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I need Elgato Turbo 264 advice...

majordude

majordude

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 28, 2007
2,443
75
Hootersville
I am converting a bunch of clips to iTunes using Toast Titanium. I guess it can work with the Elgato Turbo device because it basically displays an ad on it's update screen.

I searched for it on the net and, well, I'm confused. :eek:

Is there more than one of these things? I see one on Amazon for $75 or so (list is $150). But there are other products that keep coming up like a tuner and some other such things from the same company.

Help!
 
It's a dedicated h.264 encoding hardware. It's designed to decrease encoding time for certain applications and Quicktime.

The normal Elgato Turbo 264 doesn't have a tuner. There are bundled versions with Elgato tuners.
 
If you want the Turbo then you have to buy it separately. It is not built into any other device and there is only 1 version, so get the best price you can!
 
I don't see the need for one unless you're going to encode a lot of EyeTV recordings. I've found iSquint/VisualHub to be much faster then any Quicktime based encoder I've ever used.
 
Eidorian said:
I don't see the need for one unless you're going to encode a lot of EyeTV recordings. I've found iSquint/VisualHub to be much faster then any Quicktime based encoder I've ever used.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I used to use VisualHub (never used iSquint) but switched to Popcorn, then Toast not too long ago because I thought the quality was a bit better. Maybe I'm nuts.

So Toast uses QuickTime? Is that why it is slow?
 
If you are using a PPC mac then you will probably benefit most from it.
It will dramatically speed up encode times and also take a lot of the strain of your processor. reducing heat and fan activity. (i was using mine with an ibook G4 1.33)

If you are using an intel mac, then I personally wouldn't bother buying it. You aren't likely to see an increase large enough to justify the cost. My macbook 2.2Ghz does H.264 encoding pretty quickly.

Also, people have commented on the quality of the encodes. personally i didnt find them to be bad at all. but then again I was watching on a macbook/ipod touch screen not a 42inch HD tv.

I bought the USB stick encoder, I wasn't aware that other models had built in tuners.. but i may be wrong.
 
I use my Turbo with a 2ghz c2d blackbook. Though the Turbo doesn't greatly accelerate the encoding process it keeps my CPU usage to about 30% which allows me to do everything else with minimal slow-down during the 3 to 6 times a week I use it to encode TV shows.
 
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