USB stick accelerates iPod video conversion

Posted on 21 May 2007 at 15:32

Elgato Systems has introduced new USB hardware dedicated to converting video files to the high quality H.264 (MP4) format used by the video iPod, Apple TV and and Sony's PSP.

No bigger than the ubiquitous USB stick storage devices, the Turbo.264 accelerates exports by as much as a factor of four on an Intel Core 2 Duo Mac and up to a factor of 10 on PowerPC Macs.

It does this by relieving the Mac of the processor-intensive task of video conversion. It is, Elgato says, a virtual co-processor for the Mac.

Users simply drag-and-drop videos into supplied software and chose one of four formats: iPod Standard, iPod High, Apple TV or Sony PSP. The software/hardware combination supports batch conversions and in addition to MP4 export can also be used to generate unprotected DVD content (VOB files) and will also accelerate exports from popular video applications including iMovie, QuickTime Pro, Final Cut Pro and EyeTV.

It supports resolutions of up to 800 by 600 pixels, enabling videos and TV recordings in PAL or NTSC formats to be converted to Apple TV with no scaling, as well standard resolutions for iPod and Sony PSP. When conversion is complete, Turbo.264 automatically transfers video files to iTunes for subsequent viewing and uploading to an iPod or Apple TV.

Turbo.264 requires a Macs with USB 2.0 and is available from Elgato for €99.95.

Author: Simon Aughton

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