Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

ceehjayem

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 12, 2006
167
0
Has anyone else tried using Handbrake with their MBA? If so, how many fps are you encoding at? I'm currently doing a movie and its going on avg 4 fps. Seems a bit low for a 1.8ghz C2D MBA? Any thoughts? Thanks.
 
Has anyone else tried using Handbrake with their MBA? If so, how many fps are you encoding at? I'm currently doing a movie and its going on avg 4 fps. Seems a bit low for a 1.8ghz C2D MBA? Any thoughts? Thanks.

Hi, I've encoded about a dozen or more episodes of Seinfeld from DVD, I did a two pass encoding the first pass was almost 50 fps, the second pass was 23-25fps. I've got the MacMagazine Air 1.8 with SSD.

Everyone, let's call it the MacMagazine Air, it's too thin to be called a book.
 
Hi, I've encoded about a dozen or more episodes of Seinfeld from DVD, I did a two pass encoding the first pass was almost 50 fps, the second pass was 23-25fps. I've got the MacMagazine Air 1.8 with SSD.

Everyone, let's call it the MacMagazine Air, it's too thin to be called a book.

What setting are you encoding on? I'm doing mine with the preset toggle on Apple TV with a bitrate of 2500.
 
What setting are you encoding on? I'm doing mine with the preset toggle on Apple TV with a bitrate of 2500.

I modified the iPhone setting to my own specific needs - so I got the highest quality playback on the iPod Touch. I don't have the Apple TV so I don't know how it encodes.
 
The dreaded question is -- did it shutdown a core when you encode?
 
The dreaded question is -- did it shutdown a core when you encode?

I did check my activity monitor and a core is shutting down. Does this happen with every MacBook Air? I was not aware of this until now. Is this fixable by Apple?
 
I did check my activity monitor and a core is shutting down. Does this happen with every MacBook Air? I was not aware of this until now. Is this fixable by Apple?

Core should only be shutting down due to heat.... check your temps and verify that the computer isn't overheating...
 
Core should only be shutting down due to heat.... check your temps and verify that the computer isn't overheating...

I'm checking the temperature and its running at CPU A: 90 degrees. I noticed the fan is still at 0rpm and does not turn on!
 
I'm checking the temperature and its running at CPU A: 90 degrees. I noticed the fan is still at 0rpm and does not turn on!

Ouch!!! fan should always be at a minimum of 2500 rpm... and I believe the temp for core shutdown is 100 degrees.... I suggest you get that MBA into the nearest store and get a replacement.... fan should never be at 0rpm

try putting this command into a terminal window if you have smcfan control installed.... it will tell the computer to use up to 6200rpm on the fan...

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mx -w 60e0
 
Ouch!!! fan should always be at a minimum of 2500 rpm... and I believe the temp for core shutdown is 100 degrees.... I suggest you get that MBA into the nearest store and get a replacement.... fan should never be at 0rpm

try putting this command into a terminal window if you have smcfan control installed.... it will tell the computer to use up to 6200rpm on the fan...

/Applications/smcFanControl.app/Contents/Resources/smc -k F0Mx -w 60e0

Thanks for your help and the advice. Yea from iStat the fan stays at 0rpm. No wonder the other core shuts down due to heat. I have an appointment tomorrow at the local Apple store. Hopefully they can order me a replacement so that I can receive it before Saturday to take it on my vacation to Rome on sunday. Wish me luck!
 
Thanks for your help and the advice. Yea from iStat the fan stays at 0rpm. No wonder the other core shuts down due to heat. I have an appointment tomorrow at the local Apple store. Hopefully they can order me a replacement so that I can receive it before Saturday to take it on my vacation to Rome on sunday. Wish me luck!

Well, we've discovered your encoding speed problem...:(
 
Well, we've discovered your encoding speed problem...:(

Yea I read on Apple's forum site that this has happened to quite a few people. I'll report what happens later today. Thanks again for all the help everyone and realizing my machine had some sort of deficiency.
 
Yea I read on Apple's forum site that this has happened to quite a few people. I'll report what happens later today. Thanks again for all the help everyone and realizing my machine had some sort of deficiency.

Hey... just one MBA lover helping out another!
 
So I just got a call from Apple and they said my machine was in fact defective and offered that they will give me a replacement or to replace the fan. I opted with the replacement because I feel better with a new machine. Also my older one had a dead pixel so this works out well. Thanks everyone! Can't wait till I get my replacement!
 
wow thats crazy

glad you got your computer replaced. i would have been pissssed

Thanks! Yea I wasn't so pissed but it definitely is a hassle because I'm without a computer for a week or two. Only thing that pissed me off really was when I had an appointment with the "Mac Genius." I brought my computer and told them that the fan wasn't working and the guy was trying to justify that the fan doesnt work because its too hot and a core shutdown is what the computer is supposed to do. Horrible. The guy didn't even turn on my computer. If anyone goes to the Fashion Valley store try to avoid the heavy set guy who looks like Goldberg from The Mighty Ducks movie by Disney!
 
Using Apple TV present, average encoding rate is about 5-10fps. I am one hour in, and neither of the cores has shutdown at all.
 
Using Apple TV present, average encoding rate is about 5-10fps. I am one hour in, and neither of the cores has shutdown at all.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll report what I'm getting when I get my replacement MBA back.
 
Thanks for the heads up. I'll report what I'm getting when I get my replacement MBA back.

I don't know if you have experimented much with creating a custom codec with Handbrake but I recommend it. I created my own settings for encoding DVDs for playback on my Air and iPodTouch. I'd take a look, the default settings are not that ideal, they're designed to be more of all round settings.
 
I have to say that the speed that I am encoding is scary fast. My brothers G4 Powerbook takes 4 hours to encode a 2 hour movie. But it only takes me an hour with handbrake. I am using the iphone/ipod touch format. I am using coolbook because I noticed one of my cores was shutting down. Now my Air run's really cool when encoding and the core does not shut down any more.
 
I have to say that the speed that I am encoding is scary fast. My brothers G4 Powerbook takes 4 hours to encode a 2 hour movie. But it only takes me an hour with handbrake. I am using the iphone/ipod touch format. I am using coolbook because I noticed one of my cores was shutting down. Now my Air run's really cool when encoding and the core does not shut down any more.

I know what you mean, my Air encodes DVDs for my iPod Touch more than 3 times faster than my Sony Vaio did.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.