Turbo.264 HD Announced
When Elgato released the Turbo.264 we were instantly big fans. Firstly due to the speed boost in converting EyeTV programmes to TV format but also the fact the software allowed us to quickly convert video and upload it directly to YouTube. The Turbo.264 helped with my iMovie and Final Cut work sitting quietly on my USB Hub making video conversion and export that bit faster. (Check out our full review here).
Well, sadly relationships end and it looks as if my love of the Turbo.264 is fading as I eye up Elgato’s latest video device the Turbo.264 HD
The Turbo.264 HD offers all the same function as the standard device but with a few notable additions. You can now also easily convert HD camcorder clips (and other video files) to a format that can be played on an iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV, and shared on the web.
One notable feature is the ability to preview, scale, trim, and combine multiple video clips, handles batch processing, and can convert and upload video directly to YouTube.
The Turbo.264 HD hardware dramatically accelerates video encoding, and can be used to speed up the export/sharing function of Mac applications such as iMovie, QuickTimePro, Final Cut Pro, and EyeTV.
Having just purchased the Panasonic HDC-SD100 HD camera (full review here) the fact the Turbo.264 HD can not only handle AVCHD but read it directly from the camera is very exciting. If you have worked with HD footage from a camcorder you will know it can be tricky to export the edited footage in an Apple TV friendly HD format.
The Turbo.264 HD appears to be able to convert and place the video into iTunes ready for AppleTV sync. I can’t wait to try this feature out as I found iMovie 09 was altering the dimensions of my footage on export.
On reading the list of new software functions I can’t help but think Elgato are looking to address the demise of the brilliant VisualHub by offering a brilliant video conversion application with the added boost of hardware acceleration.
Personally I can’t wait to get playing with the Turbo.264 HD, expect a full review in the very near future. System requirements call for Mac OS X 10.5.6 or later, Intel Core processor, 512MB RAM, built-in USB 2.0 port and QuickTime 7.6 or above.
Links:
Elgato.com
Speaking of VisualHub, Chris Marrin started to port the open-source version from mainly AppleScript to Cocoa.
It’s called VideoMonkey and is available at http://videomonkey.sf.net
Greetings