First Look: Miglia VideoExpress

Posted on 11 Oct 2007 at 12:31

Miglia's VideoExpress is a USB2 dongle that's designed to speed up the lengthy task of converting video files to the compact H.264 video format. We don't usually test Mac-only peripherals, but were intrigued by claims that it can reduce encoding times by up to 75 per cent. This could be great news if you regularly convert video for watching on portable devices.

The VideoExpress comes with its own conversion utility plus a plug-in for Apple's QuickTime Pro, so it will also work any other video editing program that can use QuickTime plug-ins. The VideoExpress utility allows you to choose from a menu of encoding presets, each designed to produce video that can be played back on specific devices, like an iPod or PlayStation Portable.

We conducted our tests on a Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 2GB of RAM. Converting a 20 minute DVD clip to H.264 took 29 minutes with the VideoExpress, but using the open-source encoding utility HandBrake for the same task took only a minute longer. Converting a 20 minute DivX file took 19 minutes with the VideoExpress, but only 11 minutes with Roxio's Popcorn encoding utility.

The VideoExpress's performance is disappointing, and it did nothing to justify the cost of £66 inc VAT. In comparison, HandBrake is free and Roxio's Popcorn costs around £30 inc VAT.

Author: Alan Lu

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