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Mp4 Converter that isn't so damn slow?

I just purchased Aimersoft video converter solely for my Droid movie usage. Maybe paying isn't what you're looking to do, but this is my first time purchasing conversion software, and I feel like it was worth it. It has the most profiles for mobile devices of any software I've ever used, and on my aluminum 2.4 ghz imac with 4GB of RAM it takes approximately 45 minutes to encode a 1.3GB AVI file. This is encoded at the Droid's native resolution of 720x480 with a bitrte of 1200 and AAC audio @ 168kb/sec. The software costs $40 but is well worth it. Other popular free alternatives include Handbrake for Windows / Mac.
 
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I just purchased Aimersoft video converter solely for my Droid movie usage. Maybe paying isn't what you're looking to do, but this is my first time purchasing conversion software, and I feel like it was worth it. It has the most profiles for mobile devices of any software I've ever used, and on my aluminum 2.4 ghz imac with 4GB of RAM it takes approximately 45 minutes to encode a 1.3GB AVI file. This is encoded at the Droid's native resolution of 720x480 with a bitrte of 1200 and AAC audio @ 168kb/sec. The software costs $40 but is well worth it. Other popular free alternatives include Handbrake for Windows / Mac.

Maybe its just my crap pc thats making it run so slow. In the settings for handbrake, I just click the iphone preset and it willat least look decent on my droid right?
 
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I just purchased Aimersoft video converter solely for my Droid movie usage. Maybe paying isn't what you're looking to do, but this is my first time purchasing conversion software, and I feel like it was worth it. It has the most profiles for mobile devices of any software I've ever used, and on my aluminum 2.4 ghz imac with 4GB of RAM it takes approximately 45 minutes to encode a 1.3GB AVI file. This is encoded at the Droid's native resolution of 720x480 with a bitrte of 1200 and AAC audio @ 168kb/sec. The software costs $40 but is well worth it. Other popular free alternatives include Handbrake for Windows / Mac.

That aluminum must really make a big difference in speed!

Handbrake is very slow but it works well, I just try to plan ahead with it. If you don't have time to then maybe just get a converter known for it's speed and don't bother changing the resolution as long as it is big enough for the Droid.
 
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Right now I'm using handbrake to convert "A Very Sunny Christmas" into MP4 format. It's about an hour long, but it's taking 7+ to convert it...So is there a converter that could speed this up?:thinking::mad:...:D

7+ hours??? What the heck? :eek:

I'm converting District 9 right now, as we speak, and I just loaded it about 3 minutes ago. in Legacy Classic mode (I hope that turns out well, this is my first time using handbrake), and the black DOS type looking window is telling me the ETA is 1 hr and 31 minutes.

It's a 1 hr and 45 minute movie.

Maybe you're running other programs that are slowing it down?

I HATE windows!!
 
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Depends on the format you're converting from and how fast your computer is, what resolution you're using, whether you're converting audio or not...really a LOT of things. You're better off learning what is actually happening to track down why it takes so long rather than finding a point and click program to do it all and expecting it to be fast. You might find there's a way to do it that only takes 5 minutes.

Don't bother listening to someone saying it takes them X time to convert something...it's comparing apples to monkeys. That's right, not even oranges.
 
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I just purchased Aimersoft video converter solely for my Droid movie usage. Maybe paying isn't what you're looking to do, but this is my first time purchasing conversion software, and I feel like it was worth it. It has the most profiles for mobile devices of any software I've ever used, and on my aluminum 2.4 ghz imac with 4GB of RAM it takes approximately 45 minutes to encode a 1.3GB AVI file. This is encoded at the Droid's native resolution of 720x480 with a bitrte of 1200 and AAC audio @ 168kb/sec. The software costs $40 but is well worth it. Other popular free alternatives include Handbrake for Windows / Mac.

The Droids native resolution is actually 852x480.
 
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The Droids native resolution is actually 852x480.

That is true, but if you want to keep aspect ratio correct, it would need to stay at 720 if that is what the original file was encoded at.

For handbrake...
I was using an old workstation until I got a new mobo for my main pc.

PC 1 (Workstation, P4 2.4 Ghz, 1 GB Ram, onboard video)
Time : Depending on original encode 1 to 1.5 x the movie length (but certainly not 7+ hours)

PC 2 (Gaming Machine, E6600 ES @ 2.4 (stock), 4 GB Ram, 8800 GTX (but I don't think handbrake uses Cuda for video encoding at all))
Time : .5 to .75 x the movie length

More information on the system being used would be helpful...
 
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That is true, but if you want to keep aspect ratio correct, it would need to stay at 720 if that is what the original file was encoded at.


I'd guess it would depend on your source, all anamorphic wide screen DVD's as well as any HD material would look better at 852x480 since that is the correct aspect ratio (16x9).

I have no 4x3 source files and wouldn't want to watch them on the Droid even if I did simply because you'd be giving up a large percentage of the screen to black bars on either side.
 
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That aluminum must really make a big difference in speed!

It makes a huge difference in speed. The white iMacs were G5 processors and the aluminum ones are intel core2 duo's. The latest aluminum iMacs can have quad core i7's. I run handbreak on my mac pro and can rip a dvd in about 20 to 30 minutes, but it's a dual quad core xenon with 16Gb of ram.
 
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It makes a huge difference in speed. The white iMacs were G5 processors and the aluminum ones are intel core2 duo's. The latest aluminum iMacs can have quad core i7's. I run handbreak on my mac pro and can rip a dvd in about 20 to 30 minutes, but it's a dual quad core xenon with 16Gb of ram.

Yes, video conversion is one of the few things besides gaming that truly will use your multi-core machine to speed things up. Also, your disk subsystem. I run a quad core Intel machine with 4 - SATA2 drives in a raid 1/0 (hardware raid) and I can still keep them pegged on a video conversion.

For sure if anyone is on a slightly older, single core machine, video conversion is going to hurt.
 
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It makes a huge difference in speed. The white iMacs were G5 processors and the aluminum ones are intel core2 duo's. The latest aluminum iMacs can have quad core i7's. I run handbreak on my mac pro and can rip a dvd in about 20 to 30 minutes, but it's a dual quad core xenon with 16Gb of ram.

I was joking at the aluminum itself making a difference, not the hardware inside. I know the difference from a plastic iMac to a aluminum one.
 
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It makes a huge difference in speed. The white iMacs were G5 processors and the aluminum ones are intel core2 duo's. The latest aluminum iMacs can have quad core i7's. I run handbreak on my mac pro and can rip a dvd in about 20 to 30 minutes, but it's a dual quad core xenon with 16Gb of ram.

Someone missed the joke train :p
 
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7 hours seems high, but if it is an old machine it could happen. I automate and convert TV shows, and on my core2quad it takes roughly the time of the show for conversion, though some of the work is done as the show is converting so its not too bad. This is using mencoder configured properly for multi-threads.

Anyone have any luck with GPGPU converting programs? Like Badaboom for Nvidia or the ATI AVIVO video converter or MediaShow Espresso. I have been interested in them though last time I checked they had problems, anandtech did a review of some ATI ones last summer and they were crap AnandTech: AVIVO Video Converter Redux and ATI Stream Quick Look.
 
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