nMP Handbrake Expectations

[BJonson]

Burning 2 DVDs right now. One on a 2013 Haswell 1.7ghz macbook air with apple usb dvd drive and averaging 210fps.

Burning second DVD on a 2010 12 core 2.66ghz mac pro and getting 134fps. I think it all boils down to the dvd drive. This mac pro dvd drive is old.

 

[theSeb]

Burning 2 DVDs right now. One on a 2013 Haswell 1.7ghz macbook air with apple usb dvd drive and averaging 210fps.

Burning second DVD on a 2010 12 core 2.66ghz mac pro and getting 134fps. I think it all boils down to the dvd drive. This mac pro dvd drive is old.

Ripping a DVD and compressing the output of the rip are two different things, even though many apps combine them into one.

 

[ThrawnTHX]

Updated with Numbers

Well, I started this thread and I've had my nMP for a few weeks now, so I feel compelled to give some numbers.

Again, to put things into context, the last machine I did Handbrake encodes on was a PC with an Intel 3960x Extreme 6-core running at 3.3GHz. That machine averaged about 3 hours per typical Blu Ray movie.

My nMP specs are in my sig. With this baby I'm averaging about an hour per movie encode. I'm pegging mid to high 60's in FPS and I'm using the ATV3 preset. My source is MKV rips.

Also, someone mentioned Compressor. It has its uses, but this isn't one of them, especially since as far as I can tell it cannot handle MKV containers as a source. Handbrake is still the champ for this specific purpose.

 

[paulsdenton]

I know this is very subjective and imprecise (I'm not a technical type) but when I would take a batch of stuff from my Elgato EyeTV unit to make into Final Cut Pro 10.1 format I would let it run after hours on my Mac Mini because it took so long. Now with my MacPro 6,1, basic model, I can wait for the batch to finish in Handbrake. I use the default 20 setting.

When I run big batches in Handbrake it's the only time I can feel any appreciable heat coming out of the top of the Mac Pro.

I do lots of VHS and DV tape and DVD conversions so I'm very happy with the Mac Pro. I recommend it to anyone who works with video.

I use Compressor to make DVDs. It's also much faster, sufficiently so that I have not needed to get a DVD duplicator, though I probably will need it soon.

 

[kfscoll]

Handbrake performance varies widely depending on the input format and output settings. With identical settings it'll even perform differently depending on the movie you're transcoding. So, the only valid way to compare performance amongst different machines is to use identical settings and identical input files.

There was a thread in the iMac forum where folks were using a file called "Big Buck Bunny" to do as I've described above.

 

[0x2102]

Handbrake performance varies widely depending on the input format and output settings. With identical settings it'll even perform differently depending on the movie you're transcoding. So, the only valid way to compare performance amongst different machines is to use identical settings and identical input files.
.

Totally agree.

Handbrakes scales really well with multicore CPUs and a good baseline for HB speed are Geekbench 3 multicore results.