Advice needed for video transcoding machine

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Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#87478 29-Jul-2011 17:24

Hi there,

Does anyone have some pointers towards a decent motherboard brand/model and case for use as a small video encoding machine.

Basically I want a little CPU monster to do the hardwork of encoding or re-encoding video for me.

One of my requirements is I want it to be small form factor, doesn't need an storage space apart from boot disk as I've got more than enough NAS online.

Anyone made a similar device I can make a copy of ? :-)

Thanks!

Mark

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#499517 29-Jul-2011 18:03

If you're transcoding to H.264, Intel's Sandy Bridge core i3/i5/i7 CPU's actually have a dedicated H.264 encoder onboard called Quick Sync. It's by far the fastest option, although not the best in terms of quality/file size. You'll need a motherboard capable of using the integrated graphics, so don't get a P67 chipset. You'll also need software that supports it.

Another fast alternative is to use a high-end GPU for transcoding, although again you'll need suitable software.

If you want to use general CPU-based transcoding, you should go for either a 6-core AMD or an Intel i5 or i7.

When you say that you want a small form factor, how small are you talking about?

Mark

1653 posts

Uber Geek

#499565 29-Jul-2011 20:09

I've not been impressed with the quality of the consumer level hardware encoders so far, which is why I want a CPU heavy machine to do the work in software.

As to size ... something about a 10inch cube would be good, so it can be tucked in next to the NAS and be unobtrusive, it wouldn't be used for anything other than encoding work and I'd log in over the network to run it.

michaelt

425 posts

Ultimate Geek

#499570 29-Jul-2011 20:25

Personally I have an Inwin BK-623 case. It's cheap, fairly small and uses (cheap) microATX motherboards. It's 323 x 140 x 276 mm (12.7" x 5.5" x 10.8") so might be small enough for you.

If you want to go under 10 10 inches on each side then you're probably looking at a mini-ITX motherboard.

The problem with that is I think all the mini-ITX Sandy Bridge motherboards only have 2 RAM slots, whereas for video encoding you might want more. You could still get 8GB RAM in one without any trouble though. They also cost a bit more.

Michael