I use iTunes and my iPod a lot for films etc.
But since I only have a G4, sometimes it can take a long time to convert a DVD (sometimes a whole day)

But Elgato seems to have solved the problem with this USB h.264 co-processor

If this works, it could be an essential for a heavy aTV or iPod user with an older computer.
It's only £70 - much cheaper than a new PC.

What do you folks think (after all, it's this or a new PC )


EDIT: I have found this review:
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/05/24/re...lgato_turbo264/
Seems pretty positive - 95%

From what I heard, this thing does work and will give you a significant boost in conversion performance on your G4, however, my belief is that if you can afford it, get a new computer, you'll see a dramatic increase in performance in all applications over the G4 if you get a new Intel system. My only problem with things like this is that the only accelerate one application and don't give you a speed boost for others, plus I am a little skeptical about this encoder in that makes use of the USB 2.0 bus, which in the connection world has a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 480 Mbps, not all that fast when you consider that your memory and processor talk to each other in the 3-6 GBps range. But hey, if it works, who cares what it uses...

The encoder would be taking it in at about 20fps - even uncompressed, this is well within the capabitlities of the USB 2.0 bus. That's why many of Elgato's DVB boxes can use MPEG-2 quite effectively.
It looks as though this little stick will integrate well with EyeTV - great