Apple Mac HQ

Of all the Apple gear in my house, perhaps the least appreciated (but very much loved) is my Apple TV. I use it several times a week to watch podcasts, TV shows I record, and videos I download. To get some of the videos I download into a format compatible with the Apple TV, I use a great tool called VisualHub. Unfortunately, VisualHub was abandoned by the developer nearly a year ago. VisualHub’s developer was kind enough to open source his code however. From the ashes of VisualHub, a new application has risen, Video Monkey.

If you’re familiar with VisualHub, the Video Monkey UI will be easy to pick up. You begin by dragging your source file into the middle of the application. You then choose an output type from a large list of presets. Next choose encoding speeds, quality, and a few other options. If you want to send the encoded file into iTunes, just check the appropriate checkbox. Once the encoding options are set, just click the start button in the top left corner.

I used the first version of Video Monkey shortly after it came out, but I hadn’t used it again until recently because the encoding time said it would take nearly two hours to encode a 30 minute video. The current version, 0.5, has seen huge improvements since that initial release (version 0.1). That being said, the application does have a few bugs. While the list of presets include about 20 options, the only ones I could set are those related to iTunes (Apple TV, iPhone, etc). I also received a javascript error while I was changing the output presets.

One feature I didn’t know about until today was the metadata feature. I encoded a TV show and the output file included the name of the episode along with a Poster for the show! After a little poking around on the Video Monkey website, I found a detailed blog post from the developer explaining how the metadata feature works.

Unlike VisualHub, Video Monkey is a free application. The most recent upgrade brought Snow Leopard support, which the last release of VisualHub lacks. If you are looking for a replacement for VisualHub, Video Monkey is likely it.

Of all the Apple products I own, perhaps my favorite is the Apple TV. The Apple TV along with iTunes, VisualHub, and Handbrake make for a fantastic media experience. Despite nearly every Apple TV owner absolutely loving their device, the product remains a “hobby” to Apple. Though I don’t believe sales figures for the Apple TV are publicly available, a “hobby” isn’t exactly a glowing indicator of sales.

I purchased my Apple TV after the Macworld 2008 price drop and news about the 2.0 software. Originally the unit was too expensive and lacked features. The $229 price (40GB version) was much more attractive as was the 2.0 software which brought movie rentals and the ability to act as a stand alone device (no PC or Mac required). I dropped my $199 bucks down on a refurbished Apple TV and have used it nearly every day since. I really enjoy watching TV shows, video podcasts, movies, and pictures on my Apple TV. My wife absolutely loves it too!

While I gush about how much I like the Apple TV, I seem to be in the minority of Apple fans, as many do not own one. You rarely see ads for the device anywhere and I think a lot of people aren’t really sure what the Apple TV actually does. And really, how much can a “hobby” add to Apple’s already large chest of cash?

I have a solution to raise the demand for Apple TV. In fact, Apple has already implemented this solution with two of the other main product lines, the iPod and iPhone. Apple needs a Made For Apple TV program and a SDK and App Store for the Apple TV.

SDK: Imagine if NBC released a Hulu application for Apple TV. What about Google Earth for Apple TV? NetNewsWire, NYTimes, WeatherBug, Wikipanion, and Last.fm for Apple TV? The ability to set Apple TV to play music/video while you are on vacation would be a nice security feature. The list could go on for possible applications for Apple TV.

Made For Apple TV Program: Imagine the Apple TV as the central nervous system for a wireless home music/video automation system. The ability to interface with the unit via third party controls, wall units, wireless keyboards, etc.

Not only would Apple move more Apple TV units, they would also receive additional revenue with App Store sales and third party accessories (like they do with many iPod accessories). These moves would open up the device to third party developers and create an iPod like ecosystem. This would be a win-win for Apple and their partners/software developers.

Do you own a Apple TV and love it? If not, would you want one if third party accessories and software were available for it? Sound off below with your comments about my idea or your thoughts on the Apple TV.

If you have an Apple TV or just encode a lot of video, like me, I’m sure you were saddened when VisualHub went the way of the dodo. Recently however, it looks like there might be something good coming out of the situation.

Techspansion, the folks behind VisualHub, have decided to open source all three of their applications in addition to one that was never released. Each application will receive a new name however. The unreleased application and iSquint have already been open sourced. iSquint is now named PunyVid. VisualHub and AudialHub will be released at a later date.

FilmRedux is the name of the unreleased application. As you can see from the screenshot above, it looks very similar to VisualHub. You can learn more about the project and download the source code from the project website on SourceForge. Here’s a shortcut to the source code repository.

It’s going to be interesting to see what becomes of the code. I’m hoping the open source community will create something even better than VisualHub. Thanks to Techspansion for releasing the code!

It’s not unusual for software to be abandoned by its developer. Software developers move on, lose interest in the project, or otherwise don’t find the time to support or develop the software they created. That being said, it is unusual for a leader in a particular space to abandon their product. This very scenario happened today.

Techspansion, the developers behind Visual Hub, have called it quits. I’ve written about a few of Techspansion’s products here at Apple Mac HQ. Visual Hub is a dead simple piece of software I use to convert videos for my Apple TV. It is perhaps the best video conversion utility around and that’s why it came as such a surprise that the software is being abandoned. The website for Visual Hub has been stripped and the dmg file is no longer available for download. If you look hard enough, you can download it however. I downloaded a copy to serve as a backup in case I need to reinstall it (I bought it earlier this year).

It’s sad to see the developer abandon this great piece of software. Best of luck to him in his future endeavors!

[Via TUAW]

I was recently on a business trip and one of my coworkers decided to buy an iPod Classic while we were at the Birmingham Apple Store. The next day he was looking to put some content on his iPod. In addition to a few songs on his laptop, he also had some videos he converted to avi files some time ago. He didn’t know how to get those videos on his iPod though. That’s when I thought of iSquint.

iSquint is a simple tool for converting videos to an iPod compatible format. As the screenshot below shows, it’s very easy to start converting video. Just drag a file into the application window, choose your optimization format and quality, and click start. If you selected the “Add to iTunes” checkbox, your video will be added to iTunes when it’s done converting. Sync your iPod and it will be transferred to it. It really is that simple. If you’re looking to put video on your iPod, iSquint is a great tool.

iSquint is available free of charge from Techspansion. iSquint is the little brother of VisualHub, the fantastic video conversion tool that I frequently use to add content to my Apple TV.

If you have the need to convert video formats or own an Apple TV then I’ll assume you have heard of VisualHub. For the uninitiated, it’s basically the swiss army knife of video conversion for the Mac. VisualHub features fast conversions from nearly every video format to a plethora of formats in a quick three step process (shot of the UI below). I just finished converting some video for my Apple TV and it worked flawlessly and quickly.

I’ve been pondering buying VisualHub for a week or so and finally went to pull the trigger last night when I noticed that in addition to buying VisualHub for the low cost of $23.32 USD, there was an option to get it for free. So what’s the catch you’re saying? Well basically you buy something else and get VisualHub for free through a service called TrialPay.

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