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What computer do you use to encode movies?

D

dlegend

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jan 11, 2009
263
0
DC
Just curious as to what everyone is using to encode their movies? I currently use my 3 year old macbook but I hate leaving it burning up for hours on end. Was thinking about getting a cheap PC to use and then once everything is caught up using it as an iTunes server.

What are you using and how long does it take to convert a movie?
 
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C2d 2.4 mini for me
 
I use my PC desktop that I built myself. Pretty speedy with an i5-750. Can't remember if I overclocked it or not. Will check later.
 
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17 inch 2.53 i5 MacBook pro
 
Now a Mac Mini with Plex as an HTPC. I leave it running 24/7 usually (hard drive sleep), running Seti@Home (soon to be Folding@Home) when it's not doing encoding. The base line 2.4Ghz is a tad slow on encodes (high quality BRRs taking 7 hours), but since it's on anyway I don't care. Worth a look :)

Ps. I have AppleCare in case I melt something ;)
 
I used to use a 2008 MBP with a 2.5 C2D but since December I use a custom PC running a i7-970 overclocked to 4.2GHz. I love having encodes of hour long tv shows take 6-7 minutes.
 
i use 3 machines a windows 7 acer dual core 3ghz amd 4gigs of ram a late 09 mac mini with 8gigs of ram 2.53 intel core 2 duo and a 2.4 ghz 2010 macbook pro 13in depends what i need ot do
 
Just built a new i5 sandybridge system thats overclocked to 4.7Ghz. A 45 minute TV episode encodes in about 9-10 minutes.
 
I just built an inexpensive, but great performing, PC for this. It's based on a 4-core, 3 GHz AMD Athlon II available for $100. Total build cost was under $400 including a Blu-Ray drive, 2TB disk, etc. With a smaller hard drive and a DVD instead of the Blu-Ray, it could have been about $300.

It's so much nicer to have this system tucked away in another room than to run the conversions on my C2D MBP which would make it hot, noisy and less responsive. Not to mention the fact that the cheap PC is several times faster. It takes about 35 minutes to run Handbrake on a movie.
 
ghostlyorb said:
wow.. that's a beast!
Click to expand...

Sandy Bridge is a very impressive chip. I would have used it in my recent build if not for the enthusiast socket (LGA 2011) not being out yet. Over all I'm glad that I went with LGA 1366 instead as I got a 6-core which isn't available on Sandy Bridge until LGA 2011 comes out. The only thing I regret is not having such an easy time overclocking like a Sandy chip does.
 
Yep, the sandybridge chips are fantastic for overclocking, I've had it upto 5Ghz but the temperatures were a little bit too high for my liking. Once I get some better cooling for it I'll try again, I want to see just how far I can push it :D
 
I'm using a Gateway PC, pentium 4, 1gb of ram, does an 45 minute TV show in 25 minutes using Magic DVD Ripper, does a 2 and half hour movie in around 3 hours, i used DVD decoder, and handbrake but that takes 4 -6 hours total, its not connected to the internet so it doesn't try to update, etc.
 
I use a headless 2.66 i7 970 Hackintosh tucked away in the closet. It's OCed to 3 GHz, but I don't have the cooling for anything higher. I also use it as my media server, but that's a pain because it won't sleep.
 
hmmmm...might be time to build me a custom PC. Really no need right now for a blu-ray drive or such a big internal drive...
 
dlegend said:
hmmmm...might be time to build me a custom PC. Really no need right now for a blu-ray drive or such a big internal drive...
Click to expand...

You might want to think about getting a blue-ray reader. That way you could rip those disks. Burners are still expensive, but you would only need a reader to rip movies.
 
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