help decide whether or not to purchase it for my eMac (G4) and/or iMac (G5).

[mhar4]

Can you give a little more, like codec options (h.264 or vanilla MPEG4), image size and cropping options? etc.

Have you checked the specs and FAQs on Elgato's site?

Not a lot of detail in the FAQs. There seems to be wildly different experiences of the device:

http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/digitizingvideo/topic4596.html

[sjk]

Specs for the Mobilygen MG1264 Codec chip that Turbo.264 uses might help answer some questions about the capabilities and limitations.

[mhar4]

Interesting. Looks like there are capabilities of the device which are unrealized, as Elgato has gone for software simplicity over feature set.

[AntnyMD]

Hopefully someone will learn, then share, how to hack into the settings. So far, I am only satisfied with the Apple TV preset.

[AntnyMD]

Speaking of a "hack" has anyone else noticed that with the new MPEG Streamclip beta, you can tweak things a bit with the stick? I tried a few last night and I think the quality is even a bit better using the stick in conjunction with Streamclip.

Does anyone else have thoughts to share?

[sjk]

Someone noticed on the MTR forum.

This could make Turbo.264 more tempting …