As per the title, I''m looking for any 2019 16" MacBook owners who have or use Apple's Compressor application.
The reason I ask is, because, I've just completed a 28-hour! transcode of a 4K HDR BluRay due to the lack of hardware acceleration in Handbrake on Mac OS X. Admittedly I used the default "slow" preset option because I'm a stickler for quality. Medium is about twice as fast, which is to say, still quite slow considering, so why not go all out? I dread to think how long "slower" or "very slow" would take.
I found that Handbrake in Windows (via Boot Camp) can at least leverage AMD VCN/E for a dramatic 10x speedup (possibly more compared to the "slow" option in software), but also that the quality is apparently not quite as good; even on its best setting. Intel QSV is not available in Windows because Apple disables integrated graphics for reasons unbeknownst to anybody but themselves. Why neither Intel QSV nor AMD VCN are available in Handbrake for Mac is similarly unknown. I guess they don't consider Mac users worthy of developing it for.
I've read that Compressor can leverage Intel QSV for 10-bit HDR transcodes for at least a doubling of encode speed, which would certainly help if it meets other quality standards. Like AMD's VCN, I'm aware that Compressor doesn't include nearly as much granular control or as many options for speed vs quality as Handbrake, but that their "Quality" setting is at least reasonable. I've also read that Handbrake doesn't have a true 10-bit encoding pipeline, so if Compressor does then I'd be very interested to look for any visible differences (I've got a good eye for these things).
Problem is, I'm not really willing or able to splash cash on buying Compressor just for testing purposes, especially if it turns out to be a poor choice for reasons other than speed. I downloaded the trial for Final Cut Pro, but it no longer contains Compressor for some reason; presumably because they think most Apple users are able to splash $60/70 on Compressor alone just to try it out and therefore don't need a trial. I know it used to come with the trial in the pre-Mac App Store days before Software-As-A-Service (RIP).
That's why I'm asking (finally) if anyone has a similar MacBook and setup as mine who owns Compressor, what have you found when compressing 4K HDR UHDs with 10-bit HEVC compared with Handbrake; ideally at a "slow" quality preset? I'm not too concerned about audio transcoding, because audio tracks can always be muxed in later. I prefer a high bit-rate E-AC3 in lieu of the (apparent?) lack of lossless audio format support in MP4; at least with Handbrake, anyway.
I'll be happy to drop the cash to buy it if it is in fact faster for the same or better quality. Of course I'd love even more one of the shiny new HDR MacBook Pros, but beggars can't be too choosy. Its HEVC encoding would likely smash both Intel and AMD in efficiency. But I'll have to live with the 2019 model for now, so anything that can help improve transcode times is appreciated.
If you made it this far, thanks for reading anyway.
Any 16" MacBook owners use Apple Compressor?
Re: Any 16" MacBook owners use Apple Compressor?
I generally don't mess with transcoding 4K stuff, especially HDR stuff because it is complicated. However, I do happen to have Apple's Compressor, but I don't use it for this stuff.
On macOS, Apple provides OS level APIs for accessing hardware assisted encoding. Those APIs are called Apple VideoToolbox (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/videotoolbox). Things like Handbrake & ffmpeg do have support for those APIs.
With recent versions of Handbrake (1.4.2 is current I think), you can access Apple Video Toolbox (and thus either Intel's QSV or AMD's hardware encoder) on the Video tab by selecting VideoToolbox as the encoder.
https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/1.3.0/tech ... olbox.html
I rarely use Handbrake's GUI, but often encode 1080p stuff to h.264 using Intel QSV via Handbrake on the command line on a 2017 iMac running Big Sur. As a test, I fired up the Handbrake GUI, opened a non-HDR, 10-bit HEVC, 4K source file and encoded a chapter of it by using the h.265 10-bit VideoToolbox encoder. It appeared to work and go about 3 times faster than doing it with x265 (via ffmpeg) using only the CPU.
On macOS, Apple provides OS level APIs for accessing hardware assisted encoding. Those APIs are called Apple VideoToolbox (https://developer.apple.com/documentation/videotoolbox). Things like Handbrake & ffmpeg do have support for those APIs.
With recent versions of Handbrake (1.4.2 is current I think), you can access Apple Video Toolbox (and thus either Intel's QSV or AMD's hardware encoder) on the Video tab by selecting VideoToolbox as the encoder.
https://handbrake.fr/docs/en/1.3.0/tech ... olbox.html
I rarely use Handbrake's GUI, but often encode 1080p stuff to h.264 using Intel QSV via Handbrake on the command line on a 2017 iMac running Big Sur. As a test, I fired up the Handbrake GUI, opened a non-HDR, 10-bit HEVC, 4K source file and encoded a chapter of it by using the h.265 10-bit VideoToolbox encoder. It appeared to work and go about 3 times faster than doing it with x265 (via ffmpeg) using only the CPU.