MacNN reviews Elgato's Turbo.264 HD Software Edition
updated 01:30 pm EDT, Wed August 4, 2010
Review finds software easy to use, good value
MacNN has reviewed Elgato's Turbo.264 HD Software Edition. The software focuses on exporting and encoding video, especially for iPad, iPhone, Apple TV and YouTube, and it handles a wide range of formats, such as AVCHD, AVI, DV, WMV, MPEG, MP4 and VIDEO_TS. While most of the capability of Turbo.264 HD Software is mimicked by QuickTime, the Elgato software is focused on encoding and ease of use, where QuickTime almost hides the features and is focused on playback.
Turbo.264 HD Software converts files to Sony's PSP format, usually a struggle with QuickTime, and its ability to convert unencrypted DVD files' VIDEO_TS format was a major positive. Its focus on conversion and encoding was a plus as well. On the downside the software is not much faster than other competing titles, and doesn't appear to use Open GL.
Turbo.264 HD Software Edition requires an Intel chip Mac, 512 MB of RAM, Mac OS X 10.5.8 and QuickTime 7.6. The software costs $50.
Mac Enthusiast
Joined: Sep 2000
$50 vs Handbrake?
Apart from the prettier interface and the editing tools, it seems to me Handbrake does the same job but for free?