04-07-2010, 10:22 AM
Absolutely, don't do (or don't allow other family members to do) any processor-hungry things on a mac WHILE a Handbrake conversion is running, yikes! I'm surprised this was attempted in the first place.
Handbrake requires 90+% of the mac's resources. No joke, open the activity monitor, and watch how much of the processor it uses, on my mac, it hovers around 94%. If you really need to interrupt the process, use the mac for something else, or launch another app, It's better to hit the "pause" button on Handbrake, and then let it go back to processing when the mac is unattended. Or, as suggested above, save the projects to do overnight, when there'll be no interruptions.
As it happens, I have both Handbrake and the Elgato Turbo, and each has merits. With the Turbo, the demands on your mac's resources are far, far less. You can let a movie process while doing pretty much anything else you want at the same time. That's the primary benefit, it handles a lot of the processing in its own hardware. Great for multitasking.
However, I've noticed that the Turbo produces an annoyingly high rate of sound-sync errors. I've transferred hundreds of movies and TV shows, many of them in bulk, and find that with the Turbo-processed videos, I've had to go back and redo about dozens of them in Handbrake, because the Turbo didn't accurately sync the picture and sound. The result is unwatchable. Very frustrating. I want ElGato to address this.
In the end, I like Handbrake better. It can handle more kinds of content, produces fewer errors, is more configurable (subtitles, for example) and can work directly from a protected DVD. With Turbo, it takes an additional step beforehand, decoding and transferring the DVD, then using Turbo. Handbrake does it all in one step. The only disadvantage I'm aware of is that you need to leave your computer alone while Handbrake working, because it'll take all the juice your mac can give it. Small price to pay for top-notch conversions and highly-customizable output.
Handbrake requires 90+% of the mac's resources. No joke, open the activity monitor, and watch how much of the processor it uses, on my mac, it hovers around 94%. If you really need to interrupt the process, use the mac for something else, or launch another app, It's better to hit the "pause" button on Handbrake, and then let it go back to processing when the mac is unattended. Or, as suggested above, save the projects to do overnight, when there'll be no interruptions.
As it happens, I have both Handbrake and the Elgato Turbo, and each has merits. With the Turbo, the demands on your mac's resources are far, far less. You can let a movie process while doing pretty much anything else you want at the same time. That's the primary benefit, it handles a lot of the processing in its own hardware. Great for multitasking.
However, I've noticed that the Turbo produces an annoyingly high rate of sound-sync errors. I've transferred hundreds of movies and TV shows, many of them in bulk, and find that with the Turbo-processed videos, I've had to go back and redo about dozens of them in Handbrake, because the Turbo didn't accurately sync the picture and sound. The result is unwatchable. Very frustrating. I want ElGato to address this.
In the end, I like Handbrake better. It can handle more kinds of content, produces fewer errors, is more configurable (subtitles, for example) and can work directly from a protected DVD. With Turbo, it takes an additional step beforehand, decoding and transferring the DVD, then using Turbo. Handbrake does it all in one step. The only disadvantage I'm aware of is that you need to leave your computer alone while Handbrake working, because it'll take all the juice your mac can give it. Small price to pay for top-notch conversions and highly-customizable output.