Digital Trends

Elgato Turbo.264

July 9th, 2007 | by Jason Tomczak

Features & Design

The Elgato Turbo.264 is a small USB device (about the size of a Zippo lighter) that acts as a video conversion co-processor for Mac computers: G4, G5, and the new Intel lineup. Given its size, the Turbo.264 is extremely lightweight and easily fits in a pocket. The elegant matte-black finish complements black MacBooks, though it looks equally high-tech with any other Mac laptop or desktop system.

The Turbo.264 is specifically designed to work with Intel and PPC Mac computers, as long as they have at least one USB 2.0 port available. Because the Turbo.264 uses USB 2.0 as its data pipe, conversion speeds are limited to available USB 2.0 resources. And while USB 2.0 has a maximum (theoretical/potential) data rate of 480mbps (roughly 60MB/s), some Mac users will experience slower data rates, closer to 15–20MB/s. Even with this potential limitation due to specific system configuration, the data rate is really quite sufficient for moderate and heavy video conversion tasks.

Assistive Device
Elgato makes it very clear that the Turbo.264 is a crutch device; the slower your system, the more you need the Turbo.264. Folks with G4 systems will benefit the most, followed by G5 users, then Intel. The with/without comparisons on G4 and G5 systems are stunning —conversion rates are upwards of 1,200 percent faster using the Turbo.264. If you believe in the "time is money" theory, the Turbo.264 will probably pay for itself in one or two G4/G5 conversions. As for Intel Mac users, the Turbo.264 is certainly helpful and will either a) speed up your video conversions, or b) free up your processor for other concurrent applications. No matter how you look at it, the Turbo.264 is a practical and beneficial assistive device.

The Elgato Turbo.264 & MacBook Pro