Encode Faster Than Ever: Killer CUDA Apps Roundup

Want to encode video files faster than ever before? New applications that take advantage of Nvidia’s CUDA technology are now widely available.

What’s CUDA you ask?

CUDA is a technology developed by Nvidia that allows applications to leverage the graphics processor in a laptop to get speedier and more efficient computing. For CUDA-enabled notebooks with multiple cores, this means, in theory, completing tasks such as decoding video much faster. It’s perfect for frequent video editing professionals, or even the regular Joe that just wants to convert a home movie into a format for his iPhone.

Today there are more than 100 million CUDA-enabled PCs on the market, available in every type of system, from an affordable netbook such as the $399 HP Mini 311 ($449.99), to such monster gaming rigs as the $1,799 Alienware M17x.

To find out how well these programs—and the underlying Nvidia architecture—work, we tested the file conversion power of three CUDA-friendly apps; CyberLink MediaShow Espresso, Elemental Technologies’ Badaboom, and Nero Move it ($25.22).

To find out which piece of software performed best, head over to our Killer CUDA App roundup.