Elgato has released Turbo.264 HD Software Edition which is a software-only version of its hardware accelerated video encoder in response to customer demand.
Designed to convert video for use on an iPod, iPhone, Apple TV or other device, this Software Edition is identical to the app bundled with the hardware dongle. It's easy to use. Just browse to or drag-and-drop a video file and select an output format.
It can handle most popular video formats, converts VIDEO_TS, the format used by DVD video discs, but won't rip an encrypted DVD. It's not as configurable as Handbrake (a free app), but settings can be customised.
Testing results
In our tests, on a 3.2GHz Core-i3 iMac, Handbrake converted our five minute test video to iPod format in 86 seconds. Turbo.264 HD Software Edition took 57 seconds, with the hardware version a second quicker.
On a 2GHz Core 2 Duo iMac, Handbrake took 173 seconds with Software Edition converting in 115 seconds, and the hardware-assisted version in 81 seconds – the less powerful your Mac, the greater benefits of Turbo.264 HD.
With no upgrade path for Software Edition users, you might prefer to dive straight in and buy the hardware version, which is available for £90 on Amazon. As well as being quicker, it takes the load off your processor if you're using your Mac.
For the lighter user, the Software Edition offers advantages over free alternatives.
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Your comments (1) Click to add a new comment
stevedeleo
September 19th 2011
1. I too have had chronic problems with sound drifting far out of sync by the end of long files. So much so that the resulting files are useless. I've used several versions of the Turbo HD software over the years and have had this problem with about 25% of the files I attempt to convert. I've had this happen on both my MacBook Pro and on my Mac Mini. Both Intel machines. This happens most often with conversions of VOB files in VIDEO_TS folders of my ripped DVDs when converting using the pre-canned Apple TV preset in the Turbo HD software. This also happens frequently with M2T files I grab from my Scientific Atlanta cable box. For speed sake, I always use the Turbo HD USB hardware module. I have yet to find a solution to this problem.
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