Frequently Asked Questions • Video How-Tos (coming soon) • Techspansion Support Forum
  • Help! VisualHub disappeared from my computer!

  • VisualHub's icon is now a question mark in my Dock!

  • I got a new computer. How can I get VisualHub back?
  • I found your VisualHub frightened and cold in my backyard. He was hungry, so I fed him a sandwich. I'm looking forward to you coming over and picking him up.

    http://www.techspansion.com/visualhub/VisualHub.dmg

    ...try to be more careful next time.

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  • My registration code isn't working!

  • The program says "The information you've entered is incorrect." Why?
  • Make sure you've typed (or even better, copied and pasted) the name, e-mail address and registration code exactly as it was written at the bottom of your Thanks For Your Purchase e-mail (all VisualHub codes start with "VHUB").
    If you are still having trouble, e-mail us at techspansion@mac.com and let us know the details you're using to regiser, and we can help you out.

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  • I can't find my registration code!
  • My computer crashed, and I lost EVERYTHING. Can I get my registration code back?
  • I don't have my old e-mail address anymore, and can't get my registration code.
  • Didn't your mother tell you to always keep your receipts? Didn't your father always tell you to keep backups?
    Send us an e-mail, and let us know the program in question, and the e-mail address you used when purchasing. We can look up your order and re-send you the original "Thanks for your purchase" message.

    Send your requests to techspansion@mac.com, preferably with the subject "Lost Registration Code" so we can shuffle it off to the right desk.

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  • I'm converting video for the Apple TV and I left the H.264 Encoding box unchecked. When I started converting, the H.264 box checked itself! WTF?
  • The Apple TV only supports plain MPEG-4 video up to a certain resolution (640x480, or 720x432). In order to provide the best resolution (and to make sure the file will actually play on the Apple TV), VisualHub will automatically check the H.264 Encoding box if needed.
    http://www.apple.com/appletv/specs.html

    If you don't care about full resolution, then use the "All Devices" preset.
    If you don't care about Apple TV compatibility, then use the generic "MP4" tab.

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  • I have a video that won't convert. What can I do?
  • The audio in this file goes out of sync after conversion. What can I do?
  • A conversion can fail for many reasons. There are hundreds of thousands of combinations of video codecs (and settings), audio codecs (and settings), file formats, and conversion programs/devices, each potentially having their own quirks.
    It's very possible you'll come across one or a series of "hell files" that are difficult to convert. VisualHub has a few tricks to try to get something useful out of a "hell file".

    Multiple Decoders
    There's more than one way to skin a cat. Some cat-skinners can do a better job that others, depending on the specific breed of cat. VisualHub offers three different Decoders for bringing video into the conversion engine: QuickTime, ffmpeg, and VLC. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and are chosen on a file-by-file basis depending on what VisualHub thinks would work best for the specific clip.
    Sometimes, a different decoder is better than the default for a job.
    Other times, a different decoder, although less ideal, may work where the default won't.
    - ffmpeg is the go-to decoder for most file formats, like .avi, mpg, .mkv, and many others. It's also the most straightforward decoder.
    - QuickTime is used for QuickTime .mov files, as well as other related types. If you have additional plugins like Perian installed, QuickTime is able to decode many more types of files.
    - VLC (link) is never automatically used, but can be very helpful for trouble files, especially relating to sync issues.

    If you have trouble with a regular conversion, try using the Force option on the Advanced panel to force VisualHub to use one of these different paths.

    If the three decoders can't make sense of a problem file, then check what the Log File shows in the way of errors. When conversion completes (or fails), click the "Show Log" button that appears on the dialog box at the end of conversion.

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  • Help! AudialHub disappeared from my computer!

  • AudialHub's icon is now a question mark in my Dock!

  • I got a new computer. How can I get AudialHub back?
  • You can always download fresh copies of AudialHub for free. It's not like we'll charge you just to download. Remember when you tried it before you bought it?

    http://www.techspansion.com/audialhub/AudialHub.dmg

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  • What AudialHub Isn't
  • Though AudialHub is totally awesome, it was all designed around the desire to do one thing:

    AudialHub is designed to convert audio files from one format to another.

    Some people may try shoehorning AudialHub into doing other tasks, but it won’t do them very well...
    For example:

    AudialHub is not a legendary file tagger.
    Sure, it has the ability to add the common set of tags to a file, or to pass that same set of tags from one format to another...but it’s not meant for outright music collection organization. AudialHub will not modify the tags of existing files, nor would you want to reconvert a file through AudialHub just to change its tags. There are dedicated tagging programs that could do these jobs a lot better than a dedicated audio converter ever would.

    AudialHub is not a CD duplicator.
    Sure, you can rip a CD’s contents to something like AIFF or WAV and then burn that result to another CD, but it won’t be a precise copy. More like a glorified sequentially-ordered mixtape.

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  • What VisualHub Isn't
  • Though VisualHub is totally awesome, it was all designed around the desire to do one thing:

    VisualHub is designed to convert video files from one format to another.

    It will not be everything to everyone, though some people may try shoehorning VisualHub into doing other tasks it won't do very well.
    For example:

    1: VisualHub is not a legendary DVD ripper.
    Look around the Techspansion site. There isn't a single mention of "DVD ripper" (or DVD converter, or anything similar) in any explanation/rundown of VisualHub's features.
    Sure, it can convert TO a DVD pretty well, but not so much the other way around.
    The ability to convert the main feature of unencrypted VIDEO_TS folders was a small bonus added over a year and a half ago, much like converting an iMovie '06 project. DVD conversion is not the main purpose of VisualHub, nor will it be, nor will that functionality be improved upon in future releases. What works works, and what doesn't doesn't.
    If you want to convert DVDs, you're best off using a program specifically designed to convert DVDs, like HandBrake.

    2: VisualHub does not convert and/or display subtitles.
    The conversion engine used in VisualHub cannot display subtitles on top of the video, not can it convert one type of subtitle format to another. This functionality will not be improved upon in future releases. Sure, there's a potential workaround on the How To section of the Forums, but it is unsupported, and does not work for all subtitle formats. What works works, what doesn't doesn't.

    3: VisualHub cannot see into the future.
    Every day, people and companies are finding new and ridiculous ways of creating and packaging video. New formats/codecs/combinations may sometimes work in VisualHub, or sometimes may not. There's no way to guarantee that new-fangled files will always perfectly convert. What works works, what doesn't doesn't.

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  • I have a file that won't convert. What can I do?
  • A conversion can fail for many reasons. There are hundreds of combinations of audio codecs (and settings), file formats, and conversion programs/devices, each potentially having their own quirks.
    It's very possible you'll come across one or a series of "hell files" that are difficult to convert. AudialHub has a few tricks to try to get something useful out of a "hell file".

    Multiple Decoders
    There's more than one way to skin a cat. Some cat-skinners can do a better job that others, depending on the specific breed of cat. AudialHub offers three different selectable Decoders for bringing audio into the conversion engine: QuickTime, ffmpeg, and VLC. Each has its strengths and weaknesses and are chosen on a file-by-file basis depending on what AudialHub thinks would work best for the specific clip.
    Sometimes, a different decoder is better than the default for a job.
    Other times, a different decoder, although less ideal, may work where the default won't.
    - ffmpeg is the go-to decoder for most file formats, like .mp3, wav, .aiff, and many others. It's also the most straightforward decoder.
    - QuickTime is used for MPEG-4 .mp4/.m4a files, as well as regular .mov and others. If you have additional plugins like Perian installed, QuickTime is able to decode many more types of files.
    - VLC (link) is never automatically used, but can be very helpful for trouble files.

    If you have trouble with a regular conversion, try using the Decoder option on the Advanced panel to force AudialHub to use one of these different paths.

    If the three decoders can't make sense of a problem file, then check what the Log File shows in the way of errors. When conversion completes (or fails), click the "Show Log" button that appears on the sheet at the end of conversion. If you can't understand what's being shown in there, it could still be very useful to someone on the Forum in order to help figure out what's going on.

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  • So...what are all the formats VisualHub can convert from?

  • So...what are all the formats VisualHub can't convert from?
  • There's no simple list that can answer this question (although I'll try).

    While there are some entirely unsupported codecs, thousands of combinations of codecs and containers and settings exist, and there are bound to be "perfect storms" that just can't be converted.
    ...that being said, VisualHub can convert a whole bunch of formats to whatever you want.
    There's a pretty good list in the awesome Users Guide that nobody reads. For your convenience/laziness, it's reproduced below.

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    Download VisualHub

    v1.34a - 5.6MB - 08/06/08
    Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
    Leopard Compatibility Notes


    Buy VisualHub
    $23.32 USD




    Download AudialHub

    v1.07 - 4.1MB - 08/10/08
    Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later

    Buy AudialHub

    $18.81 USD







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