H.264 MPEG-4 codec is one of the most computationally-intensive codecs; with this are arduous render times that stretch for very long periods. Enter Elgato’s Turbo.264 - a device that’s a bit bigger than the standard USB thumb drive. This diminutive package does the number crunching without burdening your CPU; data encoding is ultimately faster than if it were done by your processor and it frees your CPU to do other things. Armed with a Quicktime component, you can use its presets on anything that is Quicktime-compatible. This device does one thing extremely well: it encodes H.264 material in such a way that rids of wasted rendering time. Though it is only for the Mac - and that may be its only flaw - one can walk away with a product that is a joy to use and with the knowledge that it is expertly engineered.