Miglia on Friday introduced its VideoExpress, a USB 2.0 device that speeds the conversion of digital video on Macs. It’s particularly adept at making ready H.264-encoded videos for Sony PlayStation Portable (PSP), iPod and AppleTV playback. It costs $99.
The device is similar to ElGato’s previously released Turbo.264 — by plugging it in to an available USB port on your Mac, you can reduce the amount of processor power dedicated to converting video.
What’s more, on some machines, this can translate into a dramatic performance improvement on format conversions — Miglia describes a 3 hour software-based conversion taking 36 minutes with the VideoExpress in place.
The VideoExpress requires no external power supply. It works with MPEG-2, DivX, DV stream or QuickTime movies, and any other unprotected .VOB files (such as those on an unencrypted DVD, for example). It outputs H.264 videos in resolutions including 320 x 240, 640 x 480, 720 x 480 and 720 x 576.
System requirements call for Mac OS X v10.4 or later, G4/1.25GHz or faster (including Intel) and built-in USB 2.0 support.