Turbo 264

General questions or discussion about HandBrake, Video and/or audio transcoding, trends etc.
Twist
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 11:00 am

Post by Twist »

It would be really great if HandBrake could support both or either of these devices. I know it may not be possible though and we will have to wait until the developers can actually get their hands on the devices and mess around with them a bit before we know either way though. I just wanted to express my interest in HandBrake support for these devices.

P.S. Xgrid support would be nice as well but I know that would be an OS X only feature so its chances are slim to none.
tutru
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Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 5:02 pm

Post by tutru »

Twist wrote:It would be really great if HandBrake could support both or either of these devices. I know it may not be possible though and we will have to wait until the developers can actually get their hands on the devices and mess around with them a bit before we know either way though. I just wanted to express my interest in HandBrake support for these devices.

P.S. Xgrid support would be nice as well but I know that would be an OS X only feature so its chances are slim to none.
I doubt the Handbrake developers are waiting to get their hands one. At first glance, it appears the Elgato device is for QT-based encoding and Handbrake will not be supporting that.

But there is a possibilty of another avenue. Both devices are based on the same hardware, but each vendor uses different software. Elgato's is based on QT. The ADS product uses ArcSoft software. ArcSoft may be QT-based only, but that would seem strange for a Windows only product.

Without knowing more about the hardware, it may be that each vendors' drivers determine which codecs can be used to encode. Maybe it is wishful thinking, but someone who wants to use the device with other codecs and/or on Linux may develop drivers that allow a wider range of codecs to be used.

Of course, if the hardware itself is the limiting factor for using QT, then Handbrake users will out of luck.

I guess time will tell.
mduell
Veteran User
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Joined: Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:54 pm

Post by mduell »

tutru wrote:
mduell wrote:
MySchizoBuddy wrote:Doesn't support Apple TV though
So when the page you linked to says "Compatible with Apple TV" they don't really mean it?
Compatible with Apple TVs, but not Apple Computers.
Please read the post I was replying to before replying.
tutru
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed May 16, 2007 5:02 pm

Post by tutru »

mduell wrote:
tutru wrote:
mduell wrote:
MySchizoBuddy wrote:Doesn't support Apple TV though
So when the page you linked to says "Compatible with Apple TV" they don't really mean it?
Compatible with Apple TVs, but not Apple Computers.
Please read the post I was replying to before replying.
I did. I thought it was ironic, that a product, which is obviously Windows only, was touting Apple TV compatibility so prominently.
Last edited by tutru on Thu May 17, 2007 1:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
fcmarriott
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 1:13 am

Ordered

Post by fcmarriott »

Being a sucker for new toys, and since I haven't bought anything in a while, I ordered one of these babies up.

I love handbrake, its all I use for encoding after trying many different apps. If the developers want to see it, play with it, check it out, I would be more than happy to give it a loan if it could help handbrake use a hardware 264 encoder.

Based on what I have read here, it doesn't seem that it would work with handbrake, with the h.264 vs. x.264 issue, but I think it would be pretty ingenious if it could be made to work. Not knowing much about development, i don't know what it would take, but....

For you Handbrake project members - guaranteed loan from me to you for a reasonable amount of time, as long as you return, said Turbo.264 USB stick. Should be in my mailbox in less than a few days - email me direct if you are interested.
Twist
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon May 07, 2007 11:00 am

Post by Twist »

tutru wrote:I doubt the Handbrake developers are waiting to get their hands one. At first glance, it appears the Elgato device is for QT-based encoding and Handbrake will not be supporting that.

But there is a possibilty of another avenue. Both devices are based on the same hardware, but each vendor uses different software. Elgato's is based on QT. The ADS product uses ArcSoft software. ArcSoft may be QT-based only, but that would seem strange for a Windows only product.

Without knowing more about the hardware, it may be that each vendors' drivers determine which codecs can be used to encode. Maybe it is wishful thinking, but someone who wants to use the device with other codecs and/or on Linux may develop drivers that allow a wider range of codecs to be used.

Of course, if the hardware itself is the limiting factor for using QT, then Handbrake users will out of luck.

I guess time will tell.
I have seen plenty of talented developers make hardware do stuff it wasn't designed to do through clever driver hacking. Just because El Gato is shipping it with drivers designed to be fed through the Quicktime API's doesn't mean it can't be fed through some other means as well. This would be doubly true if these two devices are built on top of the same basic hardware.

Like I said I am just letting the developers know that people are interested so it may be worth their time to play around with one of these things to see if it is possible. And if it isn't possible without supporting the Quicktime API's then maybe it is time for another Mac only fork ;)
deckeda
Enlightened
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Post by deckeda »

Twist, you've read p.2 of this thread ... and the comments by the project admin?
rhester
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Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:24 pm

Post by rhester »

I consider the odds of this product being supported by OSS to be slightly lower than a snowball's chance in hell.

That having been said, if it is ever supported, it would have to be supported not by HandBrake, but by x264 - the OSS library we use for H.264 encoding. Should they choose to embrace/support the product, HandBrake will benefit "for free" when we update to a future version of their library.

There's no point continuing to ask HB devs to support this, because we can't, by definition. See paragraph 2.

Rodney
Scarpad
Posts: 22
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:01 pm

Re: Ordered

Post by Scarpad »

fcmarriott wrote:Being a sucker for new toys, and since I haven't bought anything in a while, I ordered one of these babies up.

I love handbrake, its all I use for encoding after trying many different apps. If the developers want to see it, play with it, check it out, I would be more than happy to give it a loan if it could help handbrake use a hardware 264 encoder.

Based on what I have read here, it doesn't seem that it would work with handbrake, with the h.264 vs. x.264 issue, but I think it would be pretty ingenious if it could be made to work. Not knowing much about development, i don't know what it would take, but....

For you Handbrake project members - guaranteed loan from me to you for a reasonable amount of time, as long as you return, said Turbo.264 USB stick. Should be in my mailbox in less than a few days - email me direct if you are interested.
Yeah I did the same, I wish it would work for Handbrake, I expect to still use HB for anamorphic content, but if this works I do alot of 640x480 content and it will be perfect for that.
OSMacintosh
Novice
Posts: 50
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:35 am

Don't Blame Handbrake...

Post by OSMacintosh »

To be honest if you want to be able to enjoy Handbrake Features and don't mind spending money just go register in Roxio forums. I currently own Popcorn 2 and I have been writing in there trying to get them to develop things such as Dolby Pro Logic etc.

I mean we can't really blame Handbrake it isn't their fault that this hardware doesn't work with there contents. Thus that being said I look forward to seeing those who are serious about this product and want to enjoy at least some of the features from handbrake in Popcorn 2 to write in Roxio's Forum...

I like everyone else would love to see Handbrake supported by this DEVICE but like said it isn't there fault...

here is the link to Roxio Popcorn 2 Discussions:

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.p ... owforum=53
Tobsen
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Dec 11, 2006 6:20 pm

Re: Don't Blame Handbrake...

Post by Tobsen »

OSMacintosh wrote:
I mean we can't really blame Handbrake it isn't their fault that this hardware doesn't work with there contents.



I like everyone else would love to see Handbrake supported by this DEVICE but like said it isn't there fault...


Handbreake would "just" need Quicktime export support. But this is not going to happen. :?
fcmarriott
Posts: 15
Joined: Thu May 17, 2007 1:13 am

Post by fcmarriott »

rhester wrote:I consider the odds of this product being supported by OSS to be slightly lower than a snowball's chance in hell.

That having been said, if it is ever supported, it would have to be supported not by HandBrake, but by x264 - the OSS library we use for H.264 encoding. Should they choose to embrace/support the product, HandBrake will benefit "for free" when we update to a future version of their library.

There's no point continuing to ask HB devs to support this, because we can't, by definition. See paragraph 2.

Rodney
Rodney - thanks for the clarification. maybe we will see it in the future from x264 folks, but if not, c'est la vie.

/bpm
MichaelLAX

elgato's Turbo.264 Hardware encoder for Mac

Post by MichaelLAX »

If the choice is one product that saves 80% of the encoding time to move my library over to an Apple TV over another; the choice is simple: I have already ordered my Turbo.264!

When the future Macs come with hardware h.264 encoding; the Handbrake folks will jump on that bandwagon, even if they don't jump on the elgato one.
User avatar
s55
HandBrake Team
Posts: 10350
Joined: Sun Dec 24, 2006 1:05 pm

Post by s55 »

the Handbrake folks will jump on that bandwagon
If / when the libraries we use support hardware h264 encoding we will consider updating them so long as it does not break cross-platform support.
drunkenrobot
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:07 pm

Post by drunkenrobot »

rhester wrote:
drunkenrobot wrote:Theoretically it would be quite simple to modify Handbrake to call this device instead of the 264 software encoder that it currently uses.
I presume you are saying this with absolutely no familiarity with the code, correct?

Rodney
You don't have to be a jerk....
rhester
Veteran User
Posts: 2888
Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 10:24 pm

Post by rhester »

When you start throwing around uninformed comments like "it would be quite simple", it's not me who looks like a jerk.

Rodney
drunkenrobot
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:07 pm

IC Contents of elgato turbo.264

Post by drunkenrobot »

Samsung 704 K4S281632I-UC60

Mobilygen MG1264


http://www.mobilygen.com/products.htm
http://www.mobilygen.com/pdf_files/ds_M ... 7_Rev3.pdf

CY7C68013A-56LFXC
Last edited by drunkenrobot on Wed May 23, 2007 3:14 pm, edited 2 times in total.
drunkenrobot
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:07 pm

Post by drunkenrobot »

rhester wrote:When you start throwing around uninformed comments like "it would be quite simple", it's not me who looks like a jerk.

Rodney
I would beg to differ. You obviously don't care to learn how much anyone is informed. You just like being a jerk.
rhester
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Post by rhester »

Enough.

The Turbo 264 - nor any other hardware-assisted encoding device - will not be supported in HandBrake unless a) adopted by pre-existing OSS libraries that HandBrake utilizes or b) open-source (preferably multiplatform) drivers are released for it by the manufacturer.

Thread closed.

Rodney
Locked