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Turbo.264 HD Video Encoder & Accelerator
Convert HD video to the universal H.264 format
Drag and drop any video file into the application and convert it to a high-quality H.264 file in standard or HD resolutions. H.264 video is a universal format that can be played on iPod, iPhone, Apple TV, gaming consoles, selected smartphones, and on the web.
The best way to transfer HD camcorder video to a Mac
Preview and move HD camcorder movies to your Mac or iPod in one fast and easy step. Turbo.264 HD automatically detects AVCHD camcorders.
Suitable for pros as well as novices
Crop, scale, trim, batch process, and easily merge multiple clips into one movie. Select from a range of presets or add your own video output profiles.
Incredibly fast and easy to use
Comes with intuitive software and converts videos at amazing speeds. Dramatically accelerates video encoding when the hardware encoder is used with Mac applications such as iMovie®, QuickTime® Pro, Final Cut® Pro, and EyeTV®.
Supercharge EyeTV on the iPhone
When used with EyeTV, the Turbo.264 HD speeds up the preparation of recordings for playback in the EyeTV iPhone app, and enables adaptive streaming for higher quality live TV streaming.
Reviews
"The best we’ve seen is Turbo.264 HD, which for $150 blazes through Mac conversions of non-iPod/iPhone videos into H.264 format; we saw nearly a 5X boost even when used with a 2008 computer."
"Doesn’t take a genius to see the difference in time saved here. A 15 minute difference... the benefits of using the Elgato Turbo.264 HD are obvious."
Overall, the Turbo.264 HD is a fine device that professionals can use for mobile editing or to increase the number of videos that can be compressed simultaneously.
"One of my biggest expenses has always been buying new large hard drives for my ever increasing collecXon of footage (going on two years now!). The Turbo.264 HD actually makes it possible I can put 2 years worth of footage on one (small) bus-powered hard drive. "
- Shawn Ahmed, anti-poverty activist and independant filmmaker
Learn more about Shawn's work here: Save the Children
The bottom line. Pro editors already have specialized gear for encoding video, but for the average Mac user, Turbo.264 HD makes working with video—including 720p or 1080p HD—a much speedier process.
- Ray Aguilera, Mac | Life Magazine
If you are looking for quick and easy video encoding for home use, then this is it.
- Lance Olinger, Videomaker
"...the results of the Elgato Turbo.264 HD's compression are excellent. While you might not need the very best resolution for your iPhone, it is capable of producing high quality video with jack rabbit speed... My bottom line is that Elgato has simply made an excellent product that much better."
- Steve Douglas, certified Apple Pro for Final Cut Pro 6 and underwater videographer
"The USB plug accelerates the conversion by a factor of Wow."
"$150 is a lot of dough if you rarely find yourself banging your head about video file formats. If on the other hand you deal with this sort of problem so frequently that your forehead has buffed a certain spot on your desk to a mirror-bright finish, it’s short money."
"The Turbo.264 HD eats video for breakfast..."
- Jake Gaecke, Appletell
"Converting Yellow Submarine to Apple TV format took 37 minutes with the Turbo.H264 HD plugged into the Mac mini... To see how much time I saved, I then grabbed this same Video_TS folder and ran it through HandBrake. It took more than three hours to convert the file."
- Christopher Breen, Macworld.com
"I have used it to convert more than 2500 video files. I think its safe to say that I know the product well... Elgato Turbo.264HD is the best device for converting all types of video formats money can buy. With its ability to trim out commercials, import DVD’s, and the blazing speed make this product one of the best I’ve reviewed in years."
MacTruth.com
"I'm floored by the speed at which it processes HD files. Simply stunned. The only satisfactory way i'd found to successfully convert HD .mkv files to .mp4 was using compressor and it often took up to 48 hours.. that's right, two days... and even then the sound was stereo. Now I can do it in just over twice realtime and keep the AC3 sound... I'm very, very impressed."
- Colin Blakeston, cameraman/editor and satisfied customer
"The Verdict: Elgato's turbo.264HD is a great encoder for those who need to basically do a lot of video encoding and want it done quickly. It's extremely intuitive, making it quick and simple to use, and is also the fastest one we've tried to date."
- Andi Wang, Gizmodo.com
It’s hard to overstate just how easy Turbo.264 HD is to install and use... Average users will find the process extremely simple, and by comparison with using iMovie, incredibly fast at taking videos from a camcorder and rendering them viewable on a computer.... for high-resolution output, it’s a speed demon."
- Jeremy Horwitz, Editor-in-Chief, iLounge
"(it) has certainly wowed me... If you have an AVCHD camcorder owner or need to rip a lot of DVDs of homemade videos, I’d place the Turbo.264 HD on the “must-have” list"
- Dennis Sellers, Macsimum News
Personally, we're happy to get the fastest possible H.264 encoding available on a Mac today. Rating: 90%
- Tony Smith, Register Hardware, UK
"I really can’t be more positive about this device. Computing has become more and more media centric and the ability to quickly edit and convert video is now almost essential. If you own a TV device with the EyeTV 3 software then this device is verging on essential. If you convert on a regular basis whether for video podcasts, family video or even professionally I would highly recommend the hardware acceleration this device offers."
- DigMo
"Conclusion: I think Turbo.264 HD is an excellent hardware and software addition to any professional and consumer looking to do high quality encodes fast, on a Mac. It costs $149.95 and is well worth it. "
"A growing number of encoding/transcoding applications is using Turbo.264 or Turbo.264 HD when they find the USB stick plugged in, so in terms of speed and time saved, Elgato’s solution may be all you need."
"Ideal if you want to load up your iPhone, iPod or PSP for watching movies on the go, but it's not only the ability to drag files into the application that we like. The fact that it improves encoding time in other consumer editing applications like iMovie or the company's own EyeTV is also a bonus."
"Verdict: Simple but incredibly effective the Elgato Turbo.264 HD works and works well"
- Stuart Miles, Pocket-Lint
"The new one is a great gadget to own. Especially if you have a camcorder that can use it. Or, for the non-techy tpyes that just want a simple and easy method to put video on their iPod or Apple TV. Also, anyone that uses EyeTV should have a Turbo.264. They work together very well. […] I'm not afraid to recommend the Turbo.264 HD to anyone looking for a simple solution to video converting."
- Tim Verpoorten, Surfbits presents The MacReviewCast
"The Turbo.264 HD is a must-buy for any Mac user, amateur or pro, who dabbles heavily in video and does lots of footage converting. Ditto for heavy EyeTV users like me; it's already saved me tons of time."
"We've come to rely on the (original Turbo.264) as a key component in our production workflow, with keys installed on most production machines. The speed and encoding quality is unmatched, especially for a "consumer" level product being used in a professional environment. The only thing we could not handle were HD encodes. The new Turbo.264 HD is exactly what we have been waiting for, and after seeing the speed it is more than we could have imagined. It is truly an amazing product."
- Matt Silverman, Creative Director, Bonfire, www.bonfirelabs.com
"The speed increases can be utilized from within Quicktime Pro, iMovie and Final Cut Pro. So when you are ready to share your own creation with others you can benefit from directly within the application. In closing, I was struggling whether or not this was a four or five Moose product. I was leaning toward a 4 rating because of the price. But then I remembered the wise old saying that time is money and I immediately gave it a five moose rating."
"My wife and I don't always agree on what to watch, so I've made a tactical decision to let her have the big-screen TV whenever she wants to watch something on the Home and Garden Television channel. I'm fine with this since I've retrofitted the Apple iMac computer in my second-floor home office as an HDTV. An Elgato tuner is connected to this Mac, as well, along with a cheapo Radio Shack antenna, which makes for a fab viewing experience on the all-in-one computer's 24-inch display."
"It's a terrific device. It allows extraordinarily fast conversion f rom pretty much any video format to H.264, which is really the format of choice these days."
'For EyeTV owners especially it's a recommended buy, but for anyone who loves to share video by exporting it to one device or many will find this hardware encoder a godsend."
- Macworld Australia, May 2009
