I recently lost a bunch of videos (mostly concerts) to a disk encryption mis-understanding., so needed to rip them again from their Blu-Ray sources. Having previously done video decoding/encoding on my daughter’s Mac, I was curious to know how the Mac Mini M2 Pro would compare when doing video decoding & encoding.

I used the trusty app Handbrake for this task.

1080p Recode

I started with the Blu-Ray disc for Hell Freezes Over.

Video/Audio specifications

Source : Blu Ray Disc, Duration 1:38:45

Video : 1426×1080, 30fps, SDR, H.264 to H.265, 8-bit
Preset : Quality, 60 CQ

Audio 1 : BD-LPCM to AAC, 320kbps, Stereo, 48KHz
Audio 2 : DTS to AAC, 320kbps, 5.1, 48KHz
Audio 3 : AC3 to AAC, 160kbps, Stereo, 48KHz

The first pass was using the default H.265 option, which was noticeable faster than the Macbook Air M1. But then I found the H.265 with Apple VideoToolBox option, which allows the video decode/encode process to be handled on the GPU.

Parameter	Baseline	Regular Encoding	Apple VideoToolbox
Average Power Consumption	8W	52W	18W
Average CPU	5%	99%	22%
Average Fan Speed	1600 RPM	2950 RPM	1700 RPM
Average CPU Temp	55C	101C	63C
Average GPU Temp	44C	95C	68C
Average Frame Rate	—	58 fps	131 fps
Total Encoding time	—	58 mins	23 mins

As you can see, the performance difference is quite noticeable. With Apple VideoToolBox, the entire process is not only much faster (taking almost 70% less time), the CPU utilisation is much lower and the computer runs cooler, drawing much less power.

2160p Recode

I decided to push the computer further, so decided to document a 4K HDR file next.

Video specifications

Source : MKV File downloaded from here, Duration 00:00:30

Video : 3840×2160, 60fps, HDR, AV1 to H.265, 10-bit
Preset : Slow, RF 51

Parameter	Regular Encoding	Apple VideoToolbox
Average Frame Rate	7.6 fps	53.7fps
Total Encoding Time	3 mins, 55 secs	35 secs

With a higher bitrate file, the difference is even more stark. The entire process completed in 85% less time.

Overall, I regret not knowing about Apple VideoToolBox earlier.

Looking forward to pushing the mac for more intense tasks.