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How bad for your MBP is video encoding

J

jfriedman8

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Feb 8, 2008
259
3
Since I dont want to shell out the cash for a MacPro anymore and would prefer a Quad Core iMac, I have decided to do all of my video encoding on my current 2.53GHz Unibody MBP. I was just curious how bad is it to say encode about 60/75 DVD's twice (I do each movie for two formats in Handbrake). I'm trying to get this done as fast as possible, so my computer is encoding pretty much all day. I know that it would be faster to just let it do that and consume 100% CPU, but it's the only computer I have at the moment, so I need to do other things while it encodes sometimes. So, is it really bad for the computer and its overall lifespan to be straining it this much at once, or is it built for this much strain?

Also, please dont suggest a QC Windows box. I like HB in OS X much more. For whatever reason, they come out better in OS X. Trust me, I've toyed with this idea too much.
 
Seriously consider a quad core Windows box. It's DVDFab + Handbrake on that side.

You're fine doing it on your Macbook Pro otherwise.
 
Well I have pretty much all the movies ripped with MTR, so that cuts out the DVD Fab work. I tried using that program for iPod format before, but the audio was ALWAYS mis-cued with the video. For just ripping the Video TS folders, it was perfect. If I'm gonna buy a desktop, its going to be a mac just because I can and need to run both OSX and Windows. I would love an i7 machine, but for my needs, I'll hold out until a Mac with adequate hardware is released. Im just worried about wearing out my MBP and putting so much stress on it... Hopefully if there ends up being a problem with the CPU it will be within a year and not after.
 
jfriedman8 said:
Well I have pretty much all the movies ripped with MTR, so that cuts out the DVD Fab work. I tried using that program for iPod format before, but the audio was ALWAYS mis-cued with the video. For just ripping the Video TS folders, it was perfect. If I'm gonna buy a desktop, its going to be a mac just because I can and need to run both OSX and Windows. I would love an i7 machine, but for my needs, I'll hold out until a Mac with adequate hardware is released. Im just worried about wearing out my MBP and putting so much stress on it... Hopefully if there ends up being a problem with the CPU it will be within a year and not after.
Click to expand...
If you're that concerned get AppleCare.
 
If I were you i'd get an external hard disk to do this with. Just to relieve stress from the internal. Otherwise CPU usage is fine.
 
Are you suggesting that since the HDD spinning generates more heat in the case, thus needing the fans to spin more to keep the CPU cool?


Also, wouldnt I be slowed down even more if I used my external? It only connects via USB, so I would be limited to the speed of the connection right? Would it be smarter to do it that way with a FW800 capable external case?
 
jfriedman8 said:
Are you suggesting that since the HDD spinning generates more heat in the case, thus needing the fans to spin more to keep the CPU cool?


Also, wouldnt I be slowed down even more if I used my external? It only connects via USB, so I would be limited to the speed of the connection right? Would it be smarter to do it that way with a FW800 capable external case?
Click to expand...
It's not worth the effort and there isn't a performance gain in Handbrake. I've done my own personal tests between disc ripping using Handbrake and VIDEO_TS files on a FireWire external.
 
jfriedman8 said:
Are you suggesting that since the HDD spinning generates more heat in the case, thus needing the fans to spin more to keep the CPU cool?


Also, wouldnt I be slowed down even more if I used my external? It only connects via USB, so I would be limited to the speed of the connection right? Would it be smarter to do it that way with a FW800 capable external case?
Click to expand...

Well, obviously it would be smart to use the fastest connectivity available :D. in this particular case, yes, a FW800 7200 RPM external will be faster than the internal drive, but encoding is more of a CPU intensive task so you won't notice a difference. Its not necessarily about heat but more about wear. You won't break the drive but my recommendation was based off of my own encoding theories to keep disk wear to a minimum. Since I generally don't watch my rips on the go I can keep them all on external and keep my important stuff with me on the internal HDD.

I don't know about the internal construction of the unibody macbook pro so I cannot comment on cooling.
 
There's something about the new unibody being slow in ripping dvds due to some piracy protection built in.
 
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