So while I was on holiday (which explains the blog silence), I picked up an Elgato Turbo.264 - basically a hardware H.264 encoder. The results are fantastic: my 1.66GHz intel mini now converts iPod/iTunes-ready video in faster than double realtime. Whereas a two-hour movie in AVI format took 3-4 hours to convert, it now takes 35mins.

Plus, since the Turbo.264 is hooked into QuickTime, that means any QuickTime conversion can be handed over to the chip for some dedicated love (eg. iMovie/iDVD exports), or so I’ve heard.

For anyone who’s doing a lot of video conversion, this bad boy is the ticket.