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Techspansion closes, VisualHub discontinued


There are plenty of Mac tools for video compression in the marketplace, ranging from Windows Media-oriented tools (Flip4Mac) to professional workflow builders (Sorenson Squeeze) to hardware-assisted H.264 crunchers (Elgato turbo.264). Few of these products, however, have hit the sweet spot of wide-ranging capability, quality output and extremely affordable pricing like VisualHub from Techspansion. For less than $25, you got Flash and WMV output that rivaled products 3x the price, plus easy conversion to iPod and iPhone-friendly formats. Along with sister apps audio compressor AudialHub and iPod-only video converter iSquint, VisualHub was a prime example of a well-built, "Mac way" media app.

Sadly, the past tense above is no accident. Techspansion's website has been shuttered and the products have been discontinued. Tyler Loch (Techspansion's founder) let us know that the difficult decision to close down Techspansion is a personal one, and he's readjusting his priorities to focus on other needs. His choice is understandable, but we will definitely miss VisualHub (not to mention the laugh-out-loud funniest release notes in software history). Best of luck to Tyler in his future efforts.

Update: For those who are inquiring, there are no current plans to move VisualHub to open source. The underlying engine for much of the compression magic, ffmpeg, is already open-source and present in other Mac tools such as Handbrake.

Thanks Brandon


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There are plenty of Mac tools for video compression in the marketplace, ranging from Windows Media-oriented tools (Flip4Mac) to...
 

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GB

Bummer. I found VH right after they shut the doors. Emailed the site, asked if I could still buy a serial, but haven't heard back. Is it bad form to wonder if, since VH is going open-source under a different name, free serial numbers can't be given out?

Bottom Line: Any ideas how I can get a serial number. Prefer to pay, actually.

G

December 01 2008 at 5:49 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
popo

iSquint and VisualHub, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. They also has got new names, Film Redux (VisualHub) and PunyVid (iSquint). As you may or may not know, the developer, Techspanion has closed shop and after an outcry from fans, it has released the source code.
Here is a tutorial on how to use Techspansion's open source to build iSquint and VisualHub.
http://www.iskysoft.com/article/how-to-build-isquint-and-visualhub.html#121

October 22 2008 at 2:43 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
popo

iSquint and VisualHub, the popular video converter on Mac OS X have now gone open source. They also has got new names, Film Redux (VisualHub) and PunyVid (iSquint). As you may or may not know, the developer, Techspanion has closed shop and after an outcry from fans, it has released the source code.
Here is a tutorial on how to use Techspansion's open source to build iSquint and VisualHub.

October 22 2008 at 1:57 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jeff

CRY! PLEASE COME BACK! I'm so sorry for whatever I did!

October 17 2008 at 2:58 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
peter

Tyler,

I am sorry to hear that you have discontinued visualhub because it was developing well and I believe it was on it's way to becoming one of the best apps I have used. Whatever your reason I hope you will make it open source.

I have used many apps for file conversion and I never seem to get what I want. I avoid buying software any more because I often feel cheated after purchasing it and finding out that I cannot do what I intended because of missing components that need to be purchased as extras or bad programming that crashes, or just poorly designed GUI making it difficult or tedious to use. Now I try to get my hands on a friend's copy of software and I will use it for a while to see if can really do what I need. After that I will purchase it, like photoshop: it does what I need and very well too. Most software is not in this class of easy to use.

Forgive me if I used a copy of your program without purchasing it. I was close to buying but I was still waiting to see if you would resolve a few issues that were important to me that needed fixing. Some videos wouldn't convert without errors, like audio dropped or out of sync or a less important but equally frustrating: mk4 drm. These issues prevented me from converting my media to a standard format that I could archive and feel safe that I wouldn't have to watch hours of video to make sure nothing went bonkers. After conversion I would like to delete the original file and know for sure that the converted ones are perfect.

Visualhub has room for improvement and if anyone wants to continue it's development I would be happy to list everything that could be done to improve upon it's use. I am a expert at intuitive GUI development though I must remain anonymous.

I wish I could find a program that would convert all the media that I have to an open source format that can be played back on the most common players with the same quality of compression as the original file.

Even though I used an unpurchased copy of visualhub for some time I didn't feel it was ready for me to purchase, however having seen that you have discontinued I will not be able to purchase in the future. This is also unfair for those who bought it in good faith and need updates to make it run smoothly. Now they are stuck with unfinished software.

As I was writing this it occurred to me, instead of trying to sell a "finished" version of the software why not ask for a 'developers fee' and make each customer a sponsoring developer. This would be more honest until the software is truly finished. Since I do not consider software finished until ALL the bugs are out. This is rare because most software companies adopt the lame attitude of selling 'finished' versions and then relying on buying customers to 'beta' test it and report back. If these 'customers' should be paid for the time wasted over buggy applications than companies would be more careful. Imagine if you could get paid every hour you had to repair Windows crashes! Such a waste of time and respect for it's customers. That is why I use Apples but even Macs have never had a truly finished OS, that is no bugs. I am stuck with several older Macs that cannot run updates any more because of advances in hardware and now t

October 09 2008 at 11:14 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
shawn

Guys - Just Download the HandBrake 0.9.3 Beta release and the link previously indicated - it does basically everything Visual Hub did that Hand Brake 0.9.2 didnt.

I am right now converting a HD mkv to Apple TV 720p using the new Hand Brake.

October 07 2008 at 2:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Dirk Sabbe

Awwww, the best are always the first to go... This is a sad day. VH & AH are the cornerstones of my media library...

October 07 2008 at 2:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gideon Shalwick

I've just tried Handbreak...and it sucks sh*t!

It cant even accept a .mov file and convert it to a .flv file!!!!

This is DEFINITELY NOT a replacement for VisualHub!

October 06 2008 at 7:53 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Gideon Shalwick's comment
drew

To all the people complaining that this should be 'open sourced'. FFMPEG is already open source and freely available. Sure you need to build it yourself & use the command line (and learn all those options). VisualHub was just a GUI to a specific build of FFMPEG. FFMPEGX is similar in principle, another GUI on top of FFMPEG.

Has no one considered that FFMPEG has constantly had legal issues surrounding patents. Features get pulled from the FFMPEG engine because it could risk the whole FFMPEG project. Transcoding between formats requires programming that may be covered by patents etc.

Slapping on a GUI that make it easy for everyone to use FFMPEG and all its features is one way to get the attention of the patent lawyers.

Shutting down the Techspansion software may not have been avoidable.

If you want to know the real reason, then try making your own VisualHub & managing support & see how many legal threats you get.

Sure it sucks that it is gone, but if you brought it then it still works.

October 06 2008 at 9:39 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gideon Shalwick

This is an outrage!

I literally spent MONTHS, hundreds of dollars, and many frustrated hours to finally find a program that would easily convert my files to a high quality flv format. I do A LOT of online video, and VisualHUB is been the ONLY program that would give me the results I was looking for.

I really dont understand how all of this can just be shut down without any notice. I'm sure Tyler has some good reasons, but he also now has a responsibility towards his very loyal customers.

Tyler, if you ever read this, YOU DA MAAAAAAN!!! You're software rocks, and I've been recommending it to EVERYONE I talk to...yes, even PC users!

So, I'm not sure what Tyler's personal situation is, but surely, it MUST be possible to rectify the situation somehow? If not, there will be HEAPS of VERY unhappy people around.

Please don't let VisualHub disappear! It's the MOST VALUABLE PIECE OF SOFTWARE ON MY MAC!!!

Take it open source...sell it to someone else...or do whatever just to keep it going...PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE.

October 06 2008 at 7:37 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
chris

I have been waiting for the Leopard xGrid update. Anyone know of a conversion app which can use xgrid? under Tiger VisualHub made it so easy.

October 06 2008 at 5:52 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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