Quicktime Pro Export to iPod Feature

[SummerBreeze]

Now that iTunes can play my videos, I want to put back-up copies of the latest seasons of Alias, Veronica Mars and The O.C. in iTunes and burn the high-res copies to dvd. I am using Quicktime's Export to iPod feature on my 1.5ghz PowerBook G4. All the videos are in AVI format and ripped from HDTV.

My question is, how long should it take to create the iPod-sized video file? Last night it literally took a few hours to create the video, which seemed way too long. Is this how long it usually takes, or do I have a software problem?

 

[stoid]

Encoding H.264 is far more processor intensive than MPEG2 encoding. IIRC, we're taking about a factor of 10 times more demanding. A 1Ghz G4 processor I think can do MPEG2 encoding at near real time. Therefore, with some simple math, it would reason that a 1.5Ghz G4 could encode H.264 at about 1/6th real-time, or 6 minutes for every 1 minute of video. A 40 minute TV show would then take something like 240 minutes or 4 hours to encode. I hear that the G5 processor is more efficient at H.264 encoding, but it may just be that the processor is overall faster.

 

[SummerBreeze]

Man, this really is just gonna take forever then. I guess the encoding is a definite way to stop people from getting their video from other sources though...

 

[Tommyg117]

Yeah, it definetly took me a while, but it will be worth it. I just let it run overnight. Or if I plan on leaving for a few hours, I just let it go. That way, when I get bacak or wake up there is a nice surprise. But i just can't wait to watch south park on my ipod

 

[damnyooneek]

the amount of time it took to convert a 100mb tv episode with quicktime is ridiculous. It was like waiting paint to dry. Its definitely not efficient or worth waiting 4 hours to convert one tv show.